Deepfakes and social engineering

Based on this blog from Brandon Kovacs at BishopFox.

Artificial intelligence is unleashing a dangerous new wave of social engineering, deploying hyper-realistic deepfake video and voice clones that have already tricked a finance professional into making a $25 million fraudulent transfer. Attackers craft these convincing impersonations by weaponizing a person's digital footprint, training AI on easily accessible photos and audio from public sources like social media.

This technology empowers criminals to pose as executives in live video calls, creating high-pressure situations designed to manipulate employees into authorizing fraudulent actions. Despite the sophistication of the threat, the most powerful defenses are surprisingly low-tech, relying on simple human verification like calling a trusted number back or using a pre-arranged safe word.

Check out the blog for more in-depth explanation of how it works.

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