India, Aug. 7 -- Modern AI assistants are helping employees work faster, but according to a new Barracuda AI email warning, the same tools can also help attackers move faster once they gain access to an employee's account. In a controlled proof-of-concept attack, Barracuda's red team demonstrated how one compromised email account could escalate into CEO account compromise and a fraudulent wire transfer worth nearly $250,000 by using legitimate business workflows.

The demonstration began with a compromised employee account. Attackers first prompted the AI assistant to create inbox rules that hid sign-in alerts and other security notifications, helping them maintain access without alerting the user.

They then used the AI assistant to anal...