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For years, deepfakes were treated as a political or social media oddity, a strange corner of the internet where celebrity faces (of women 99% of the time) were pasted onto fake videos (porn in 99% of the cases) and nobody quite knew what to do about it. But that framing is now dangerously outdated, because deepfakes have quietly evolved into something much more systemic: an operational risk for corporations, capable of corrupting supply chains, financial workflows, brand trust, and even executive decision-making. Recent headlines show that synthetic media is no longer a fringe experiment. It is a strategic threat, one that companies are not prepared for. When a deepfake can steal $25 million In February 2025, global engineering firm Arup fell victim to a sophisticated deepfake fraud. Attackers used AI-generated video and audio to impersonate senior leadership and convinced an employee to transfer $25 million in company funds. The World Economic Forum described it as a milestone event: the moment synthetic fraud graduated from experiment to enterprise-scale theft. For any executive who still thinks of deepfakes as a social media phenomenon, this should be a wake-up call. Arup had strong cybersecurity. What it didnt have was identity resiliencethe ability to verify that the human on the other side of the call was actually human. CEO fraud, but this time with perfect replicas In the past year, deepfake CEO-fraud attempts have surged, targeting CFOs, procurement teams, and M&A departments. A 2025 report noted that more than half of surveyed security professionals had encountered synthetically generated executive impersonation attempts. Its easy to see why: Deepfake video is now real-time and high-resolution. Voice cloning requires only a few seconds of audio. Attackers can now spoof emotion, urgency, or stress, exactly the cues that override employee skepticism. One midsize tech firm reportedly lost $2.3 million after a convincingly faked audio call instructed finance to transfer funds for an urgent acquisition. Clearly, traditional anti-phishing training doesnt prepare employees for a perfectly reconstructed version of their boss. Deepfakes are no longer about politics: Theyre about business models When a deepfake impersonates a celebrity to promote a fraudulent investment scheme, thats reputational damage. When a deepfake impersonates your spokesperson, CFO, product, or supply chain partner, that becomes a corporate disaster. Weve entered a phase where synthetic media sits squarely inside the business risk landscape, according to Trend Micros 2025 industry report. Synthetic content now drives new waves of fraud, identity theft, and business compromise. This isnt hypothetical. Its operational. The new supply chain risk executives are not seeing Brands increasingly rely on complex ecosystems: logistics partners, suppliers, distributors, influencers, service providers, third-party integrators. Every one of those nodes depends on trust. Deepfakes turn trust into an attack surface. Imagine these scenarios: A fake video from your CEO announcing a shift in sourcing strategy sends suppliers into panic. A voice clone instructs your Asian manufacturing partner to halt delivery. A synthetic leaked clip of a defective product goes viral before your PR team wakes up. A deepfake of a key supplier falsely confirms cybersecurity weaknesses, causing downstream partners to sue. These are not science fiction. They are logical extensions of attack patterns that are already being deployedand they expose a blind spot in corporate risk management: the integrity of identity itself. Why deepfakes hit brands harder than politics Political deepfakes spark outrage. Corporate deepfakes trigger something worse: Loss of customer rust Stock volatility Insider trading vulnerabilities Lawsuits from partners Regulatory scrutiny The Securities an Exchange Commision has already warned the financial sector that AI-generated impersonation is reshaping fraud strategies, calling for upgraded identity-verification standards. If regulators are paying attention, executives should too. Why the traditional cybersecurity playbook isnt enough Firewalls wont stop a deepfake. Multi-factor authentication wont stop a deepfake. Encryption wont stop a deepfake. Deepfakes weaponize something no cybersecurity team has historically been responsible for: trust in human appearance and voice. The weakest link is no longer a password. Its a persons belief that theyre speaking with someone they know. Identity, not infrastructure, is the new vulnerability. Why brands must treat deepfakes as supply chain risk Most companies still relegate deepfakes to the PR desk or misinformation team. Thats naive. Deepfakes threaten: Procurement workflows (fake POs, fake cancellations) Vendor relationships (fake disputes, fake compliance issues) Finance approvals (deepfake CFO instructions) Customer trust (fake product failures, fake CEO messages) Employee morale (synthetic HR directives, fake memos) This is not just about fraud. Deepfakes can disrupt the coordination mechanisms that make supply chains work. They can paralyze a system without ever touching a firewall. What business leaders must do (now) Here is the emerging best-practice playbook for executives: Add deepfake risk to your enterprise risk management framework: If ransomware is a board-level issue, synthetic identity needs to be too. Implement verification protocols that do not rely on voice or video: Use secondary digital signatures, secure channels, or pre-agreed workflows. Audit your vendors, suppliers, and partners: Ask whether they have deepfake-resilience policies, because their vulnerabilities become yours. Deploy detection systems, but dont trust them blindly: Infosecurity Magazine notes that detection tools are improving but remain unreliable. Train employees to distrust urgency: Most deepfake fraud leverages emotional acceleration: This is critical, do it now. Your strongest defense is giving employees permission to slow down. Build an internal identity resilience policy: Define exactly how major decisions and financial approvals must be confirmed. No exceptions for I saw them on video. The uncomfortable truth is that AI has made seeing and hearing obsolete. With AI, weve crossed a psychological Rubicon: Your eyes and ears are no longer authentication mechanisms. Executives who fail to internalize this will face the same fate as companies that ignored phishing, ransomware, or cloud governance a decade agoonly faster, and with higher stakes. Deepfakes are not about what is true: They are about what is believable. And in business, believability is often all that matters. The new leadership challenge The companies that thrive in the AI era wont be those with the biggest models or the flashiest copilots. They will be the ones that redesign trust, identity, and verification from the ground up. Because if deepfakes can corrupt your operations and supply chain, then defending against them is not an IT problem. It is a leadership problem. And if you dont solve it now, someone else (perhaps an algorithm with your CEOs face) might solve it for you.
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Big firms are fighting for talent and offering major perks to match. Heres how you can position yourself to be in the middle of a bidding war.
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Running a solo business can feel like operating without a map at times. Sometimes you can stumble along the path, figuring things out as you go. Other days, you look around and realize that youve wandered pretty far off course. One of the hardest parts is not having anyone to rely on for guidance. Thats why community matters so much for solopreneurs. Rather than operating in a vacuum, you can bounce ideas off other people. Or you may find that community reduces your feelings of loneliness and isolation. The sooner you find (or build!) a community, the easier it becomes to navigate the inevitable ups and downs of being a solopreneur. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-1.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-mobile-1.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Work Better\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn\u0027t suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.workbetter.media\/\u0022\u003Eworkbetter.media\u003C\/a\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91457605,"imageMobileId":91457608,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} The connections that make solo work sustainable Even though you dont have coworkers, you can still create a network that fills the same role: support, accountability, and a place to ask questions. For example: One-on-one relationships Fellow solopreneurs or business friends are incredibly important. These are the people who understand what your day actually looks like, because theirs looks similar. If you find a solopreneur with a similar business or in a similar niche, you can gain a lot. You can swap ideas, compare notes on pricing, or share resources. Or simply be a sounding board for each other when a client is being difficult. The other day, I got a Slack DM from a fellow solopreneur who said, Can I run something by you real quick? And I was happy to answer. She would do the same for me. If you dont know where to begin, start with platforms youre already using. Reach out to other solopreneurs and invite them to a virtual coffee chat. Be specific about why youre reaching out. Youd be surprised at how many solopreneurs are generous with their time and knowledge. Structured communities (paid or free) If you prefer something formal or with a larger group, consider joining a free or paid community for solopreneurs. Paid memberships often come with perks, like workshops, expert Q&As, or networking sessions. If youre a new solopreneur, these communities can significantly shorten your learning curve, because youre surrounded by people whove been there, done that. Free communitieslike Slack groups, LinkedIn groups, or Discord serverscan offer many of the same benefits. However, youll need to do a bit of quality control. Some spaces are overrun with self-promotion or spammy messages. Others are simply too quiet, for the group isnt big enough for conversations to happen organically. Some solopreneurs hesitate to spend money on community, especially in the early days. Its an understandable concern. But the right community can save you hours of trial and error, or prevent you from making a costly business mistake. Coworking (in person or virtual) Maybe you dont need advice. You simply want to be around other people. What you miss most about corporate life is the time spent with coworkers. Traditional coworking spaces give solopreneurs a way to work around other humans again. They can be especially helpful if you miss the rhythm of an office or struggle with motivation at home. Even being around strangers who are deeply focused on their laptops can be energizing. (Im a big fan of working in coffee shops.) Virtual coworking offers a similar effect without the commute. Focus sessions and online coworking communities help solopreneurs stay accountable. Ive done virtual coworking with complete strangers, friends, and even people who arent solopreneurs but just want to get things done. Of course, formal coworking usually has a monthly fee for either coworking spaces or virtual coworking. However, if youre more productive during coworking time, it might be worth the cost. You dont have to navigate work alone Theres no single right way to find community as a solopreneur. But one thing will always be true: The support you build now will grow alongside your business. Youll never regret the time you spend finding your people. Ive done all three things I suggest here: one-on-one relationships, structured communities, and coworking. The people Ive met are truly incredible. The people you surround yourself withwhether through relationships or coworkingwill influence your business just as much as any tool or strategy you adopt. Theyre worth the investment. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-1.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/work-better-mobile-1.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Work Better\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn\u0027t suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.workbetter.media\/\u0022\u003Eworkbetter.media\u003C\/a\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91457605,"imageMobileId":91457608,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
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