Many individuals, including numerous celebrities, have fallen victim to malicious use of ‘deepfake’ technology: the realistic manipulation of a person’s features by artificial intelligence, so they resemble somebody else. This fast-evolving technology is also being used by criminals to target organisations, with potentially catastrophic consequences.

The Financial Times reported last week that the firm which had fallen prey to one of the world’s largest deepfake scams to date, losing HK$200m (£20m) in a highly sophisticated fraud, was British professional services multinational Arup. Senior associate Ed Holmes reviews how the Arup fraud was carried out, and how businesses can safeguard themselves from high-tech attacks like it.