Overview: Identity Attacks Rising Along with New AI Technologies

Security analysts predict that the combination of deep fake technology and self-directed AI agents will lead to more than a doubling of identity-based threats in 2026. After all, be-cyber criminals are no longer satisfied with mere password cracking. They also resort to AI-based techniques that produce unbelievably natural-sounding and looking fake audio, video, and machines capable of tricking humans and systems into giving up access. These changes are forcing the issue of identity security to be a major concern in the whole cybersecurity battle for nations and companies alike.

Deepfakes Become a Major Attack Tool

The use of deepfakes—AI-generated synthetic voices and faces—has made the process of detection really arduous due to their rapid improvement. According to specialists, it will not be very long before deepfakes are practically involved in any type of interaction, i.e., video calls, to fool the executives or even the trusted ones and thereby get the money transferred through means of deceit. One of the cases that were mentioned in the article was about financial fraud where the attackers managed to convince the staff member through a synthetic video to send millions of dollars.

The experts' opinion is that this undesired usage of deepfakes might not only be confined to e-mail and video recordings but also include the real-time scenario and hence the rapid growth of this bad practice has been revealed by the analysts. The referenced case confirms that at the time these techniques were not sufficiently advanced, and the company made the mistake of transferring the amount based on a video call. Such technologies will eventually be accessible to everyone, and the scammers will then resort to employing the use of more elaborate tricks in vast numbers. This is part of a broader consensus among the experts that AI-assisted social engineering—of which synthetic calls, voice cloning, and video impersonation are included—will be a major risk by 2026.

AI Agents Expand the Attack Surface

Alongside deepfakes, autonomous AI agents—namely software systems that perform and make decisions without human intervention—are also to be a source of new security challenges. The agents will be adopted widely by the industry for the sake of automation and improved productivity. However, once the attackers get inside the agents, they will be able to perform as humans at the same level of trust which in turn will cause a lot of confusion as to whether an action is good or evil.

The security professionals are of the opinion that the area of identity protection will not only cover protecting human accounts but also include safeguarding automated identities and machine-powered agents that work within the systems. In this regard, it will involve keeping track of and controlling the data and systems these agents can access, plus detecting when an agent is acting with malice or outside of its intended area of operation.

New Security Approaches Needed

Experts indicate that the SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) method, which is considered a traditional security measure, has already been circumvented by smart AI. Rather, companies will have to implement security measures like push-based authentication, login without password, and a stronger identity management system that can differentiate between real users and AI-created profiles as well as fake agents.

Furthermore, security teams are encouraged to recruit AI specialists to gain insight into and counteract these threat changes. The hackers are not granting any time for the defenders to catch up—rather, they are quickly incorporating AI into their operations. Thus, the awareness, detection, and response strategies will need to develop very fast to remain in sync with the changes in the threat landscape.