By Jason Thatcher | Breacher.ai
Synthetic media has become one of the most dangerous and least understood threats to businesses today. Grossly underestimated, companies are scrambling to protect themselves. Deepfake generated videos, audio, and images that convincingly impersonate real people have evolved from novelties to weapons of deception capable of bypassing human judgment and organizational safeguards.
While enterprises work overtime to harden firewalls and deploy endpoint protection, human vulnerability remains dangerously exposed. Specifically, the most vulnerable individuals: HR, finance departments, executive assistants, helpdesk agents, remote employees, customer support reps, and even family members are becoming primary targets.
Who Are the Most Vulnerable?
When people think of cybersecurity threats, they often think of C-level executives, finance departments, or IT admins. But deepfake attackers don’t always go for the crown jewels. Instead, they exploit the chain of trust.
Profiles at high risk in a work setting:
1. Helpdesk and Customer Support Agents
Trained to be helpful and responsive, support employees often hold the keys to password resets, account verification, and remote access provisioning. A convincing deepfake voice call or video request can be all it takes. We’re seeing this tactic being used more commonly in some of the most recent breaches.
2. Remote Workers
Isolated from office culture and often communicating only via Teams, Meet, or Zoom, remote employees are especially vulnerable to deepfake impersonation. Without in-person verification, a fake face and voice on video can be enough to launch devastating internal fraud. We’re seeing this manifest in the form of fake IT workers infiltrating organizations.
3. New Employees and Interns
Still learning systems and protocols, new hires often lack the confidence to question unusual requests, especially if they seem to come from leadership. Not just Deepfakes, but phishing in general. A new employee is a prime target for fake “Onboarding requests.”
Most Vulnerable Groups to Deepfake Attacks
The Elderly
Why vulnerable:
Less familiar with evolving technologies like AI and deepfakes.
More likely to trust voices and faces at face value (especially authority figures).
Frequently targeted by phone scams already — deepfakes are just a more sophisticated version.
Example attack: Deepfake of a grandchild calling in distress, asking for emergency money or crypto.
Children & Teens
Why vulnerable:
Easily manipulated by online personalities or familiar voices.
Less aware of how tech can be weaponized.
Example attack: Deepfake of a trusted adult grooming or manipulating a child into revealing sensitive info.
Why Awareness Training is Critical
1. Deepfakes are hyper-convincing.
You won’t spot them by gut instinct alone. Awareness training teaches people how to verify, not just trust.2. Trust is weaponized.
Most deepfake attacks don’t need perfection — just enough credibility to spark urgency or fear. Awareness trains people to pause and verify before reacting.3. It shifts mindset from “Can I detect this?” to “How do I validate this?”
Smart training teaches verification habits: callbacks, second channels, password protocols, etc.
The Psychology of Trust
Deepfake attacks don’t just target technology; they exploit human psychology:
Familiarity: If it looks and sounds like your boss, it must be them.
Urgency: “This is urgent, don’t loop in anyone else.”
Authority: “I’m the CEO. Just do it.”
Social engineering layering: Attackers combine audio, video, and spoofed messages to reinforce legitimacy. These types of attacks are “Hybrid” phishing scenarios. Often the attack is initiated through one communication channel with a request to “Switch Platforms.” This is done to lure a user outside of the perimeter of security tools that exist today.
This cocktail of deception makes it increasingly difficult even for well-trained individuals to distinguish real from fake, unless they're taught a new framework of skepticism.
Training for Context, Not Just Clues
Most awareness training around deepfakes is obsolete. Telling employees to “look for irregular blinking” or “watch out for mismatched shadows” is ineffective and outdated.
What works instead is contextual awareness training. No matter how advanced Deepfakes get, or how convincing the next Veo release is… The context remains the same for fraud and deception.
The STOP Framework
Breacher.ai developed the STOP framework to combat deepfake exploitation:
S – Slow Down: Urgency is a tactic. No legitimate request should require blind compliance.
T – Trust Less: Visual and audio cues can be faked. Don’t trust what you see or hear—validate it.
O – Out-of-Band Verification: Confirm sensitive requests through a second, secure channel. Text if you received a call. Call if you received a video.
P – Policy, Procedure, Process: When in doubt, fall back on documented escalation protocols.
Simulations Over Slides
At Breacher.ai, we don’t just talk about deepfakes—we simulate them. We craft custom video and voice impersonations of an organization's real executives. We then deploy the simulations internally to measure who falls for them and why, then learn how to improve defenses.
This approach helps organizations move from passive awareness to active readiness.
It’s Not Paranoia. It’s Preparedness.
In 2024 alone, deepfake-enabled attacks caused over $1.3 billion in fraud losses globally, and that’s just what was reported. From impersonated CEOs requesting wire transfers to synthetic voices authorizing account access, the age of AI impersonation is no longer hypothetical.
The solution isn’t panic. It’s precise awareness, continuous training, and human-centric policy design.
Final Thoughts
Deepfakes are a cybersecurity threat that attacks human trust. The people most at risk are the ones least likely to question a familiar face or voice.
Organizations that want to stay ahead of the curve must recognize one thing: you can't train the eye or ear to detect deepfakes anymore, but you can train the mind to verify, question, and protect.
About the Author
Jason Thatcher is the founder of Breacher.ai and has a background spanning red teaming, adversary simulation, and security awareness. Breacher.ai takes a human-first approach to deepfake defense by building awareness through simulations and practical training, instead of fear tactics.
Like What You Read? 👀
Breacher.ai is all about helping organizations prepare for Gen AI threats like Deepfake. If you’re curious about Deepfakes, we’d love to connect. Check us out at Breacher.ai or connect with us on LinkedIn.
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