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The US Department of State has said it is tightening its cyber security after an imposter used artificial intelligence to impersonate secretary of state Marco Rubio and contact at least three foreign ministers.
The department was “aware of this incident and is currently monitoring and addressing the matter”, said spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
“The department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously take steps to improve the department’s cyber security posture to prevent future incidents,” Bruce said, adding she could provide no more details “for security reasons”.
In an embarrassing security breach, the Rubio impersonator contacted the foreign ministers of unnamed countries, a US governor and a member of Congress by sending them voice and text messages, according to the Washington Post. The person used AI-powered software to mimic Rubio’s voice and writing style.
A state department cable dated July 3, which was cited by several US media outlets, said the authorities believed the culprit was trying to manipulate government officials “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts”.
He or she used both text messaging and the Signal messaging app to contact the foreign ministers and other officials. The campaign began in mid-June when the imposter created a Signal account using the display name “[email protected]” to contact foreign and domestic diplomats and politicians.
The FBI recently announced that since April, malicious actors had been impersonating senior US officials to target individuals, “many of whom are current or former senior US federal or state government officials and their contacts”. The campaign was, it said, designed to “elicit information or funds”.
The agency said the actors had been sending text messages and AI-generated voice messages — techniques known as “smishing” and “vishing”, respectively — that claim to come from a senior US official.
Rubio has been targeted in this way before. In the spring, a deepfake video appeared showing the secretary of state saying he wanted to cut off Ukraine’s access to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service. The Ukrainian government later rebutted the claim.
The Wall Street Journal in May reported someone had hacked the phone of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and begun calling and messaging senators, governors and business executives while pretending to be her.
The White House and the FBI investigated the incident, although the matter was played down by President Donald Trump, who said Wiles was “an amazing woman” who “can handle it”.