Moody's says deepfake disinformation campaigns pose reputational risks to businesses

Ratings firm Moody's said companies’ businesses and credit quality are under threat as advancing technology makes it easier to create deepfake videos and images designed to damage their reputations.

It said until now, disinformation campaigns against companies and other targets have tended to be easily debunked and therefore typically have been short-lived but artificial Intelligence (AI) disinformation campaigns, in contrast, will take longer to disprove as the technology is improving quickly.

“Imagine a fake but realistic-looking video of a CEO making racist comments or bragging about corrupt acts,” said Leroy Terrelonge, AVP-Cyber Risk Analyst at Moody’s. “Disinformation

attacks could be a severe credit negative for victim companies.”

Moody's said debunking misinformation campaigns will likely require the development of new forensic techniques, and may at some point become very challenging.

It added that combating deepfakes will require a combination of technology and education.

In the short term, companies could monitor social media platforms and websites for disinformation, and ask content hosts to remove identified deepfakes, Moody's suggested.

It added that companies could also publish their own content to debunk false claims and over the longer term, technical and educational measures to rein in deepfake disinformation campaigns could also mitigate risk.