BlackCloak, the pioneer in Digital Executive Protection for executive leaders, board members, and their families as well as family offices and high-net-worth individuals, announced its new Identity Verification solution. The new solution protects users from all types of impersonation and scam campaigns, including deepfake-powered attacks, targeting high-profile executives and individuals.
Leveraging AI and publicly available audio, video, and images, attackers create convincing fake videos and audio recordings of executives asking employees or family members to transfer funds or take other actions that compromise company assets or confidential data. BlackCloak’s new Identity Verification offering is the first to address this rapidly emerging cybersecurity issue by enabling customers who receive a suspicious email to verify the sender’s identity and ensure the message is authentic. The feature is part of the company’s industry-leading Digital Executive Protection (DEP) Framework, setting the standard for modern Digital Executive Protection.
Business leaders and individuals with significant net worth, including professional athletes and celebrities, face this growing threat. A recent report from the Ponemon Institute highlighted the escalating problem. The report, Deepfake Deception: How AI Harms the Fortunes and Reputation of Executives and Corporations, a survey of 586 IT and security practitioners in the U.S., revealed that 42 percent of respondents said their executives and board members had been targeted at least once by a fake image or video. Additionally, 66 percent of respondents said it is highly likely that a future deepfake will target their executives, while 53 percent said technologies that enable executives to verify the identity and authentication of messages they receive are highly important.
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Furthermore, consulting firm Deloitte’s Center for Financial Services predicts that generative AI could enable fraud losses to reach $40 billion in the U.S. by 2027, representing a significantly pressing threat to individuals and corporations.
“The deepfake threat is real. And it’s costing businesses huge sums of money,” said Dr. Chris Pierson, Founder and CEO of BlackCloak. “Unfortunately, the cybersecurity industry to date has been unable to provide the necessary tools to detect and stop deepfakes targeting executives, as systems typically must be placed between the attacker and the target to analyze content. Because it’s impossible to monitor every communication channel within an organization, attackers target less protected avenues, like an executive’s personal phone or email.
“Our solution allows the recipient of a suspicious communication of any type to send an identity verification request directly to the sender using BlackCloak as their trusted intermediary,” said Matt Covington, Vice President of Product for BlackCloak. “This approach is the most effective way to find and stop such malicious content from causing significant financial damage. We’re excited to launch this critical solution as part of our expanding digital executive protection offering.”
BlackCloak Stops Fraud in its Tracks
BlackCloak’s new Identity Verification feature targets phishing campaigns, such as deepfakes, by allowing the user to prompt the sender to validate that they are who they claim to be through the BlackCloak mobile app. The new feature can combat the impact of deepfakes containing the following attributes:
- Synthetic Media: Created using artificial intelligence, particularly “deep learning” techniques, to generate realistic but fake audio, video, or images.
- Facial Manipulation: The ability to swap or mimic a target individual’s facial features, expressions, and movements with high accuracy.
- Voice Cloning: Replicates the tone, pitch, and style of a person’s voice, often combined with text-to-speech technology.
- Behavioral Mimicry: Imitates the target individual’s body language, gestures, and speaking style.
BlackCloak offers a comprehensive platform and services to safeguard executives and their families from online threats across every facet of their connected worlds — from smart devices and online accounts to home networks. Services include data broker removal, sophisticated privacy protections, and monitoring and safeguarding their devices, home networks, and smart home technology. Its bespoke solutions and around-the-clock expert care deliver peace of mind to clients in knowing their family, identity, reputation, and finances are secured.
Source: PRWeb