New phishing-as-a-service platform uses AI Studio to craft lures and mask attacks
Researchers at Abnormal AI identified a phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform, a subscription service that gives anyone ready-made phishing tools without having to build them, called Athena StealthRoute, which features an 'AI Studio' offering six specialized workflows to generate customized phishing lures and benign-looking decoy content. Over six months to October 9, the firm identified roughly 89,700 attack messages carrying the platform's distinctive link pattern, across about 2,280 organizations in the US and Europe. The platform also includes a marketplace for ready-made campaign materials and link-cloaking tools that divert security scanners away from the real destination, without stealing credentials or tokens itself, it simply sells the package to others. Researchers note that AI Studio gives attackers a way to request content tailored to different pretexts and audiences, instead of writing every lure from scratch or relying solely on pre-made material. For a business training staff to spot phishing, the case shows that lures are becoming more targeted and harder to distinguish precisely because their production has now been automated with AI.
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