Extract from “Deepfakes Bring Deep Risk”
Most people know what a deepfake is but have not put much thought into how it could affect business operations. Deepfakes are videos, pictures, or audio that have been convincingly manipulated to misrepresent a person saying something they never said or doing something that they never did. Machine learning tools make connections between the subject’s physical attributes, sounds, and other unique identifiers to create extremely realistic outputs. Historically, deepfakes were used for things like movie dubbing. Now, cybercriminals use deepfakes maliciously for various reasons from impersonating political figures to scam attempts.
But how worried should organizations be about falling victim to deepfakes and what are the potential repercussions? Analysts would say to be very concerned, with 66 percent of participants in a 2022 VMware survey reporting that their organization experienced a deepfake incident. This year was a 13% increase over the year prior, a significant leap over a short period of time. Organizations should include the risk of deepfakes in their cyber readiness initiatives if not doing so already. Proactive planning prior to an incident can save precious time and ensure smooth service delivery when it counts most.
Risk Analysis
To appropriately evaluate risk, it is key to understand how certain attacks can infiltrate and affect an organization. Cybercriminals can access public company data and make changes or synthesize new content.
