How can CIOs proactively defend against AI deepfakes?

• AI-powered agents will cut in half the time cybercriminals need to compromise accounts by 2027.
• Gartner finds that 62% of organisations have experienced a deepfake attack in the past year aimed at social engineering or attacking automated systems like voice and facial recognition.
• Attackers today use generative AI (GenAI) to churn out hyper-realistic deepfakes that can slip through both automated defenses and fool humans in stressful business settings.

AI-generated disinformation campaigns, particularly those using deepfakes, are becoming one of the biggest cybersecurity headaches for organisations today.

Savvy adversaries are leveraging these tools not just to trick individuals, but to manipulate public opinion, disrupt businesses, and even pursue financial or political gain. It’s getting harder every year to keep up with both the technology and the threats!

According to a 2025 Gartner survey of 302 cybersecurity leaders, deepfakes are no longer a distant threat—they’re already hitting home. Almost half (43 per cent) of respondents reported at least one audio deepfake incident targeting their organisation, and 37 per cent ran into deepfakes on video calls.

That means we’re well past science fiction: this is a daily issue for security teams.

It’s not just scattered incidents, either. Gartner found that 62 per cent of organisations have experienced a deepfake attack in the past year aimed at social engineering or attacking automated systems like voice and facial recognition.

Why is this so worrying?

Because AI is only getting faster and better. By 2027, Gartner predicts that AI-powered agents will cut in half the time cybercriminals need to compromise accounts.

“AI agents will automate more steps in the account takeover kill chain, including using deepfake voices to make social engineering more convincing and compromising authentication channels,” notes Apeksha Kaushik, Principal Analyst at Gartner.

Attackers today use generative AI (GenAI) to churn out hyper-realistic deepfakes that can slip through both automated defences and fool humans in stressful business settings. The result? More companies are seeing unauthorised access, costly disruptions, and an urgent need to rethink security.

The trend is already shifting boardroom priorities. A 2024 Gartner survey of executives found that 62 per cent expect deepfakes to begin racking up costs and operational headaches for their organisations in just the next three years.

Related Posts:

• How deepfakes are changing reality—and can we halt them?
• Preventing misuse of deepfakes require a multi-faceted approach
  
  

Ignoring this reality isn’t an option—Kaushik warns of direct threats to business continuity, steep reputational risks, and increased regulatory scrutiny if leaders don’t address the problem head-on.

Narrative intelligence

Managing risk now means looking at the full digital attack surface. Corporate social media, publicly available data, executive images, and brand assets are all prime material for impersonators and fraudsters.

Once a false narrative or doctored content hits the internet, it’s nearly impossible to control the spread, much less restore lost trust or trace the source.

To meet this new era of risk, Gartner predicts that by 2027, half of all enterprises will invest in disinformation security products or TrustOps strategies—up from less than 5 per cent today.

The evolution goes beyond simple monitoring tools. Narrative intelligence is emerging as a new class of defense, helping organisations track perception-based and latent threats, understand how disinformation spreads, and counteract campaigns before they cause real harm.

These proactive methods give organisations an upper hand, helping them spot risks before they become crises and maintain the credibility and trust that are more vital than ever.

In today’s environment, standing still isn’t just risky—it’s an open invitation to the next wave of deepfake-fueled attacks.