Deepfake Scams: 8 Strategies to Protect Your Organization

According to a survey conducted by eMarketer, almost 49% of businesses are badly affected by Deepfake scams. Hackers use video deepfakes to deceive people in cyberfraud and identity thefts. Globally, over 58% of businesses have reported or faced identity theft, which uses AI and ML techniques to impersonate someone familiar. This makes it difficult to categorize what is real or fake.

Deepfakes have become a major threat, making it difficult to identify and recognize fake digital media on the Internet. To stop these next-generation cyberfraud, it’s important to understand every aspect of deepfake scams and apply preventive strategies to keep organizations and businesses safe on the Internet.

In this blog, we will learn about deepfakes, how they work, and the various security measures needed to apply for keeping people safe on digital platforms.

What is Deepfake Technology?

The word “Deepfake,” is made of two words which include “Deep” which refers to deep learning, and “fake” which stands for something that is artificial. 

Deepfake technology uses deep learning techniques to impersonate people to create realistic but fake videos or audio recordings which are intended to deceive people in scams or cyberattacks. Hackers use AI and machine learning technologies to create deepfakes without the consent of people. Attackers deceive employees by impersonating senior-level executives and trick them to transfer monetary funds or reveal confidential company details. 

The realistic nature of deepfakes has made it difficult to differentiate between real and fake. In today’s time, Deepfake scams have become a global issue which is affecting organizations and businesses globally. 

To reduce the chances of becoming a victim over digital platforms there is a need to strengthen the defense mechanism of an organization and provide security awareness training to employees to strengthen security posture and make employees ready against cyberattacks.

Some Common Deepfake Techniques Used by Hackers

The detection of deepfakes has become a huge challenge as these have become so sophisticated that it’s difficult to recognize them.

Here are various deepfake techniques used to deceive people:

• For the creation of deepfakes, attackers use GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks) to create fake content and use a discriminator to evaluate the authenticity.

• By using futuristic technologies like AI and Machine learning, analyzing, and manipulating facial features becomes easy. Further, these are used for creating realistic fake media.

• Hackers use identity impersonation techniques to trick employees of the organization into money transfers or revealing sensitive information such as login credentials and bank details.
• Currently one of the famous techniques used by hackers is video manipulation which is intended to damage reputation or mislead people to believe in fake information.
• To mimic someone’s actual voice, techniques like voice cloning are used to create synthetic voices to appear as someone legitimate.

Example of  Real-Life Incidents of Deepfake Scams

CEO Voice Impersonation Fraud (2019)

Incident

In 2019, hackers used deepfake technology to mimic the voice of the CEO of a UK-based energy company. The attackers called the CEO’s subordinate and tricked him into transferring a fund of $243,000 in the name of a supposed supplier.

Outcome

The subordinate believed that it was a call from his superior and transferred the money. These funds were transferred to a Hungarian bank account and the attackers disappeared with the money.

Takeaway

This incident demanded the need for proper security awareness training and highlighted the concern about the growing voice cloning deepfakes used for financial gains.

Risks Organizations Face Due to Deepfakes

• Reputational Damage
• Security Breaches
• Financial loss
• Increase in scams and fraudulent activities.
• Impersonation of senior executives

Prevention Strategies for Organizations to Avoid Deepfake Scams

1. Organizations need to implement a zero-trust security framework to strengthen their security posture against deepfakes.
2. Educating and providing training to the employees can help in recognizing and mitigating the risk of deepfakes.
3. There is a need to implement encrypted communications for secure communication channels and apply MFA to stop unauthorized access.
4. Employees need to double-check unusual requests and this can be useful to detect unusual attempts.
5. Maintaining a backup of original files is an important aspect that can help check authenticity if required.
6. The use of advanced AI and machine learning tools can help detect deepfakes.
7. Organizations need to implement role-based access to keep confidential information safe.
8. Software needs to be updated to the latest version to avoid any vulnerabilities or malware infecting IT devices.

Conclusion

Deepfakes have become a serious threat to organizations. To tackle these types of modern threats organizations need to provide proper security awareness training to their employees and apply various preventative measures to reduce the risks of deepfake attacks. 

There is a need to establish important security protocols and conduct security audits to fix vulnerabilities and enhance the security posture of the organization. Using advanced technologies can streamline the detection and monitoring process, and also help to identify various trends in deepfake technology.

Milind Udbhav

Technical Content Writer at Threatcop

Milind Udbhav is a cybersecurity researcher and technology enthusiast. As a Technical Content Writer at Threatcop, he uses his research experience to create informative content which helps audience to understand core concepts easily.

Milind Udbhav Technical Content Writer

Technical Content Writer at Threatcop Milind Udbhav is a cybersecurity researcher and technology enthusiast. As a Technical Content Writer at Threatcop, he uses his research experience to create informative content which helps audience to understand core concepts easily.