WatchGuard Global Survey Reveals Employee Trust Rises in the Deepfake Era, But Verification Still Lags

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New Cyber Trust Index Reveals More than Half of Employees Skip Verification Despite Rising AI Impersonation Risks

GUEST RESEARCH: New Cyber Trust Index Reveals More than Half of Employees Skip Verification Despite Rising AI Impersonation Risks

Employee trust in digital communications is growing significantly during an era of indistinguishable deepfakes while verification remains inconsistent for sensitive requests involving money, credentials, and confidential information, according to a new global survey announced today by WatchGuard Technologies, a global leader in unified cybersecurity for managed service providers (MSPs) and small and medium sized businesses (SMBs).

The report, “The Cyber Trust Gap: When Familiarity Is Not Enough in the AI Era,” commissioned by WatchGuard, surveyed more than 500 full-time employees across eight countries. It found that 46% trust digital communications more than they did five years ago, compared with 31% who trust them less. Further complicating matters is the fact that 55% of respondents said they don’t always independently verify the sender before acting on sensitive requests. With AI enabling convincing imitations of familiar voices, faces, and writing, this gap leaves organisations more exposed to impersonation, fraud and cyberattacks.

"The most striking finding isn't that employees trust digital communications,” said Corey Nachreiner, Chief Information Security Officer at Watchguard. “It's that many continue to trust the same signals they've relied on for years, even as AI makes those signals easier to imitate. Familiar names, voices, faces, and brands have always helped people make quick decisions, but they're no longer reliable indicators of authenticity. Verification is becoming one of the most important cybersecurity skills employees can have."

As outlined in the report, familiarity carries considerable weight in engendering employee trust. The survey revealed:

In addition to recognisable names, context and branding being mistaken for authentication, the research also exposed other areas underscoring the need for verification training…

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