Make it | ’til you fake it: Shallowfake audio as an emerging operational cyber security threat

The growing accessibility of artificial intelligence (AI) voice synthesis poses significant cyber security and evidential risks, particularly with the rise of hybrid shallowfake audio. This term refers to recordings that merge authentic speech with synthetically generated voice segments. These hybrid manipulations challenge existing forensic audio authentication practices, which have traditionally focused on distinguishing between entirely authentic and fully fabricated recordings. Recent threat assessments, including 2024 findings from INTERPOL, underscore the growing criminal exploitation of synthetic voice technologies and the lack of consistent frameworks to effectively identify hybrid audio manipulations. This situation raises concerns about the continued reliance on legacy forensic methodologies that predate the widespread use of AI speech synthesis tools. This paper explores the procedural and analytical challenges of detecting shallowfake audio through a controlled experimental investigation that mimics realistic manipulation scenarios. Test audio files comprising mixed authentic and synthetic speech were created using affordable, commercially available production tools and examined using established audio authentication techniques. The results reveal that current forensic approaches may not consistently detect hybrid manipulations, especially when recordings are stream-captured or re-recorded after synthetic voice insertion, heightening the risk of evidential misinterpretation. This research identifies significant gaps in standardised forensic protocols and offers practical recommendations for cybercrime professionals. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.