WPP CEO Mark Read impersonated in deepfake voice-cloning scam
Date: 2024-05
Affected: WPP (UK marketing services)
Attack vector: deepfake
Category: real-world
Severity: High

Fraudsters created a WhatsApp account purporting to belong to WPP CEO Mark Read and set up a Microsoft Teams meeting with another senior WPP executive in which the attackers deployed a deepfake video and voice clone of Read, aiming to solicit money and personal details. The attempt failed but illustrated executive impersonation risk at one of the world's largest marketing groups.


Mitigations:

Architectural layers (MAESTRO):