Deepfakes – is your cyber security ready?
The use of deepfakes in cyber-attacks is increasing. It’s important to know what they are and how to protect your business from them.
The use of deepfakes in cyber-attacks is increasing. It’s important to know what they are and how to protect your business from them.
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Deepfakes are video or audio, created using artificial intelligence, to create a fake representation of what someone has said or done. It’s usually a misrepresentation used to trick people into thinking something was said or done by someone they recognise.
They often aim to undermine personalities in the public eye, such as politicians, but they can also be used to make you think you’re talking to someone you know, usually making you share information.
While deepfake isn’t widely used by cybercriminals yet, the number of incidents is rising. The authorities fear their potential misuse for fraudulent and disruptive purposes.
In March 2019, the first known incident of deepfake fraud occurred. A CEO of a UK energy company received a call from his boss, the head of the German parent company, or so he thought.
The UK CEO believed his boss asked for a transfer of $243,000 to the account of a supplier. He did what was asked but it transpired he had been the target of a deepfake phishing attack.
A company in the UAE was a more recent victim of a large scale deepfake fraud when a supposed company director requested a bank branch manager to transfer $35 million to accounts in other countries in order to acquire another company. But this was also a deepfake scam.
In a different approach, the FBI warned businesses that cybercriminals are using deepfakes to create employees online to apply for remote work positions, in order to gain access to corporate environments. Unfortunately, with the increase in remote working, companies are at a greater risk of deepfake scams, now that face-to-face work and communication has reduced.
Deepfake can be used in many fraudulent ways: identity theft; spreading disinformation; election manipulation, etc. The potential to manipulate public opinion or to undermine trust in business or in wider society is worrying.
Scammers pretending to be someone else is hardly a new trick, and e-mail phishing attacks that convince recipients that an e-mail is from a trusted source, in order to illicit personal information, is now a familiar tactic.
However, the thought that you can now no longer trust your own senses when speaking to someone by phone or online meeting platform adds a layer of uncertainty that impacts on business.
Earlier this year a survey revealed that two out of three respondents had experienced malicious deepfakes as part of a cyberattack, representing a 13% increase from 2021. Large tech organisations such as Microsoft and Google are actively developing tools to detect deepfake attacks.
While these tools are in the pipeline, there are other actions you can take to help protect yourself against a deepfake attack:
The software and systems we use needs routine updating. They become obsolete as threats evolve but many businesses don’t benefit from the latest software version, or from new detection packages that could spot a deepfake threat.
Deepfakes sound science-fiction, but there’s still plenty you can do to protect your business, tailored to the technologies used in your operation and the requirements of the sector you work in.
At Syn-Star, we partner many businesses through our IT Support and security services to protect their business from cybercrime and protect their business for the future. If you believe it’s time to get on top of your IT security, then contact us today for a discussion or a free, no-obligation consultation.
Anne-Marie Blazdell is a Marketing & Communications Manager with expertise in digital marketing, content creation, and IT solutions. With a strong foundation in graphic design, she trained at Farnborough College of Technology and Southampton Solent University before advancing into marketing and business IT support.
Since joining Syn-Star in 2022, Anne-Marie has specialised in crafting SEO-optimised website content, managing social media, and helping businesses navigate the complexities of IT. Her work bridges the gap between technology and business, making IT more accessible and effective.
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