US State Department issued a global warning to its diplomats after unknown people tried to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio with AI-generated messages, two senior officials and a diplomatic cable sent last week reported. The notice, first reported by The Washington Post, said at least three foreign ministers, a US senator, and a state governor were spoofed by text messages, the encrypted messaging service Signal, and voicemail.
The July 3 cable, also seen by the Associated Press, didn’t identify the targets of the fraudulent contact. But it underlined the gravity of the situation and reported that the department is pursuing active investigations. “The department takes seriously its obligation to protect its information,” the cable stated, adding that action is being taken to bolster cybersecurity defenses.
The officials described the attempts at impersonation as amateurish and ultimately unsuccessful. Nevertheless, in light of increasing numbers of AI-based disinformation and cyber intrusion attempts, the department instructed its own personnel and foreign contacts to be on guard.
“There is no immediate cyber threat to the department from this campaign,” the cable stated, “but information passed to a third party could be put at risk if targeted individuals are breached.”
This is the second case of AI-facilitated impersonation to be directed against high-ranking members of the Trump administration. Last month, a number of elected officials and business leaders received emails from an imposter claiming to be White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, with her voice possibly having been cloned by artificial intelligence, reports say.
The FBI earlier had alerted the public to such tactics through a warning, referring to constant impersonation schemes by senior US officials through text and voice messages generated by AI.
State Department officials declined comment further, citing security considerations and the fact that the investigation was ongoing.
