How GenAI brings new boardroom risks

GenAI is changing the cybersecurity landscape at an alarming pace. Deepfakes, voice cloning and AI-enabled phishing have already caused millions in losses — from a $243k CEO voice scam in 2019 to a $25m CFO deepfake just last year. In Q1 2025 alone, losses from deepfake fraud topped US$200m.

This is an article from the Australian Institute of Company Directors on how GenAI brings new boardroom risks. As I said in the article, “there should be a degree of insomnia for all directors.”

The most chilling story for me is how a North Korean hacker used a counterfeit persona to get hired at (of all places) a cybersecurity firm. They then loaded malware onto internal systems. In an increasingly remote work landscape – how well do you really know your people?

Boards need to prepare with drills that simulate fake CEO calls and other AI-powered threats, while also recognising AI’s potential to defend us – for example, Microsoft’s Security Copilot cutting analysis times by 40%, or Darktrace stopping a phishing attack on Maclaren mid-Formula 1 weekend (no it wasn’t Verstappen 😃)

This is an arms race, and boards that tackle AI risks head-on will be the ones that emerge stronger (and can sleep better at night).
https://www.aicd.com.au/risk-management/framework/policy/how-gen-ai-brings-new-boardroom-risks.html