The State Department has issued warnings to U.S. Diplomats and others of attempts to impersonate the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and possibly other officials, using artificial intelligence, according to the Associated Press.
The warning came after the department discovered the Rubio impersonator who attempted to reach out to three foreign ministers, a U.S. senator, and a governor, according to a July 3rd cable, which was first reported by The Washington Post. The scam messages were sent via text, Signal, and voice mail messages.
A copy of the cable that was shared with the Associated Press stated:
The State Department is aware of this incident and is currently investigating the matter. The department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents.
A State Department official said the scam messages were not very sophisticated and have thus far been unsuccessful. However, they still found it prudent to send out a warning to prevent any security breaches.
From the cable:
There is no direct cyber threat to the department from this campaign, but information shared with a third party could be exposed if targeted individuals are compromised.
The FBI warned this last spring of a “malicious text and voice messaging campaign” in which actors have been attempting to impersonate United States officials. The campaign relies on basic text messages as well as AI-generated voice messages.
It is the second high-level official in the President's cabinet to face an AI-driven impersonation, the first of which was Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles. The Wall Street Journal reported on that incident in May.
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