Artificial Intelligence is making it easier than ever to create convincing fake images, videos and audio recordings. And while these tools have useful applications, the same technologies can imitate real people and deceive platforms for malicious purposes.
For companies, this is no longer just a reputational concern. A deepfake of a senior executive can be used to approve a payment, request confidential information, or convince an employee to bypass a critical security process. Businesses need to understand how deepfakes work and prepare their teams to avoid them.
What Are Deepfakes?
Deepfakes are synthetic media created using artificial intelligence and deep learning techniques. They may replace a person’s face, copy their voice, or make them appear to say or do something that never happened.
A deepfake can be a video, image, or audio clip. It can also be generated during a live video call using a fake camera feed. The objective is to make fabricated content appear authentic enough to influence the viewer.
Not every edited video is a deepfake. Shallowfakes, sometimes called cheap fakes, rely on simpler techniques such as changing video speed, removing context, editing captions or combining unrelated clips. Deepfakes often use AI techniques to generate or manipulate facial movements, voices, and other personal characteristics.
How Do Deepfakes Work?
To create a deepfake, an AI system may use images, videos, or audio samples of the person being impersonated. For an image or a video, the system analyzes and trains on facial structure, expressions, head movements, speech patterns and tone of voice.
Once enough data is available, the system can generate new content that imitates the person being impersonated. A face may be placed onto another person’s body, while a cloned voice is added to match the speech. Lighting, colour and lip movement are then adjusted to make the result more convincing.
How Deepfakes Threaten Companies
One of the biggest corporate risks is executive impersonation. An attacker may imitate a CEO, CFO or senior manager and contact an employee with a seemingly urgent request. The employee may be asked to transfer money, disclose credentials, share documents or ignore an established approval process.
Deepfakes can also make phishing and business email compromise attacks more convincing. Instead of relying only on a suspicious email, the attacker can follow it with a convincing voice call or video meeting. This extra layer may make the request feel legitimate.
Other risks include bypassing identity verification systems, opening fraudulent accounts, spreading false statements and creating fake advertisements using an executive’s fake version. Even when proven false, the content can still damage customer trust and the company’s reputation.
How to Protect Your Company Against Deepfakes
The most effective protection is ensuring that a voice or video call is never treated as sufficient proof for a sensitive request. Payments, credential changes, data disclosures and unusual account activities should require separate authentication or identity verification.
The verification system can support multiple channels, and can be developed internally or via a ready-to-integrate platform like Authentica. Companies can also create internal verification phrases or challenge questions for urgent requests. Calling the person back through a known number, confirming the request through an internal platform, or requiring approval from a second employee can provide additional verification for highly critical requests or actions.
Multi-factor authentication should protect accounts, while identity verification systems should include liveness detection that checks whether a real person is present. Combining facial verification with document checks, behavioural biometrics or another authentication method makes it harder to trick the system.
Final Thoughts
Deepfakes change the assumption that seeing or hearing someone is enough to confirm their identity. Companies should not rely on video or voice alone when approving sensitive actions. Strong verification procedures, modern identity management with a dedicated platform like Authentica and informed employees provide a more reliable defence.