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Malicious digital twins: how does this trend threaten you?
branddi ·
2025 has arrived and with it new expectations and trends for the digital market. Among them, the increase in personalized content, machine learning, digital identity and the consolidation of artificial intelligence.
However, despite technological evolution bringing countless benefits, we cannot ignore the co-option of these tools to create new scams and threats. And this is exactly what the study “The Easy Way IN/OUT – Securing the Artificial Future”, by Trend Micro and published by InforChannel, is about, which investigates the potential for digital scams, especially those related to digital twins.
But what, after all, are digital twins and how can they affect your brand?
What are malicious digital twins?
Briefly speaking, digital twins are virtual replicas of objects, processes or people, created to simulate behaviors and interactions in the digital world. When used well, these tools play a fundamental role in innovation, process optimization and personalization of experiences in the most diverse sectors, from city infrastructure to digital marketing.
However, when this technology falls into the wrong hands it can become a real threat to the health of companies. After all, it can be used to deceive consumers, divert revenue and compromise brand reputations through:
Fake websites or applications
The advancement of artificial intelligence technologies has ushered in a new era of personalization and efficiency, but it has also made it increasingly easier to create convincing replicas of websites, applications and profiles.
This can not only capture sensitive information, but also lure consumers into misleading campaigns by imitating official representatives.
The results are diverse, ranging from increased operational costs to profound and permanent damage to reputation. In other words, as said by Jon Clay, vice president of Threat Intelligence at Trend Micro, “Every security risk represents a business risk, with the potential to profoundly impact the business and future strategies.”
Fake ads
Every advertiser knows how much developing a campaign involves strategy, creativity and careful analysis. Now imagine discovering that there are fake ads identical to yours, made with impressive speed and similarity?
This is exactly what we are talking about when we consider the malicious use of digital twins: identical fake ads are quickly created to deceive consumers and redirect them to fraudulent pages.
All of this with visual elements, promotional texts and even links similar to the originals.
The consequences, once again, end up in the diversion of traffic and conversions, the loss of the entire advertising budget and the increase in the flow of complaints.
Manipulated service bots
Service bots are one of the main examples of the coalition between AI and automation, quickly becoming an essential tool for providing fast and efficient support to customers.
However, when they are manipulated with technological resources such as digital twins, they are capable to interact with customers in a convincing way. That is, stealing the tone and communication style of a specific brand to attract its consumers.
The result is once again costly for companies, which in addition to suffering from the diversion of revenue, also lose public trust.
What to expect from 2025, then?
If the promotion of technologies such as digital twins is already a reality For this year's trends, it is naive to think that these new features will not be co-opted by offenders.
This, however, does not mean that your business is at the mercy of the actions of these malicious users: it is possible and essential to know how to protect yourself. Do you want to understand how?Continue following Branddi’s news and learn more about our shielding marketing!