When voice authentication startup Pindrop Security posted a recent job opening, one candidate stood out from hundreds of others.

The applicant, a Russian coder named Ivan, seemed to have all the right qualifications for the senior engineering role. When he was interviewed over video last month, however, Pindrop’s recruiter noticed that Ivan’s facial expressions were slightly out of sync with his words.

That’s because the candidate, whom the firm has since dubbed “Ivan X,” was a scammer using deepfake software and other generative AI tools in a bid to get hired by the tech company, said Pindrop CEO and co-founder Vijay Balasubramaniyan.

“Gen AI has blurred the line between what it is to be human and what it means to be machine,” Balasubramaniyan said. “What we’re seeing is that individuals are using these fake identities and fake faces and fake voices to secure employment, even sometimes going so far as doing a face swap with another individual who shows up for the job.”

Companies have long fought off attacks from hackers hoping to exploit vulnerabilities in their software, employees or vendors. Now, another threat has emerged: Job candidates who aren’t who they say they are, wielding AI tools to fabricate photo IDs, generate employment histories and provide answers during interviews.

The rise of AI-generated profiles means that by 2028 globally 1 in 4 job candidates will be fake, according to research and advisory firm Gartner.

The risk to a company from bringing on a fake job seeker can vary, depending on the person’s intentions. Once hired, the impostor can install malware to demand ransom from a company, or steal its customer data, trade secrets or funds, according to Balasubramaniyan. In many cases, the deceitful employees are simply collecting a salary that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to, he said.

But the issue isn’t confined to the tech industry. More than 300 U.S. firms inadvertently hired impostors with ties to North Korea for IT work, including a major national television network, a defense manufacturer, an automaker, and other Fortune 500 companies, the Justice Department alleged in May.

The workers used stolen American identities to apply for remote jobs and deployed remote networks and other techniques to mask their true locations, the DOJ said. They ultimately sent millions of dollars in wages to North Korea to help fund the nation’s weapons program, the Justice Department alleged.

That case, involving a ring of alleged enablers including an American citizen, exposed a small part of what U.S. authorities have said is a sprawling overseas network of thousands of IT workers with North Korean ties. The DOJ has since filed more cases involving North Korean IT workers.

His employer, the cybersecurity firm KnowBe4, said in October that it inadvertently hired a North Korean software engineer.

The worker used AI to alter a stock photo, combined with a valid but stolen U.S. identity, and got through background checks, including four video interviews, the firm said. He was only discovered after the company found suspicious activity coming from his account.

Siena, ITALY — Monte dei Paschi di Siena is holding firm on its plans to acquire Mediobanca for 13 billion euros ($14.3 billion) despite ongoing market turbulence, telling CNBC it will complete the deal in July.

The world’s oldest bank still in operation, surprised investors in January by making an all-share offer for Mediobanca, a prestigious institution focused on wealth management and investment banking. Mediobanca has rejected the proposal, denouncing it as a “destructive” move that is devoid of financial rationale.

Monte dei Paschi has faced several challenges over the years, most notably when it was bailed out by the Italian government in 2017 after it failed to raise much-needed cash from private investors. The Italian government has sold its majority stake in Monte dei Paschi and it currently represents less than 12% of ownership.

The bank’s CEO Luigi Lovaglio told CNBC on Monday that Monte dei Paschi “is back” and “in control of our destiny.”

When asked if the ongoing market turbulence could be a problem for its expansion plans, Lovaglio said: “The [market] situation will not impact our deal.”

“On the opposite, [the market situation] is confirming that size matters, [it] is confirming that you need to diversify on revenues,” he said, adding that if they were already a combined entity, they would “be stronger” and “have capability to react much quicker.”

The recent market volatility has led some companies to put some deals on hold. British private equity firm 3i Group Plc has reportedly postponed a sale of the maker of pet food MPM, while fintech company Klarna has put its IPO plans on hold.

Analysts have been divided over the benefits of the deal between Monte dei Paschi and Mediobanca. Deutsche Bank, for instance, said in mid-March the market was ignoring some potential opportunities for Monte dei Paschi, including a bigger distribution policy.

Other analysts warned about limited synergies in combining two different banks. Barclays, for example, said Monday that it was cutting its price target for Monte dei Paschi, taking a more skeptical view on the potential gains from a deal with Mediobanca. “Should Monte dei Paschi decide to spend more to convince majority of the Mediobanca institutional shareholders, the excess capital could reduce,” Barclays said.

Speaking to CNBC, Lovaglio was adamant the offer for Mediobanca presents a “fair price” and did not comment on whether the company would sweeten the deal to make it more appealing for Mediobanca shareholders.

“Hopefully within July, we can complete the deal,” he added.

Amid a pullback in global equity markets on Monday, Monte dei Paschi and Mediobanca shares both closed around 5% lower. Since Monte dei Paschi announced its intention to buy Mediobanca on January 24, the latter’s shares have lost about 14% of their value and the former about 8.5%.

Monte dei Paschi’s offer for Mediobanca came at a time of wider consolidation efforts in Italian banking. UniCredit announced last year an offer to buy rival Banco BPM for about 10 billion euros.

Lovaglio said these bids represent the first wave of domestic consolidation for Italian banks.

“I believe this is the first phase [of consolidation] and, probably, we will have a second phase two years from now. That’s why, by combining Monte [dei] Paschi with Mediobanca, we will be in a position to be again a protagonist,” Lovaglio said.