Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 23 February 2026

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

Faking it on the phone: How to tell if a voice call is AI or not

The WeLiveSecurity article “Faking it on the phone: How to tell if a voice call is AI or not” explains the growing threat of AI-generated deepfake audio in phone calls and its implications for organizational security. It outlines how generative AI tools have made creating convincing synthetic voices easy, enabling attackers to impersonate leaders, suppliers, or other trusted contacts to gain trust, bypass authentication processes, and perpetrate financial fraud. The piece describes a typical attack, where fraudsters source short audio samples of the target (potentially from social media or other public sources, such as speeches) and use AI to generate a realistic voice. It also offers practical guidance on spotting telltale signs of synthetic voices (such as an unnatural rhythm or tone) and emphasizes a defense-in-depth strategy involving employee awareness, out-of-band verification, multi-person approval for sensitive requests, and technical detection tools to mitigate these sophisticated scams.

Analyst Comments: As public-facing organizations with active leadership and regular involvement in the community, faith-based organizations are particularly vulnerable to AI-generated deepfakes due to how easy it is to source recordings of faith leaders from social media and other sources. Therefore, members should consider reading this article in order to start developing security strategies to train staff and volunteers on how to detect AI generated audio and what steps to mitigate risk in case of being targeted by convincing audio. Furthermore, this is an area of security where leadership support is key, as staff will not take some of the risk mitigation actions (politely telling a leader they will hang up and call again if suspicious) without trust in there being no repercussions.

Texas Islamic Nonprofits Face Scrutiny Following Reports of Alleged Islamist Networks, Prompting Security and Religious Freedom Debate

Texas Islamic nonprofit organizations have recently become the focus of heightened scrutiny after a Middle East Forum report identified six major Islamist networks that it says exert influence over roughly one-quarter of the state’s nearly 650 Islamic nonprofits. The debate has intensified around the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) and its large-scale land purchase for a proposed residential and community development, which has prompted federal and state reviews. Supporters of the investigations argue they are necessary to ensure compliance with U.S. law and prevent improper external influence, while critics contend that broad characterizations of “Islamist networks” risk conflating constitutionally protected religious practice with security concerns.

Analyst Comments: Due to the heightened political environment, mosques considered associated with the organizations mentioned in the report could see increased scrutiny and risk of protest at their facilities. Members should consider investing in or reinforcing protest-related training for staff, while maintaining heightened awareness. This report is also an example of a broader security concern for all members: maintaining media awareness in order to quickly put security mitigations into place if the organization or the organization’s partners have suddenly become a political flashpoint.

Skills and Roles of the Intelligence Analyst

When: March 4^th 12:00 E.T.

The third session of the Building an Intelligence Team Series. The roles and skill sets needed to be effective, whether you have a team or an army of one, and the organizational structure and workflow.

About the series. “Intelligence” often conjures images of secret agents working in the shadows to protect national security.  Intelligence isn’t just for government agents, with a little guidance, anyone can do it! Intelligence involves a systematic process of collecting, analyzing, and using information to anticipate, detect, and prevent threats before they cause harm. This process helps decision makers weigh alternatives and make threat-informed, fact-based choices via enhanced situational awareness. By leveraging intelligence, houses of worship can enhance their overall safety and security, ensuring their spaces remain welcoming sanctuaries for worship – yet prepared for potential incidents.

Throughout the first half of 2026, FB-ISAO will host a six-session discussion series for members on how faith-based organizations can build and operate their own intelligence group.