Persona blocks 75M deepfake attempts as AI hiring fraud targets US companies

San Francisco-based identity verification platform Persona has expanded its workforce screening capabilities to combat AI-powered hiring fraud, introducing new tools specifically designed to detect deepfakes and fake candidates during remote interviews. The enhanced solution addresses a growing crisis where foreign actors, including North Korean state-sponsored groups, use sophisticated AI tools to infiltrate American businesses through fraudulent job applications.

The big picture: Remote work has created an unprecedented vulnerability in corporate hiring, with AI-generated fake candidates now capable of passing video interviews and fooling HR professionals into extending job offers.

• Persona blocked over 75 million AI-based face spoofing attempts across its platform in 2024 alone, representing a 50-fold increase in deepfake activity over recent years.
• According to an April 2025 Gartner report, by 2028, one in four candidate profiles globally will be fake—highlighting how AI tools have lowered barriers to creating convincing false identities.
• The threat extends beyond individual bad actors, with coordinated efforts by foreign state-sponsored groups seeking to access sensitive corporate systems and intellectual property.

High-profile cases highlight the severity: Several major companies have already fallen victim to sophisticated hiring fraud schemes.

• In 2024, cybersecurity firm KnowBe4 inadvertently hired a North Korean IT worker who attempted to load malware onto company systems.
• Other Fortune 500 companies have reportedly experienced similar infiltration attempts through fake identity schemes.
• The Department of Homeland Security has warned that “deepfake identities” represent an increasing threat to national security.

How the three-layer detection works: Persona’s approach examines identity verification across multiple dimensions rather than relying on a single detection method.

• The system analyzes the input itself (photos, videos, documents), environmental context (device characteristics, network signals, capture methods), and population-level patterns indicating coordinated attacks.
• “There’s no silver bullet to really solving identity,” said Rick Song, CEO and co-founder of Persona. “You can’t look at it from a single methodology.”
• While AI can generate convincing content, it becomes much more difficult to simultaneously spoof device fingerprints, network characteristics, and behavioral patterns that Persona’s systems monitor.

Enterprise deployment is remarkably fast: Organizations can integrate Persona’s screening tools with existing identity management platforms in under an hour.

• Companies using Okta’s Workforce Identity Cloud or Cisco Duo can deploy the solution in as little as 30 minutes to an hour.
• The system creates “friction for bad users to prevent them from getting through” while maintaining a smooth experience for legitimate candidates, who typically complete verification in seconds.
• OpenAI achieves 99% automated screening with just 18 milliseconds of latency using Persona’s platform.

Market shift from background checks to proving existence: The rise of AI-powered hiring fraud has created a new category of identity verification specifically for workforce management.

• Traditional background check companies verify information about candidates after assuming their identity is genuine, but aren’t equipped to handle whether a candidate actually exists.
• “Background checks assume that you are who you say you are, but then verify the information you’re providing,” Song explained. “The new problem is: are you who you say you are?”
• The global identity verification market is projected to reach $21.8 billion by 2028, up from $10.9 billion in 2023, with workforce applications representing one of the fastest-growing segments.

What they’re saying: Industry leaders emphasize the urgency of addressing identity verification in remote work environments.

• “In today’s environment, ensuring the person behind the screen is who they claim to be is more important than ever,” Song told VentureBeat. “With state-sponsored actors infiltrating enterprises and generative AI making impersonation easier than ever, our enhanced Workforce IDV solution gives organizations the confidence that every access attempt is tied to a real, verified individual.”
• “The North Korean IT worker threat is real,” Song explained. “But it’s not just North Korea. A lot of foreign actors are all doing things like this right now in terms of finding ways to infiltrate organizations.”

Looking ahead: Song envisions a future where digital identity is established through accumulated behavioral history rather than just detecting AI-generated content.

• “All the previous actions that I’ve done — ordering from DoorDash, finishing a course on Coursera, buying shoes from StockX — those interactions long term probably are the ones that will really define who I am,” Song explained.
• This approach would make it exponentially more difficult for bad actors to create convincing false identities, as they would need to fabricate years of authentic digital history.
• The enhanced Persona Workforce IDV solution is available immediately, with support for government ID verification in more than 200 countries and territories.