State Department on alert after hoaxer uses AI to impersonate Marco Rubio

The imposter reportedly contacted three foreign ministers, a US senator and a governor

An imposter attempted to contact US and foreign officials using artificial intelligence to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio, multiple media outlets reported, citing State Department memos.

The hoaxer reportedly sent AI-generated voice and text messages that mimicked Rubio’s voice and writing style to at least three foreign ministers, a US senator, and a governor. According to The Washington Post, the culprit used the encrypted messaging app Signal and registered an account displaying the fake email address “marco.rubio@state.gov.” The outreach reportedly began in mid-June.

A US official told the Associated Press that the messages were “not very sophisticated” and ultimately unsuccessful. “There is no direct cyber threat to the department from this campaign, but information shared with a third party could be exposed if targeted individuals are compromised,” the State Department said in a memo to US embassies, as cited by AP.

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State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce confirmed the incident on Tuesday, saying the department is “currently monitoring and addressing the matter.” She added, “The department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents.”

In May, the FBI warned the public about “malicious actors” using AI-generated voice messages to impersonate senior US officials. The alert followed an incident in which someone hacked the phone of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and sent fake calls and messages to her contacts.