How do you know that isn’t your boss?

When your boss calls to wire money, sounds like them, acts like them, but is actually a scam.

For many of us, including non-techies, small businesses and those with better things to do, we are becoming wise about scammers, fraud and phishing emails… right? Unfortunately, groups of very smart devious people around the world are conjuring up new ways to by-pass email filters, firewalls, and hope our staff don’t recognise it’s all a trick!

Well unfortunately, those same cunning folks have taken it a step further.

An experienced unnamed CEO of a UK-based energy firm received a call from the parent company. The group’s German Chief Executive spoke with the CEO and requested funds to be transferred, totalling approx. $243,000. Nothing unsurprising the CEO thought.

However, this was a scam, a cyber-attack.

How did the CEO not recognise his bosses voice? The caller sounded like the German Chief Executive, with the same accent and inflections.

Introducing deepfake, the suspected technology behind this attack.

You may have come across deepfake on social media. It is a technology that rapidly learns and adapts, such that deepfake listens to an individual and after sampling his or her voice can mimic its behaviour. The technology is rapidly becoming available to everyone and no longer a matter of if, but when, this technology is used on the masses. It certainly will not target large organisations only and poses as a new threat to everyone.