IRONSCALES
released a new industry report,
Deepfakes:
Assessing Organizational Readiness in the Face of This Emerging Cyber Threat. Based on the survey responses of
over 200 IT professionals, the report points to a number of leading indicators
related to the looming cybersecurity threat posed by deepfake technologies.
Among the most compelling findings from the report is the fact that, despite
near-ubiquitous concern surrounding the security implications of deepfakes
(94%), less than half (42%) of respondents felt very confident about their
organization's ability to defend against deepfake-enabled attacks.
The report comes at a time when the
increasing sophistication of deepfake technologies has left many
struggling to discern the artificially generated content from reality. At the same
time, we find ourselves in the middle of one of the biggest election years in modern history-with more than 60 countries,
representing over half the entire global population, voting in democratic
elections in 2024. This confluence of efficacy and opportunity has rapidly
transformed deepfakes from a mere technological novelty into a real and imminent
security threat.
"As deepfakes grow increasingly
sophisticated, and motivations for misuse abound, there is a clear and growing
sense of worry taking hold among industry professionals," said Eyal Benishti,
founder and CEO at IRONSCALES. "However, one of the most startling revelations
to emerge from this report is just how widespread and severe this concern
really is. Worse yet, by all indications, it appears those closest to the
problem are in agreement that the worst of what deepfake-enabled threats has to
offer is still yet to come."
The report goes on to detail a
number of interesting findings that highlight the severity of the threat posed
by deepfake technologies, both currently and in the near future. Some key
findings include:
- Concerns around deepfakes are
increasingly widespread and rapidly intensifying:
○ Over 94% of IT professionals
express some level of concern about the threat deepfakes currently pose to
their organizations.
○ When asked about the threat
deepfakes will pose in the near future, the percentage of "very concerned" respondents rose sharply, to a
staggering 74%.
- Deepfake defense is quickly climbing
toward the top of organizations' priorities:
○ Over 43% of IT professionals say
deepfake defense will rank as their organizations' top security priority in the next
12-18 months.
○ An additional 48% acknowledge that
it will be an important part of their security operations.
- Email emerges as the most
commonly-used and worrying avenue of attack for deepfake-driven threats:
○ Targeted phishing emails are the
second most commonly-encountered type of deepfake-driven cyber attacks today,
surpassed only by static imagery, and by a margin of just 5%.
○ The majority of professionals (53%)
believe email represents an "extreme threat" as a channel for deepfake-driven attacks, surpassing
all other avenues, including social media and messaging apps.
Together, these findings paint a
worrying picture of deepfakes and their role in both the current and future
threat landscapes.
To take a closer look at the report findings, including how
organizations plan to prepare for the impending flood of deepfake-driven
cyberattacks, download
a complete copy of the report here.