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Adversarial AI and the Threat Assessment Professional: Deepfakes, Dark Web Tradecraft, and the Threats Ahead
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About this session
Brooke Schärli and her husband Alex Schärli, co-founders of the Securanoia podcast and, respectively, director of protective intelligence and director of fraud intelligence at GS3, present findings from an IRB-approved qualitative study of 11 threat-assessment practitioners (FBI, military cyber, forensics, dark-web instructors) on how adversarial AI is changing fraud and violence risk. They open with a deepfake video-call scam that moved 25 million dollars, then argue AI has not created new criminals but removed the human constraints that used to limit them, shifting the attack surface from systems to people. They cover the absence of a legal AI definition in the US and Canada, the OECD framework behind the EU AI Act, rising FBI-reported cybercrime losses with a new deepfake-fraud line item, and three accelerating patterns: executive video deepfakes, AI-crafted business email compromise, and voice-cloned virtual-kidnapping calls. Drawing on threat-assessment warning-behavior models and dark-triad research, they close by arguing that the human-in-the-loop control is the most consistently exploited weak point and call for treating cognitive security, not just technology, as a trainable defense.
Adversarial AI is reshaping the threat landscape faster than policy, training, and evidentiary standards can keep up. Drawing on original qualitative research with frontline practitioners, including FBI veterans, military intelligence officers, and digital forensics directors, this presentation cuts through the AI hype to examine what's actually happening with AI and the Dark Web, how deepfakes and synthetic media are changing the threat picture, and what threat assessment professionals need to understand now to stay ahead.
Key takeaways
- Treat human-in-the-loop as a security control to audit, not a formality; it is the most consistently exploited weak point against AI-driven scams.
- Agree on a code word or verification step with staff and family before wiring money or reacting to a call that sounds like a loved one in distress.
- Use the OECD AI framework and the EU AI Act as the closest available baseline while the US and Canada still lack a legal definition of AI.
- Watch three accelerating patterns: executive video deepfakes, AI-crafted business email compromise, and voice-cloned virtual-kidnapping calls.
- Apply threat-assessment warning-behavior models, not just technical detection, to catch AI-enabled manipulation before it escalates.
Speakers
Brooke Schärli
Dr. Brooke Schärli is the Director of Protective Intelligence at GS3, Co-Founder of Securanoia™ and a USMC veteran, with a Ph.D. in Psychology, Public Policy, and Law specializing in the intersection of criminal behavior and digital security policy… Read moreRead less
Dr. Brooke Schärli is the Director of Protective Intelligence at GS3, Co-Founder of Securanoia™ and a USMC veteran, with a Ph.D. in Psychology, Public Policy, and Law specializing in the intersection of criminal behavior and digital security policy. Her research examines both sides of the AI conversation — how AI can be leveraged to disrupt illicit dark-web networks and strengthen digital security, and where the gaps, risks, and emerging dangers lie. Her current work focuses on extended realities, adversarial AI, and the privacy and policy challenges raised by emerging tech that often outpace the frameworks meant to govern them. She brings hands-on leadership experience in corporate physical security, along with Security+, Advanced Digital Discovery (AD²), with PAI+OSINT training. This Fall, Dr. Schärli begins her second Master's (of Science) in Data Privacy at Dakota State University. She is the co-host of the Securanoia™ podcast, 'Where security meets paranoia,' exploring online child safety, digital threats, cybersecurity, and modern fraud through conversations with leading experts.
Alex Schärli
Alex Schärli, MBA brings a background in Fortune 500 SaaS, fraud prevention, and digital threat hunting as Co-Founder & Director of Fraud Intelligence at Securanoia™. As a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) with Security+, Advanced Digital Discovery… Read moreRead less
Alex Schärli, MBA brings a background in Fortune 500 SaaS, fraud prevention, and digital threat hunting as Co-Founder & Director of Fraud Intelligence at Securanoia™. As a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) with Security+, Advanced Digital Discovery (AD²) training, PAI+OSINT, and Google cybersecurity training; Alex has built a career anticipating risks before they strike — from uncovering corporate fraud to protecting vulnerable communities, especially veterans, and helping organizations strengthen their defenses with clarity and confidence. He is currently attending the University of West Florida (UWF) Center for Cybersecurity in the Cyber Defense Analyst track, funded by the DoW CIO Cyber Academic Engagement Office and the NSA National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity. Alex is a former member of the Swiss Military and a current volunteer investigator at Cyber Atlas with the World Economic Forum.
