CISOs Reported Rising Deepfake Incidents in Past Year
Gartner surveys detail how AI-generated social engineering is increasingly impacting corporate audio and video calls.
Updated on Sept. 22, 2026 in Cybersecurity
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A survey of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) found that 41% of respondents encountered deepfake social engineering during audio calls and 36% during video calls over the past 12 months. These findings highlight the integration of AI-driven impersonation into standard corporate communication attacks.
Why it matters
The shift toward AI-enabled social engineering threatens traditional verification methods used in business communications. As cybercriminals leverage these tools to compromise organizations, security leaders are forced to re-evaluate how they secure audio and video infrastructure.
Gartner reported that 41% of CISOs faced audio-based deepfakes and 36% faced video-based deepfakes, alongside 79% who reported phishing or business email compromise. Additionally, 58% of respondents encountered vishing — voice-based phishing — or smishing, which is phishing via SMS.
The players
Gartner
A global research and advisory firm that provides insights and data-driven analysis for IT and security leadership.
The details
Cybercriminals are using artificial intelligence to automate social engineering tactics by generating synthetic audio and video representations of trusted individuals. These incidents typically occur during employee calls, where attackers use AI to mimic voices or faces to deceive staff into providing sensitive data or access. This bypasses legacy security protocols that rely on recognizing a speaker's voice or a participant's visual presence during remote meetings.
Timeline
The reported incidents occurred within the past 12 months.
The Tech Race
This data quantifies the transition of AI-driven deception from experimental research into active, high-frequency cyber threats. It establishes a benchmark for how quickly generative AI tools are being operationalized by attackers compared to traditional phishing campaigns.
Organizations should expect current security awareness training to shift toward identifying AI-generated inconsistencies in video and audio streams. Employees are now the primary line of defense against these impersonation attempts, necessitating new verification protocols for sensitive internal calls.
The takeaway
The rise in synthetic social engineering necessitates a move toward multi-factor authentication methods that do not rely on visual or auditory recognition alone. Security leaders should track future Gartner reports to monitor whether these incidence rates accelerate as generative AI tools become more accessible.
Further reading
For broader trends in enterprise defense, visit our Cybersecurity section.
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