A recent security report has revealed that 97% of organizations are facing challenges with identity verification, with 52% expressing concerns about credential compromise and 50% worrying about account takeovers. Patrick Harding, Chief Product Architect at Ping Identity, emphasized the urgent need for organizations to enhance their identity protection strategies in response to the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The survey of 700 global IT decision-makers revealed that many organizations do not have proper protections against identity fraud and lack confidence in their ability to defend against AI threats.
Nearly half of the respondents admitted that their current fraud prevention strategies are not effective at protecting against credential compromise, while over half expressed concerns that AI technology could increase identity fraud. Despite these worries, 48% of IT decision-makers lacked confidence in their technology’s ability to defend against AI attacks. This lack of confidence is further highlighted by only 52% of respondents expressing high confidence in their ability to detect deepfakes of their CEOs, showcasing the growing sophistication and lack of education surrounding AI-generated content.
The rise of AI tools in the market has put users at risk of more sophisticated deepfakes and phishing scams, with the number of deepfake online content increasing by 900% between 2019 and 2020. The World Economic Forum predicts that as much as 90% of online content may be synthetically generated by 2026, raising cybersecurity concerns for businesses. Threat actors are exploiting AI to quickly take over accounts, create deepfakes, and commit identity theft, posing serious consequences for both businesses and consumers.
As a result, businesses are urged to take identity fraud seriously and bolster security on their identity infrastructure, recognizing that all unauthenticated channels will become untrustworthy by default. Without strong identity security, API security, and a least-privileged access model, attackers can breach one user’s account and move laterally through various systems to exploit valuable data. This not only impacts business operations but also erodes consumer trust and brand loyalty, as customers become more discerning about the companies they trust with their data.
To combat AI-related threats and protect against unauthorized access, organizations can implement innovative technologies and security best practices, such as securing workforce identities with single sign-on and passwordless multi-factor authentication. Identity governance practices can also help secure organizations against unauthorized access, while AI-driven capabilities can enable enterprises to quickly identify and stop threats at a massive scale. Smarter protection through AI empowers IT admins to make intelligent decisions more quickly, leading to lower deployment costs, easier integration, and a higher level of confidence in cybersecurity measures.
