Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly evolved from a futuristic concept to a potent weapon in the hands of bad actors. Today, AI-based attacks are not just theoretical threats—they're happening across industries and outpacing traditional defense mechanisms.
The solution, however, is not futuristic. It turns out a properly designed identity security platform is able to deliver defenses against AI impersonation fraud. Read more about how a secure-by-design identity platform can eliminate AI deepfake fraud and serve as a critical component in this new era of cyber defense.
The Growing Threat of AI Impersonation Fraud
Recent incidents highlight the alarming potential of AI-powered fraud:
- A staggering $25 million was fraudulently transferred during a video call where deepfakes impersonated multiple executives.
- KnowBe4, a cybersecurity leader, was duped by deepfakes during hiring interviews, allowing a North Korean attacker to be onboarded to the organization.
- CEO of WPP, the largest ad firm in the world, was targeted with a deepfake attempting to solicit money and personal details over virtual conferencing.
- US Senator targeted by a deepfake of a Ukrainian diplomat on a Zoom call in an attempt at election interference.
These cases underscore a critical truth: attackers have and will continue to exploit every tool at their disposal to breach organizations, and AI has simplified their efforts significantly while lowering costs.
The Limitations of Current Solutions
While the cybersecurity industry has responded with deepfake detection tools and enhanced end-user training, these approaches are fundamentally flawed because:
- The AI Arms Race: Deepfake detection and deepfake generators are locked in a perpetual struggle since one model trains the other, with neither side maintaining a lasting advantage
- Probabilistic Detection: Detection solutions offer probabilistic defenses, leaving room for error
- Burden on End Users: Relying on user vigilance places an unrealistic expectation on individuals to discern increasingly sophisticated deceptions.
A Paradigm Shift: AI Defense as an Extension of Identity Security
AI impersonation fraud is yet another manifestation of weak identity security. In these attacks, bad actors still must first compromise the identity of a legitimate user undetected in order to convincingly extort victims for financial gain and political influence.
While many AI detection tools make best guesses at identifying deepfakes, a secure-by-design identity platform can provide cryptographic assurances that a user is who they say they are and using a trusted and compliant device.
Key advantages of a secure-by-design identity platform include:
- Strong identity assurance: Phishable credentials make it easy for malicious actors to assume the identity of a legitimate user. Beyond Identity only authenticates users with phishing-resistant credentials using device-bound passkeys to eliminate identity-based attacks.
- Device security compliance: Only allow recognized devices that pass your security checks to access company resources, including video conferencing and other collaboration tools
- Holistic risk assessment: Use real-time user and device risk signals captured by our platform and risk signals gathered from other security tools in your environment to make precise and adaptive access decisions.
Introducing RealityCheck by Beyond Identity
Beyond Identity's RealityCheck extends our secure-by-design identity platform to deliver defense against AI deepfake fraud. In addition to strong identity assurance, device security compliance, and holistic risk assessments, this feature provides visual attestations of identity and device security within video conferencing and communication tools.
Ensuring identity and device security is the necessary first step to successfully preventing AI deepfake fraud. The second step is to make that assurance known to end-users with a tamper-proof visual badge so they can collaborate confidently with the right person – this is what RealityCheck delivers. Currently, RealityCheck is integrated with Zoom and Microsoft Teams with additional integrations with Slack and email coming soon.
Ready to defend your organization from AI deepfake fraud?
A secure-by-design identity platform is defined by its ability to eradicate identity risks from the ground up, providing robust defense against current and emerging threats, including MFA bypass, phishing, and AI impersonation fraud.
RealityCheck is part of Beyond Identity's Secure Access Platform, the only IAM platform architected to eliminate identity attacks. With the changing landscape of identity-based threats, extending our core security assurances to defend against AI impersonation attacks became imperative.
With RealityCheck by Beyond Identity, you can safeguard video conferencing tools with secure-by-design identity foundations and visual, tamper-proof attestations. Get in touch for a personalized demo to see firsthand how the solution works.
Found this article interesting? This article is a contributed piece from one of our valued partners. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.