Deepfakes as a Security Threat
Artificial intelligence has brought us incredible tools, from voice assistants to realistic image generators. But alongside the positive uses, one of the most concerning byproducts is the rise of deepfakes. What started as a novelty on the internet has quickly grown into a serious cybersecurity and societal threat.
Understanding Deepfakes: A Growing Security Threat
Artificial intelligence has brought us incredible tools, from voice assistants to realistic image generators. But alongside the positive uses, one of the most concerning byproducts is the rise of deepfakes. What started as a novelty on the internet has quickly grown into a serious cybersecurity and societal threat.
What Are Deepfakes?
Deepfakes are videos, images, or audio recordings that have been digitally altered or fully generated by AI to mimic real people. By training on massive datasets of someone’s face, voice, or movements, algorithms can create content that looks authentic, even if it never happened. To the human eye or ear, these manipulated clips can be almost indistinguishable from reality.
Types of Deepfakes
Deepfakes come in different forms, and some of the most common include:
- Face-swapping videos, where one person’s face is placed onto another person’s body.
- Voice cloning, which replicates a person’s speech patterns so accurately that it can bypass phone-based authentication.
- Synthetic identities, entirely AI-generated faces and voices used to build fake social media accounts or spread misinformation.
Real-World Examples of Deepfakes
Deepfakes are no longer just internet curiosities; they have already caused real damage. Some notable examples include:
- Criminals cloning a company executive’s voice to trick an employee into transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- Manipulated videos of politicians surfacing during elections, spreading misinformation and confusing voters.
- Harassment cases where fake explicit videos of individuals are created without their consent, damaging reputations and causing emotional harm.
The Impact of Deepfakes on Society
The biggest danger of deepfakes is the erosion of trust. If we can no longer believe what we see or hear, it becomes harder to distinguish truth from deception. This has wide-ranging consequences:
- For businesses, deepfakes increase the risk of fraud, brand damage, and data breaches.
- For individuals, they open the door to identity theft, blackmail, and financial scams.
- For society at large, they threaten democracy by fueling disinformation campaigns and undermining trust in legitimate media.
How to Defend Against Deepfakes
Defending against deepfakes is challenging, but there are steps we can take.
- Technology: AI-powered detection tools are being developed to identify flaws in manipulated content, such as unnatural blinking or mismatched lighting.
- Business practices: Companies can implement strict verification processes, ensuring that sensitive requests are confirmed through multiple channels.
- Personal awareness: Individuals should remain skeptical of sensational content, double-check information with trusted sources, and limit the amount of personal data they share online.
- Policy and regulation: Governments and tech platforms can introduce digital watermarks, enforce stricter content policies, and regulate the malicious use of deepfake technology.
Final Thoughts
Deepfakes are a powerful reminder that technology can be both creative and destructive. By understanding how they work, recognizing their dangers, and learning how to defend against them, we can reduce their impact. As deepfake technology grows more sophisticated, the best defense will be a mix of awareness, strong detection tools, and a critical mindset toward the digital content we consume.
Further reading
Written by
Contributing author
Wrote for Insights between June and October 2025 on the fundamentals of a sound security posture: insider threat, phishing and domain impersonation, DDoS, shadow IT, hybrid working, tabletop exercises and OWASP.
Next step
Want this looked at in your own estate?
Thirty minutes with an analyst, not a salesperson. We will tell you whether it matters to you and what to do first.
Related insights
The AI Arms Race in Cybersecurity: Defense vs. Offense in the Age of Intelligent Threats
AI in cybersecurity is reshaping attacks and defenses. Learn how both sides are using AI in this new digital arms race
Britain's exposed controllers: a UK exposure report after the French fridge attack
After Sunday's cyberattack on French supermarket refrigeration, we turned the same question on the UK. Over 800 internet-exposed refrigeration and building-management controllers answer directly to the open internet here, across Danfoss, Carel, Copeland and other vendors, and that figure is a floor rather than a ceiling. Here is what we found, why France was hit and not Britain, and what to do this week.
Cyberattack defrosts the fridges at hundreds of French supermarkets
Overnight on 11–12 October 2026, attackers reached into the refrigeration controllers of several hundred French supermarkets and switched the fridges and freezers into a defrost cycle that never ended. Intermarché, Coopérative U, Carrefour and Leclerc lost their chilled and frozen stock, the Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation, and the equipment at the centre of it is sitting on the open internet in the UK too.