Deepfakes, a blessing in/or disguise – challenges of applying Generative AI tools

The primary goal of the article is to analyse the Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI tools) with respect to their potential utility level for legitimate purposes as well as malicious use in the cybersecurity area. With this end in view, the author summarises the benefits and drawbacks of the deepfake technology in an attempt to determine whether the overall evaluation of the phenomenon should be positive or negative. The paper presents potential areas for legitimate use of deepfakes confronted with examples of the negative impact of the manipulated content on the area of cybersecurity. In addition, the author also classifies deepfakes into two categories depending on their type and utility level. In the part devoted to cybersecurity threats risks for the organisational cybersecurity area have been summarised, social engineering techniques used in deepfake campaigns presented and remedial actions to curb the dissemination of deepfakes proposed. The paper’s main objective is to answer the two research questions formulated: RQ 1: Can online users benefit from the deepfake technology? and RQ 2: What actions are required to mitigate the harmful impact of deepfakes on the cybersecurity area? The paper finishes with the conclusion and indication of potential further research avenues.