The Corporate Risk Of Deepfake Deception

Uploaded on 2025-06-24 in TECHNOLOGY--Resilience, FREE TO VIEW

Trust has always been a cornerstone of business – between colleagues, customers, partners and the wider public. But in a digital environment where convincing fakes can now be generated with minimal effort, that trust is becoming increasingly fragile.

Deepfakes – AI-generated video, audio or imagery designed to mimic real people or content – are no longer a fringe risk confined to politics or entertainment. They’re emerging as a potent new vulnerability across sectors, capable of undermining communication, damaging reputations, and triggering real-world consequences in seconds.

This isn’t tomorrow’s problem. It’s already affecting organisations today – especially those responsible for critical services, financial flows or high-trust environments. And as access to generative AI becomes widespread, businesses must rethink how they define and defend the truth.

Trust, Fractured

Until recently, the signs of deception were easier to spot. A misspelled domain, a robotic voice, an image that didn’t quite match. Now, with off-the-shelf tools and little technical know-how, even amateurs can create content convincing enough to bypass instinct – and in some cases, security controls.

The result is a growing environment of doubt. It’s not just about being fooled by a fabricated video of a CEO or a fake voicemail from finance. It’s about the psychological effect: when people start to distrust what they see or hear, they hesitate, they second-guess, and in some cases, they disengage.

That uncertainty can be weaponised. Deepfakes aren’t always used to impersonate – sometimes, they’re used to deny. This so-called ‘liar’s dividend’ means even genuine content can be cast into doubt, simply because the technology exists to fake it. It creates a grey zone where truth itself becomes contestable.

Corporate Exposure Is Growing

The commercial risks are expanding as deepfakes move from targeted cyber scams to broader strategic threats.
In sectors like facilities management, logistics, and critical infrastructure, the convergence of physical and digital security is already a pressing issue. A fake ID video could be used to manipulate access systems. A false command message might redirect operations. In high-pressure, high-trust settings, the consequences aren’t just reputational – they can affect safety, compliance and service continuity.

And the numbers are accelerating. From 500,000 deepfakes circulating in 2023 to an estimated 8 million by 2025, businesses are facing a sharp learning curve – one that spans technology, training and organisational culture.

Building Resilience, Not Just Defences

OCS, with operations spanning both public and private sectors, sees resilience not as a siloed function but a shared responsibility. As part of its Six Pillars of Resilience – highlighted during the company’s annual Resilience Week – the focus is on integration: combining cyber intelligence with physical security and people-centred policies.
It’s an approach that reflects the complexity of modern threats. Deepfakes can’t be addressed by technology alone.

Detection tools are improving, but even top-rated systems have shown a 50% drop in accuracy when tested on real-world material. The technology is evolving faster than the tools to spot it.

So, what can businesses do now? First, they need to train their teams to recognise and question unexpected or emotionally charged requests, particularly those that create a sense of urgency. Processes should also be tightened, with sensitive actions – such as financial approvals or access decisions – requiring multiple forms of verification, not just a single point of confirmation.

Creating a culture where people feel confident to question or challenge something that doesn’t feel right is just as important, with psychological safety playing a key role in early detection. And finally, leadership must be actively engaged.

Boards and senior managers need to understand that this isn’t just a technical threat – it’s a reputational one.

The Ethical Edge

There’s also a bigger conversation to be had about accountability. Who owns the response when a deepfake is used to impersonate, mislead or manipulate? What happens when reputations are damaged by something that looks real, but isn’t?

As businesses grapple with these dilemmas, one principle becomes clear: defending against deepfakes isn’t just about stopping fakes. It’s about reinforcing trust – in people, in processes and in what we choose to believe.
In this artificial age, truth itself has become a business asset.

The organisations that succeed won’t just be those with the best tech – they’ll be the ones with the strongest standards, the clearest communication and the most resilient culture.

Neil Weller is Group CISO at OCS

Image: Lumezia

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