Mobile app security firm Appdome has warned that biometric authentication methods such as facial recognition, fingerprints, and voice scans are now increasingly vulnerable to artificial intelligence driven deepfakes and spoofing attacks.
It noted that advances in voice-cloning technology has fueled a surge in impersonation scams. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission reported more than 845,000 fraud cases in 2024, many involving identity spoofing.
It also projects that by 2026, nearly one in three enterprises would lose confidence in facial recognition systems because of deepfake risks.
Cybercriminals have already pulled off high profile heists using AI. In China, fraudsters purchased photographs of real faces online and used them to create deepfakes that fooled government facial recognition systems, issuing fake tax invoices and stealing the equivalent of $75 million.
Jan Sysmans, Appdome’s mobile app security evangelist, said these cases should serve as a wakeup call for Philippine companies increasingly relying on biometric security in digital banking, financial technology, and e-commerce.
“The Philippines is an emerging market undergoing digital transformation. As more sectors digitize their operations, they also expand their attack surface. Unfortunately, no sector is immune to these evolving threats,” he said.
“Organizations and businesses in the Philippines should focus on deploying the best available protection today, with a strong emphasis on layered security against current and unknown future threats,” he added.
We may have a tendency to become complacent, putting our trust in the perceived strength of security features like biometrics, which were borne out of advances in technology. However, as technology has also advanced, so have the threats, and we may now be in danger of losing ground. That is something we have to keep in mind, especially as AI fuels unprecedented advances. Hopefully our tech sector, in conjunction with the government, is ready and willing to upgrade and provide the security of the technology that we have become dependent on.*
