Deepfake technology is rapidly evolving, making it easier for cybercriminals to manipulate digital content and deceive individuals and organisations. One of the most concerning threats that has emerged from this technology is deepfake social engineering – a sophisticated cyber attack method that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to create realistic fake audio, video, or images to manipulate and defraud targets.

How does deepfake social engineering work?

Deepfake social engineering exploits human trust by using highly realistic digital impersonations to manipulate individuals into revealing sensitive information, authorising financial transactions, or taking actions that compromise security. Attackers typically use AI-driven tools to generate deepfakes, which can be deployed in various ways, such as:

• Business Email Compromise (BEC) and voice fraud – Attackers use deepfake voice cloning to impersonate a senior executive and instruct employees to transfer funds or share confidential data.
• Fake video conferencing attacks – Cybercriminals create deepfake videos of executives or colleagues to manipulate employees into following fraudulent instructions.
• Misinformation and reputational damage – Deepfakes can be used to generate fake statements from executives or employees, potentially damaging a company’s reputation and brand, causing a decrease in market value.
• Credential theft – Attackers may use deepfake videos or images in phishing campaigns to trick employees into disclosing their login credentials or approving fraudulent access requests.

Tools used by attackers

Cybercriminals now have access to a range of AI-powered tools that facilitate deepfake social engineering. Some of the most common tools include:

• DeepFaceLab – An open-source deepfake software that enables users to swap faces in videos.
• Synthesia – A tool that allows the creation of realistic AI-generated video avatars, which can be exploited for fraudulent impersonation.
• Hedra - A tool that can be used to synchronise cloned audio with a still image to create a fake video of someone speaking any given text.
• Respeecher and ElevenLabs – AI-driven voice cloning tools that enable cybercriminals to replicate a person’s voice with high accuracy.
• Zao and FaceSwap – Mobile applications that generate realistic face-swapping videos, which can be weaponised for fraud.

Note – the above tools all have benign and beneficial uses, so it is the misuse of these tools for nefarious purposes that is being highlighted and not meant as any slight on the companies behind them.

How businesses can counter deepfake social engineering

To mitigate the risks associated with deepfake social engineering, businesses must adopt a multi-layered defence strategy incorporating threat intelligence and digital risk protection services.

1. leverage threat intelligence

Threat intelligence helps organisations stay ahead of emerging deepfake threats by monitoring cybercriminal activity and identifying potential risks. Businesses should:

• Use dark web monitoring to detect if executive or employee biometrics (such as voice or facial data) have been compromised.
• Analyse attack trends to identify industries and roles most targeted by deepfake scams.
• Deploy AI-driven behavioural analysis tools to detect anomalies in communication patterns.

2. implement digital risk protection services

Digital risk protection services help businesses proactively identify and mitigate deepfake threats before they cause harm. Key measures include:

• Executive identity monitoring – Scanning the internet for unauthorised deepfake content impersonating company leaders.
• AI-powered fraud detection – Using deepfake detection tools to validate video and voice authenticity in high-risk transactions.
• Social media and brand monitoring – Identifying and taking down fraudulent content that could damage the organisation’s reputation.
• Monitor for cloned websites and copycat domains – digital watermarking of your website, and monitoring for copycat domains, typosquatting, and logo misuse can help identify malicious impersonation of your digital presence before it can be exploited.

3. educate and train employees

Employee awareness is critical in countering deepfake social engineering. Organisations should:

• Train employees to recognise deepfake threats and verify suspicious communications.
• Encourage multi-channel authentication before approving sensitive requests.
• Implement clear escalation protocols for verifying high-risk transactions.
• Include deepfake testing as part of the regular cybersecurity, going beyond email phishin only to include messaging, images and audio and video deepfakes

4. enhance authentication measures

Traditional security measures may not be sufficient against deepfake threats. Businesses should reinforce their authentication processes by:

• Using multi-factor authentication (MFA) to reduce the risk of credential theft.
• Implementing liveness detection in biometric security to differentiate real users from deepfakes.
• Restricting access to sensitive information using role-based access controls.
• Implement zero trust to ensure least privilege access and continuous verification

5. make processes more robust to deepfake attack

Evaluate your critical processes for robustness to deepfake attack. In particular, make sure any high stakes process involving the likes of financial transactions, updating payees, sharing sensitive data, and so forth do not solely depend on a digital interaction with a familiar colleague or internal authoriser. Ensure that both biometric and non-biometric mechanisms and approval chains can survive such attacks. Update processes accordingly and test regularly.

Deepfake social engineering represents a growing cyber threat that businesses cannot afford to ignore. By combining threat intelligence, digital risk protection, employee education, advanced authentication measures, and strengthening controls, organisations can fortify their defences against this evolving attack vector. Investing in proactive security strategies today will help businesses mitigate deepfake risks and protect their financial and reputational interests in the age of synthetic digital media.

If you are worried about any of the threats outlined in this blog or need help in determining what steps you should take to protect yourself from the most material threats facing your organisation, please contact your account manager, or alternatively Get in touch to find out how you can protect your organisation. 

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