Written by: Aaron Pries, Technology Consultant
CEOs are Going Viral – and Cybercriminals are Taking Notes
It’s a scene playing out more and more across our digital world; top executives from companies are appearing in social media videos—maybe a webinar, an earnings call, or a LinkedIn Live session. But days later, employees or customers receive urgent messages that appear to come from that same executive, asking for a wire transfer, login credentials, or access to sensitive documents.
The problem? It’s not them. It’s a cybercriminal, using publicly available media to train AI tools to impersonate your executives and execute highly targeted phishing attacks.
This growing threat—executive impersonation—is putting businesses at serious risk. And as the lines blur between public outreach and private security, it’s never been more important to protect your leadership team’s digital footprint.
Why Executives Are Prime Targets
Executives, by nature of their roles, are highly visible. Their names, titles, and even likenesses are often featured across company websites, press releases, videos, and earnings calls. On platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter/X, that visibility becomes a double-edged sword—what was once a channel for brand building has become a tool for deception.
Cybercriminals exploit these materials to craft convincing fake profiles and messages. Whether it’s a spoofed social media account or a fake email referencing a recent company event, these attacks are designed to bypass suspicion. The goal? Trick employees, customers, or partners into handing over money, credentials, or company data.
Visibility Is the First Line of Defense
Unfortunately, many security teams lack the tools to monitor social media at scale. The sheer volume of platforms—Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, forums, even obscure gripe and paste sites—makes it nearly impossible to track impersonations manually.
That’s where PhishLabs by Fortra comes in.
Xamin has partnered with PhishLabs to offer a proactive social media threat monitoring platform that scans thousands of sites in real time for signs of executive impersonation, brand abuse, financial scams, and more. The platform gathers intelligence from high-traffic social networks to underground forums, using advanced automation and expert analysis to separate real threats from false positives.
High Fidelity Threat Detection and Swift Mitigation
Once a threat is detected, speed matters. PhishLabs doesn’t just alert you—it acts. Leveraging deep expertise and strong relationships with social platforms, they can initiate swift takedowns of malicious content before it escalates. Each client also gets a tailored risk profile, enabling prioritization based on your specific tolerance and threat categories.
Whether it’s a fake LinkedIn profile impersonating your CEO, a rogue Twitter account launching employment scams, or sensitive executive travel details being leaked—PhishLabs helps you stop the threat before it hits your bottom line.
Extend Your Team Without Adding Work
PhishLabs functions as an extension of your security team, handling everything from data collection to threat remediation. This allows you to focus on strategy and incident response—not chasing fake accounts across the internet.
The rise of digital doppelgängers is real. But with the right tools, you don’t have to face it alone.
Don’t let impersonators speak for your leadership. Reach out to us today to help protect your executives, your employees, and your brand from the next social media scam before it starts.