Page 159 - Cyber Defense eMagazine July 2024

Tips for Detecting and Preventing Multi-Channel Impersonation

Attacks

The use of AI to defend deepfakes and scammers is becoming a business imperative

By Abhilash Garimella, Head of Research at Bolster

Recently, the CEO of the world’s biggest advertising group, Mark Read, was the target of a deepfake
scam using an AI-based voice clone. Read disclosed that scammers used a publicly available photo to
create a fake WhatsApp account under his name, and that account was used to arrange a Microsoft
Teams call between one of his agency heads, a senior executive, and the scammers. Once inside the
Teams meeting, a voice clone with YouTube footage of the other executive was used, while the
scammers impersonated him off-camera using the chat function.

While the scam was unsuccessful this time, deepfakes and impersonation attempts are becoming
increasingly common and sophisticated, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. Unfortunately,
this example is among the most common applications of deepfakes, along with fraudulent videos of

Cyber Defense eMagazine – July 2024 Edition 159
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