'Be on alert' | Deepfake audio of CEO used in attempt to trick employee

A software firm has issued a warning to businesses around the world after scammers used deepfake audio of their CEO in a failed phishing attempt.

LastPass, a password management platform used by millions of users and over 100,000 businesses worldwide, revealed that an employee was targeted by scammers impersonating the company’s CEO, Karim Toubba.

It is theorised that the con artists had used YouTube videos of Toubba speaking at conferences to generate a near-perfect copy of his voice.

Although the audio was highly accurate, the target employee was quick to spot the telltale signs of a scam, notably that the messages were sent outside normal working hours, and via WhatsApp – a channel not used by LastPass for company communications.