{"id":219428,"date":"2026-03-03T10:27:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/03\/cybersecurity-expert-discusses-ai-powered-scams-at-tedxsarasota\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T11:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:05:10","slug":"cybersecurity-expert-discusses-ai-powered-scams-at-tedxsarasota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/03\/cybersecurity-expert-discusses-ai-powered-scams-at-tedxsarasota\/","title":{"rendered":"Cybersecurity expert discusses AI-powered scams at TEDxSarasota"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cybersecurity expert discusses AI-powered scams at TEDxSarasota<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/2026\/03\/03\/cybersecurity-expert-discusses-ai-powered-scams-tedxsarasota\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-03-03 10:27:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.mysuncoast.com<\/a><\/p>\n

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – A cybersecurity expert with more than 20 years of experience is bringing a warning about AI-powered scams and the unregulated data broker industry to a Sarasota audience later this month.<\/p>\n

Catherine \u201cCat\u201d Karow, founder of ZoraSafe and a former cybersecurity professional at Apple and the White House, is scheduled to speak at TEDxSarasota on March 16th at Florida Studio Theatre.<\/p>\n

Personal data sold with \u2018zero transparency\u2019<\/h3>\n

Karow said Americans\u2019 personal data \u2014 including names, addresses, phone numbers, financial habits, health conditions and daily routines \u2014 is legally harvested and sold by a multi-billion dollar data broker industry with virtually no regulation or transparency.<\/p>\n

She said that data is giving cybercriminals the tools to craft highly targeted attacks. Unlike generic phishing emails of the past, scammers now use purchased personal data to build convincing, personalized fraud schemes \u2014 particularly against seniors and families.<\/p>\n

$28.3 billion lost annually<\/h3>\n

Seniors lose an estimated $28.3 billion annually to fraud, Karow said, and that number is accelerating as AI makes scams cheaper, faster and harder to detect.<\/p>\n

Karow said her path into this work became personal when scammers targeted her own mother \u2014 a former Capitol Hill staffer who helped write banking regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis problem doesn\u2019t discriminate by intelligence or background \u2014 anyone can be a target,\u201d Karow tells us. <\/p>\n

\u2018Data labels\u2019 proposal<\/h3>\n

At TEDxSarasota, Karow plans to call for \u201cdata labels\u201d \u2014 a transparency standard modeled after nutrition labels \u2014 that would require companies to disclose who is collecting consumer data, who is buying it and how it is being used.<\/p>\n

She also outlined steps people can take now to reduce their exposure.<\/p>\n