Masters of Imitation: How Hackers and Art Forgers Perfect the Art of Deception

This article draws parallels between art forgery and modern cyberattacks to explain how attackers use mimicry to evade detection, and how Network Detection and Response (NDR) can expose them.

• •81% of attacks are now malware-free, relying on Living-off-the-Land (LotL) tactics using legitimate tools and credentials
• •Agentic AI enables attackers to generate fake identities, exploit code, and self-tuning C2 traffic that blends with normal network patterns
• •Supply chain attacks like the Shai Hulud v2 worm use AI agents to disguise malicious packages as legitimate software updates
• •Cloaked tunnels, rogue infrastructure, and homoglyph phishing domains are used to mask malicious activity inside trusted-looking traffic
• •NDR exposes threats by detecting behavioral anomalies, protocol inconsistencies, and metadata mismatches that attackers cannot easily hide