Generative AI Is Erasing Behavioral Tells, Weakening Behavior-Only Detection, Proofpoint Reports

Summary

Proofpoint reports that generative AI is making phishing emails fluent, personalized and unique to each recipient, which weakens the behavioral signals email filters have long relied on. At its Protect 2026 conference, the company described a campaign in which one threat actor contacted more than 30 real estate agents at one company with different tailored enquiries before sending the same video meeting request. The FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report counted more than 22,000 AI-involved complaints with nearly $900 million in losses, and 24,768 business email compromise complaints with about $3.05 billion in reported losses.

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