We are entering a very interesting era—one where we have data more readily at our fingertips than ever before, opening new worlds of opportunities for our businesses. And, yet we are also entering an era where we must be more diligent than ever before. We are already in the era of data breaches, and we are now also entering the era of deepfakes. Let’s look at some hard numbers before we go any further in the blog.
The reality is 34% of companies saw an increase in evil doers attacking vulnerabilities to gain initial access and cause havoc and security breaches according to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report. For those who are regular readers of this column or The Peggy Smedley Show, you might recognize we have been following Verizon’s Data Breach report for some time now. In fact, this report gives us a pretty good idea of what the bad guys have been up to for the past several months. And no surprise, the reality is the threats are getting more widespread—and the nefarious characters are also getting smarter.
Odds are you have likely heard of a deep fake, and there is even a chance you have already experienced one, or you will soon. A Ponemon Institute research report suggests 42% of executives report a fake image or video has already targeted their executives and board members and 66% of executives report it is highly likely a deepfake will target their executives in the future.
In case you aren’t familiar with this tactic yet, let’s review. A deepfake is when a person’s face, body, or voice is used and altered to spread false information. Bad actors can easily leverage AI (artificial intelligence) technology to mimic the voice or image of senior leaders in the company to trick others within the company to do something. In an age of work-from-home and digital conference calls, it becomes far too easy for this to happen.
The April 2025 Ponemon Institute research report dove into the topic of deepfakes in a modern era, surveying 586 professionals in the United States. More than half of these executives said deepfakes are a top worry. The two types of deepfakes of most significant concern are social impostors (53%) and financial fraud (37%).
What Can Be Done?
We must take a three-pronged approach to this challenge we currently face in our businesses. First, we must educate our workers. We must teach them the reality of modern-day business, and that deepfakes are real. We must show them examples, and we must teach them the dangers that could happen if we trust digital images and voices. We must educate on the cost to staff time and the cost to the bottomline that comes as a result.
Second, we must create policies for our businesses. How do we communicate when we are apart? How do we share critical information? Is there a system of checks and balances in place? Roughly 56% of the respondents to the Ponemon Institute survey suggest implementing a zero-trust mindset.
Finally, many business leaders are calling for new technologies to combat this threat. To protect business leaders from this emerging threat, 53% of survey participants said technologies that enable executives to verify the identity and authentication of messages they receive are critical. Along the same lines, we must have a dedicated tech team to help detect and respond to threats when they inevitably do occur.
What would you add? What else can be done in an era of deepfakes? We must educate, create policies, and consider how technology—and tech teams—can better arm us for the future. What would you add?
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