# A familiar name still gets employees to click as deepfakes make names easy to fake, WatchGuard survey finds - Published: 2026-11-11 (updated 2026-11-11) - Author: [Tech Magazine](https://techmagazine.io/author/techmagazine-io.md) - Topics: [News](https://techmagazine.io/news.md) - About: [WatchGuard Technologies](https://www.watchguard.com/) - Based on: [WatchGuard Global Survey Reveals Employee Trust Rises in the Deepfake Era, But Verification Still Lags](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/11/10/3399567/0/en/watchguard-global-survey-reveals-employee-trust-rises-in-the-deepfake-era-but-verification-still-lags.html), GlobeNewswire, 2026-11-10 - Based on: [2025 IC3 Annual Report](https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf), FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center - Based on: [Cyber Trust Index 2026: Trust vs. Verification](https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-resource-center/2026-cyber-trust-index), WatchGuard Technologies - Source: https://techmagazine.io/news/deepfake-impersonation-survey-employees-skip-verification/ - Publication: Tech Magazine - Publisher: Connectively (Terkel, Inc.) - Editorial policy: https://techmagazine.io/editorial-policy/ - AI use: Connectively's automated system wrote this article with AI from a press release issued by WatchGuard Technologies on November 10, 2026, linked under Sources. Statements about the company and its products are the company's. The illustration was generated with AI. The article was assembled and published automatically, without an editor's review. Report errors to corrections@connectively.us. More than half of employees don't always check who is asking before acting on a request for money, credentials or confidential data, a WatchGuard Technologies deepfake impersonation survey released November 10, 2026, finds. That matters because the cues staff lean on, a known name, voice or face, are exactly what AI tools now copy. ## Key points - WatchGuard's Cyber Trust Gap report polled more than 500 full-time employees in eight countries. - 55% of respondents said they don't always independently verify a sender before acting on a sensitive request. - 46% said they trust digital communications more than five years ago, while 31% trust them less. - 42% would likely trust an urgent text from their CEO or boss asking for payment or sensitive data without verifying it, a figure that rises to 59% among U.S. respondents. - Australia had the highest verification rate at 69%, and Germany the lowest, at 22%. ## What did the deepfake impersonation survey find? The survey found that 55% of employees don't always verify a sender before acting on a sensitive request, even though 46% now trust digital messages more than they did five years ago. That gap matters as AI fraud grows: the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged 22,364 complaints in 2025 that referenced AI, with losses above $893 million, including more than $30 million in business email compromise losses where AI was involved ([2025 IC3 Annual Report](https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf), pages 39 to 42). Against that backdrop, WatchGuard says familiarity is doing the work verification should do. On [the report's own page](https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-resource-center/2026-cyber-trust-index), WatchGuard says 54% of respondents have encountered an AI scam, deepfake or impersonation attempt. In its survey: - 72% of employees have opened a link or attachment because it looked like it was from a person they recognized. - For 38%, a request from a sender they know feels trustworthy; 36% are swayed by a familiar workplace or personal detail, and 32% by correct company branding. - Only 27% said an independent check was what led them to trust a request. > "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." > — Corey Nachreiner, Chief Information Security Officer, WatchGuard Technologies ## How do employees check a suspicious voice or video request? Most check it against the very signals a deepfake imitates. WatchGuard reports that 53% of respondents use a person's face, voice or display name to judge an unusual video request, and only 28% turn first to a second channel or a company procedure. Voice is nearly as persuasive as text: 40% said they would trust an urgent voice message from a manager asking for payment or sensitive data. And 38% named weak training or employee awareness as their organization's biggest obstacle to being prepared. ## Which countries and industries verify the most? Healthcare verifies most, at 63%, according to the survey. Financial services workers reported the highest trust in digital content, and government employees were the most skeptical of digital messages and CEO texts, yet fewer than half of them verified sensitive requests. By country, Australia led on verification at 69%, and Germany trailed at 22%. Respondents in Italy named the shortage of skilled security staff as their main obstacle, while those in Spain pointed to gaps in security training. ## What should IT and security teams do about deepfake verification training? Our analysis: for IT and security teams, the takeaway is that a familiar name, voice or face no longer tells you who is asking, so the answer is a set procedure rather than one more awareness email. The gap shows in the numbers: just 27% trusted a request because of an independent check, and 28% reach first for a second channel on an odd video call. Practical steps are a call-back to a number already on file before any payment or credential change, and a rule that no single message can move money. WatchGuard's own recommendations run along the same lines: written confirmation steps for payments, credential resets and confidential data, executive-impersonation exercises, approved AI tools with data-handling rules, and required human review. The company also suggests measuring how often staff actually verify and report, alongside technical security metrics. For teams that rely on a managed service provider, WatchGuard frames this as work MSPs can take on for their customers, pairing layered protections with simple ways for employees to report suspicious requests. Impersonation reaches beyond the inbox too: brands are copied on look-alike domains and phishing pages, as in [Vatra Sentinel's move to fight brand impersonation](https://techmagazine.io/news/vatra-sentinel-joins-the-warning-com-family-to-fight-brand-impersonation/). And the personal habits that stop [the crypto scams people keep running into](https://techmagazine.io/insight/the-crypto-scams-i-keep-seeing-and-the-habits-i-use-to-avoid-them/) carry over to the workplace: slow down, and confirm through a channel you chose. ## Frequently asked questions ### Who commissioned the Cyber Trust Gap report? WatchGuard Technologies, a Seattle-based cybersecurity company that sells to managed service providers and small and midsize businesses, commissioned the report and published it as its Cyber Trust Index. ### How many people took part? More than 500 full-time employees across eight countries, including the U.S., Australia, Germany, Italy and Spain. ### Would U.S. employees trust a CEO text without checking? According to the survey, 59% of U.S. respondents would likely trust an urgent text from their CEO or boss asking for payment or sensitive data without verifying it, compared with 42% across all countries. ### Where can I read the full findings? WatchGuard offers the full Cyber Trust Index, with its complete data analysis, as a download from [its Cyber Trust Index 2026 page](https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-resource-center/2026-cyber-trust-index). ## Sources - Press release from WatchGuard Technologies via GlobeNewswire, 10 November 2026 - [2025 IC3 Annual Report, FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center](https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf) - [Cyber Trust Index 2026 report page, WatchGuard Technologies](https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-resource-center/2026-cyber-trust-index)