An impersonation campaign is a scam that borrows a known name, brand, employee, vendor, or threat group to make a message seem legitimate. Attackers use this borrowed identity to reduce doubt and push the target toward a fast action, such as opening a file, clicking a link, paying a ransom, or sharing credentials.
This matters in cyber security because trust is often the weakest control. A convincing name can override caution even when there is no malware, no real compromise, and no proof that the attacker has access. In real attacks, impersonation shows up in phishing emails, fake support calls, lookalike domains, spoofed sender names, and extortion messages that reference leaked data or feared incidents. Defenses include verifying sender identity through independent channels, checking for domain mismatches, training users to slow down under urgency, and correlating claims with logs and endpoint data before taking action.