What Business Needs to Know: Synthetic Voice and Image are Potential Threats

Business identity compromise

In March 2021, the FBI warned that “Business Identity Compromise” would become an “evolution” in fraudulent and deceptive techniques using advanced tools to “develop synthetic corporate personas or to create a sophisticated emulation of an existing employee.” Most recently, WilmerHale’s Matt Ferraro explained in Corporate Counsel how viral disinformation combined with synthetic media represents growing dangers for the business community.

Disinformation and deepfakes risk management

In his article, Ferraro stressed that our digital world is flooded with disinformation. Untruths and half-truths about everything from phantom voter fraud to lies about the coronavirus can be seen all across the web. This “information disorder” is not only affecting politics, it is a growing threat to businesses. Viral false information and believable synthetic media in the form of deepfakes are now being used to target the private sector. These new hazards require businesses to look for innovative ways in which to protect themselves. Legal responses and disinformation and deepfakes risk management (DDRM) are being used to combat the growing threat.

Protecting your business

According to Ferraro, in order to protect themselves, businesses should plan for disinformation and deepfakes like they plan for any crisis event. They should protect against disinformation dangers by assigning responsibilities to executives, training employees to be aware, and actively monitoring for disinformation threats.