Scammers aren’t just phishing your inbox anymore—they’re impersonating your voice, your face, and even your coworkers. Deep fakes and social engineering have moved beyond clever tricks and become powerful tools that bad actors are using to infiltrate businesses, breach accounts, and dismantle trust at scale. What used to take a hacker hours and expensive tools can now be done in minutes by anyone with a Wi-Fi connection and a little malicious intent.

Our guest today is Aaron Painter, CEO of Nametag, a company leading the charge in next-generation identity verification. Aaron’s background includes 14 years at Microsoft and executive roles in cloud tech across Europe and Asia. After witnessing firsthand how easily identity theft could unravel lives—especially during the shift to remote everything—he founded Nametag to answer a critical question: how can we know who’s really behind the screen? With Nametag, Aaron is building real-time, high-security ID checks that are already reshaping how help desks and businesses protect users.

In this conversation, we unpack the difference between authentication and identity, why traditional methods like security questions are dangerously outdated, and how mobile tech and biometrics are changing the game. Aaron also shares practical tips on protecting your most valuable digital asset—your email—and what consumers and companies alike can do to stay ahead of evolving threats. This one’s packed with insight, and more relevant than ever.

• [00:54] Aaron is the CEO of Nametag. A company he started 5 years ago that focuses on identity verification at high-risk moments.
• [01:37] He spent 14 years at Microsoft working on product including at Microsoft China. He also ran a cloud computing company that was AWS's largest partner in Europe.
• [02:12] When everything went remote in 2020, he discovered that there were identity verification issues over phone lines.
• [03:03] He began building technology that will help accurately identify people when they call in to support or help desks.
• [04:22] Most of what we think of as identity is really just authentication.
• [07:41] A common new challenge is the rise of remote work and people having to connect remotely. The rise of technologies that make it easier to impersonate someone is also a problem.
• [10:38] Knowing who you hire and who you're working with matters.
• [11:03] Deep fakes and voice cloning has become so much easier.
• [15:47] How platforms have a responsibility to know their users.
• [18:11] How deep fakes are being exploited in the corporate world.
• [19:30] The vulnerability is often the human processes. Back doors and side doors are deleting ways that companies are breached.
• [23:53] High value accounts and companies that know they have something to protect our early adopters of Aaron's technology.
• [24:50] Identity verification methods including using mobile phones. The device has cryptography.
• [27:07] Behavioral biometrics include the way we walk or the way we type.
• [29:56] If you're working with a company that offers additional security tools, take them up on it.
• [34:04] Dating sites are starting to do verification profiles.
• [43:07] We all need to push for more secure ways to protect our accounts.
• [43:48] The importance of protecting your email.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.

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