AI is no longer just writing better phishing emails; it’s creating entire fake people who look and sound very real. Attackers are using AI-generated resumes, documents, and personas to trick their way into corporate networks. Bad actors have even begun impersonating AI brands themselves in phishing campaigns mimicking OpenAI and Sora, showing how quickly threat actors exploit emerging technologies.
Meanwhile, employees themselves are using AI everywhere in their work. An August 2025 survey by Okta found that 91% of organizations already use AI agents, and recent data from Statista’s report shows 82% of developers already use ChatGPT in their daily work. But every time an employee starts using an AI app, it introduces new attack surfaces and vulnerabilities.
IT, HR, and cybersecurity teams find themselves stuck in the middle, trapped in a web of contradictory security implications and business requirements. To chart a path forward, all three organizations need to work together to ensure that every job candidate, helpdesk ticket, and account recovery is coming from a legitimate person––all without creating undue friction, adding costs, or creating compliance complications
Key Takeaways
- Impersonation threats have evolved. Attackers are using generative AI to target the systems,people, and workflows that keep organizations running.
- HR, IT, and cybersecurity teams each feel the impact differently, but they share the same challenge: identity can no longer be trusted at face value.
- Addressing the threat of AI impersonation requires alignment across teams and a new foundation for workforce identity security and trust.
- Companies that act now will build a more secure, trusted workforce where employees can work confidently. Companies that don’t will become the next headline.
How AI Impersonation Impacts the Entire Enterprise
AI-driven impersonation isn’t limited to one team, or even one type of attack. It takes many forms. Some recent examples include scammers using ChatGPT to craft phishing messages, and North Korea deepfaking a South Korean military ID. With every impersonation attack the target continues to be wherever people and systems intersect. From the job candidate HR is screening, to the password reset request that IT is handling, to the suspicious activity security is monitoring. Each team experiences the problem differently and faces different impacts. The underlying truth is a person's identity at work can no longer be trusted at face value.
HR Teams
For HR, AI impersonation creates ongoing uncertainty at the earliest stage of the employee journey. Fraudulent job candidates can submit AI-written resumes and AI-generated identity documents. According to Resume Genius, 17% of hiring managers have caught candidates using deepfakes to alter their video interviews, a number that will only rise in 2026. If hired and onboarded, these fraudulent employees can gain access to internal systems or data before anyone realizes they were never real. HR’s job is to find great candidates and build a culture of trust, but that trust is being weaponized with AI.
IT Teams
IT teams face impersonation through internal systems that were built for convenience, not verification. Most access requests, device enrollments, and recovery workflows happen digitally. IT professionals are trained to keep employees productive, not to investigate authenticity. That leaves them exposed to attackers who know how to sound helpful, professional, and urgent.
Helpdesk Team
Nowhere is the tension more visible than at the helpdesk. Agents are under constant pressure to move fast and resolve issues quickly. Attackers exploit that pace. A convincing email, chat, or phone call from someone claiming to need help can easily blend in with legitimate requests. Each ticket demands a judgment call: trust the person on the other end, or escalate and slow everything down. Either choice carries risk and the more it happens, the more trust breaks down across the organization.
Security Teams
For security leaders, impersonation is a systemic blind spot. IAM and MFA systems can confirm that a credential is valid, but not that the person behind it is real. Security analysts see activity that looks legitimate because, on paper, it is. Attackers are using synthetic identities and deepfakes to bypass every layer of control that assumes authenticity. The result is a growing identity assurance gap that traditional security tools were never built to close.
Together, these incidents paint a clear picture. Impersonation is not an isolated event, it’s an ecosystem-wide issue. Every team is fighting the same fight from a different angle, and every gap between them is a place attackers can hide.
No Single Team Can Solve the Impersonation Problem Alone
Impersonation isn’t subject to a specific department. It moves through the same workflows that connect HR, IT, and security — from hiring to access to recovery. While each team experiences the problem differently, the threat is shared. Most organizations still manage these workflows in silos. HR verifies people. IT manages credentials. Security monitors access. But those silos create gaps between systems where attackers thrive, slipping between tools and teams undetected.
When the same identity isn’t verified across teams, trust begins to erode. A fake employee can pass onboarding, request access, and reset credentials before anyone realizes something’s wrong.
Impersonation is not a team problem, it’s an enterprise vulnerability that spans the entire workforce. Solving it requires alignment; a shared approach to verifying the real person behind every action. Only when HR, IT, and security operate from a common source of truth can organizations close the gaps attackers exploit and rebuild confidence across the enterprise.
What Solving Impersonation Looks Like
Solving impersonation starts with alignment and ends with assurance. The goal isn’t to replace the systems teams already rely on, but to connect them through a shared layer of verified human identity. That begins by rethinking how trust is built across the enterprise. Not through credentials or devices, but through people.
Identity verification platforms like Nametag are designed for this new reality. They give HR, IT, and security teams a unified way to confirm who is behind every action. For HR, that means validating real candidates before onboarding, not just checking documents or IDs that can be faked. For IT and helpdesk teams, it means knowing that every password reset or device enrollment request is tied to a verified human. For security, it means every credential and session can be traced back to a confirmed identity, closing the loop across systems.
This approach doesn’t slow work down. It lets teams move faster, because trust is built into the workflow instead of being questioned at every step. Verification runs quietly in the background, integrating into IAM, ITSM, and HRIS systems without forcing teams to change how they work.
Stay Ahead of AI Impersonation
AI has blurred the line between real and fake, leaving IT, HR, and security teams to make trust decisions that existing systems can’t support. The answer isn’t more tools — it’s alignment.
When organizations verify people, not just credentials, they close the gaps attackers exploit and rebuild trust across their workforce. Identity verification platforms make that possible, helping teams confirm who is real before granting access or approving requests.
The future of enterprise security belongs to organizations that treat authenticity as part of their infrastructure, not an afterthought.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are IT, HR, and security teams all affected?
Impersonation attacks move across workflows that connect these teams from onboarding to access to account recovery. Each department manages a different piece of identity, and attackers exploit the gaps between them to move unnoticed.
Why can’t current tools like MFA or SSO stop these attacks?
MFA, SSO, and IAM verify access and credentials, not the person behind them. Deepfakes and voice clones can fool human and automated checks alike. Without confirming the real human behind each action, organizations are still exposed.
What can enterprises do to reduce impersonation risk?
Start by aligning HR, IT, and security around shared identity assurance. Map the workflows where trust matters most — such as onboarding, helpdesk resets, and recovery. Then add human verification at those points to confirm authenticity before granting access.
How does human verification fit into existing systems?
Human verification integrates with IAM, ITSM, and HRIS systems to add a layer of assurance without slowing work down. It quietly verifies the person behind each action, so employees and teams can work faster and safer.
