The interconnectedness of our digital world brings a wealth of advantages, together with the flexibility to conduct duties that have been as soon as guide with higher velocity and comfort. On the identical time, society faces an ever-expanding set of risks, each personally and professionally, each day. For enterprise executives specifically, the frequently evolving risk panorama is now one the place the strains between private {and professional}, in addition to digital and bodily, are more and more blurred.
The newest findings from the Ponemon Institute underscore this new actuality. Primarily based on a survey of almost 600 U.S. safety professionals, Ponemon’s new 2025 Digital Govt Safety Report exhibits a notable improve in assaults concentrating on enterprise leaders, with survey respondents reporting an increase from 43% in 2023 to 51% in 2025. A mix of things is driving this pattern: executives’ expansive digital footprints, mixed with unmonitored and insecure house networks and private units, which are sometimes used for work functions.
The Report additionally highlights a normal lack of cybersecurity coaching and preparedness amongst firms to forestall such assaults. In consequence, company executives are caught in an ideal storm, wealthy with alternatives for cybercriminals to trigger monetary and reputational hurt – to leaders, their households, and their firms.
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Brian Hill
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Head of Safety Providers at BlackCloak.
The Escalating Threat of Deepfakes
When inspecting the kinds of assaults concentrating on executives that trigger probably the most hurt, the Ponemon findings reveal a rise in deepfake impersonation assaults, from 34% of respondents reporting an incident in 2023 to 41% in 2025. Deepfakes are synthetic photos or movies created by AI, skilled on a group of genuine media samples of the person being focused, together with nonetheless photos, movies, and audio clips, all of that are simply discovered on-line. The extra samples used, the extra genuine the deepfake can look like.
Given their extremely seen public profiles and prolific social media exercise, enterprise executives, high-net-worth people, and their relations are simple targets. In accordance with the Ponemon survey, the commonest deepfakes skilled are impersonation of executives’ trusted entities and pressing calls for for funds or details about a detected safety breach.
Of these focused, 28% reported being impersonated by a trusted entity, akin to a colleague, govt, member of the family, or identified group; 21% acknowledged that executives and board members acquired pressing messages, together with calls for for quick cost or details about a detected safety breach.
Moreover, 42% of respondents acknowledged that their organizations’ executives and board members have been focused a mean of thrice by a faux picture, whereas 66% of respondents indicated that it’s extremely seemingly their executives will likely be focused by a deepfake sooner or later.
Survey respondents disclosed that the monetary toll of deepfakes is neither identified nor measured. Nevertheless, most respondents cited the price of workers time spent responding to assaults and the expense of detecting, figuring out, and remedying the breach as probably the most severe monetary penalties stemming from such assaults.
Why are deepfakes on the rise?
There are a number of causes for the rising variety of deepfake assaults. First, the barrier to creating refined and convincing deepfakes continues to drop, given quick access to AI instruments and different applied sciences that energy social engineering assaults. In accordance with the Ponemon report, visibility challenges additionally make it troublesome to detect assault ways, akin to deepfakes; half of the respondents acknowledged that their staff lacked the mandatory perception to forestall a breach.
The report’s findings align with my staff’s day by day observations on the entrance strains: the risk panorama is quickly evolving and increasing, placing a bullseye on the backs of high-profile, high-value executives for each cyber and bodily assaults. Over the previous few years, now we have witnessed an acceleration of refined ways, akin to deepfakes and impersonation scams, that immediately goal these leaders of their private digital lives. Hackers perceive that executives’ private units and residential networks might be a straightforward pathway to penetrating company defenses.
Securing the corporate community and infrastructure is crucial, nevertheless it nonetheless leaves gaps. Defending the group’s leaders — and their households — is crucial to decreasing company threat, making Digital Govt Safety a non-negotiable safety crucial.
How can organizations forestall future incidents?
A multi-faceted, holistic method that focuses on each strong long-term prevention and quick injury mitigation is required.
I strongly advocate a prevention technique that encompasses complete protection in depth, together with implementing strong e-mail safety protocols, establishing sturdy multi-factor authentication (MFA) throughout all accounts, and deploying safe password managers, together with steady monitoring of house networks and units.
Key to this method is minimizing executives’ digital footprints, proactively monitoring their private units and residential networks for threats, and educating them and their households on finest practices for on-line security.
Within the aftermath of any assault – whether or not a deepfake impersonation resulting in fraud or a complicated phishing try – crucial steps ought to be taken swiftly, akin to conducting knowledge dealer elimination, initiating credit score freezes, disputing fraudulent fees with monetary establishments, and securing compromised accounts to forestall additional monetary loss or knowledge exfiltration.
To adequately safe people towards at the moment’s – and tomorrow’s – refined cyber threats, extending complete privateness and cybersecurity far past the company perimeter is crucial. Digital Govt Safety is critical to safeguard leaders and their households throughout each aspect of their linked lives – from their private good units and on-line accounts to complete house networks and good house know-how.
The rising tide of deepfake assaults, as revealed by the Ponemon Report, underscores a crucial shift within the cybersecurity panorama: executives are actually prime targets, their digital lives serving as a susceptible gateway to enterprise compromise. This escalating risk, fueled by simply accessible AI and a widespread lack of complete private safety coaching, calls for a holistic and proactive method.
Organizations should prolong strong digital govt safety to their leaders and their households, encompassing the whole lot from digital footprint discount and system hardening to superior risk monitoring and fast incident response, giving them peace of thoughts that they’re secure from escalating cyber and bodily threats.
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