NS van der Meulen
Nicole van der Meulen is an experienced professional and thought leader in the area of cybercrime and cyber security. Currently she serves as Cyber Security Innovation Lead at SURF. Previously she was the Head of Policy & Development at Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), where she was responsible, amongst others, for the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA). Prior to Europol, she held various positions in the Dutch public sector, academia and for nonprofit organisations all focused on enhancing the fight against cybercrime and improving cyber security. She obtained her PhD in 2010 from Tilburg University on a comparative study focusing on digital identity fraud in the United States and the Netherlands.
Session
What happens when your face, your voice, and your behavior are no longer yours to control? In 2025, identity is up for grabs—and generative AI is making the theft seamless, scalable, and nearly undetectable. While the cybersecurity field prides itself on staying ahead of threats, it’s dangerously underestimating the cultural and psychological shockwaves of synthetic impersonation.
This talk cuts into the uncomfortable reality: attackers no longer need your password—they need you. From deepfake-driven CEO fraud to voice cloning scams and the rise of synthetic identities—fully fabricated personas built with AI-generated data—generative AI is collapsing the already fragile frameworks of identity and trust. I’ll draw on previous research into identity fraud and illustrate how AI is not just accelerating fraud but reshaping who carries the burden of proving legitimacy.
If you think you know what identity fraud looks like, think again. This is not just a technological shift—it’s a crisis of authenticity. And we’re not ready.
What you’ll take away from this session:
A clear breakdown of how generative AI is reshaping identity fraud—what’s new, what’s worse, and what’s fundamentally different.
Insight into how synthetic impersonation and synthetic identities exploit weak points in current verification systems, with scenarios that reflect real attack patterns.
Concrete defense strategies—ranging from behavioral biometrics to layered authentication and policy changes.
A forward-looking perspective on how we may need to rethink “identity” itself in a world where authenticity is no longer visual, audible, or even necessarily tied to a real person.