Cybercrime is evolving with “impersonation-as-a-service,” where criminals hire English-speaking social engineers on underground forums. Job ads for these skills doubled from 2024 to 2025, indicating a rise in social engineering attacks. Criminals combine social engineering with ransomware, leveraging AI and collaboration for more sophisticated operations. Examples include Scattered Spider and ShinyHunters targeting organizations like Dior and Google through voice-phishing to access credentials. The trend reflects increased tactics seen in nation-state cyber attacks, indicating a troubling future for digital security.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/21/impersonation_as_a_service/