AI-Context Exploits and Social Engineering Advance Attack Surface

During the week between 19-25 Jan, researchers also flagged two vector classes that continue to evolve rapidly: (1) malicious calendar invites embedding hidden prompts that exploit AI assistant behaviors to leak sensitive data or trigger unintended actions; and (2) phishing campaigns targeting LastPass users with convincing fake maintenance emails designed to harvest master passwords. The former demonstrates how prompt injection — originally a research concern in language model safety — can have real implications for personal and enterprise productivity tools when combined with generative assistants. The latter reflects the enduring creativity of social engineering, now empowered by contextual AI tailoring. Both techniques are driving defenders to develop behavioral context analysis and adaptive phishing defenses that understand user intent and interaction patterns rather than rely on static blocklists.

24-01-2026