Proctorio Blog

Cheating during the hiring process isn’t just rising, it’s exploding.

Conservative estimates say at least 40% of candidates cheat during job interviews (Gartner). Some suggest it’s over 70%. Even in live interviews where someone is on camera, presumably being assessed in real time 5% to 10% are still managing to cheat.

And that’s based only on people who admit it. The real number is almost certainly higher.

For years, hiring was seen as relatively safe. After all, this isn’t a school test, who cheats in a job interview? Turns out, a lot of people do. And they’re getting better at it.

We’ve spoken with hiring leaders across sectors, public, private, big, small and they’re all starting to see the same thing: this isn’t a niche problem anymore. It’s a structural one - It’s a structural one — similar to what education experienced when assessments moved online, as described in From Crisis to Integrity: Rebuilding Trust in the Age of Cheating.

From Copy-Paste to Deepfakes: The Stages of Modern Cheating

Let’s start with the most basic form: using ChatGPT or another AI tool on the side. Open the phone, feed the question in, skim the response. It’s not subtle, but it’s common. In fact, it's so routine it’s being called the “good old-fashioned” cheating now.

Most recruiters can spot it: generic language, off-topic answers, or a candidate who's clearly reading something instead of thinking. That said, some candidates are getting better. Notes are cleaner. Eye contact is better. The cheat is harder to see, a dynamic already explored in Why Candidates Misrepresent Themselves in Interviews.

But even that is just the surface.

We’re now seeing a wave of integrated cheating tools software like Cluely (and many others) that show answers directly on-screen, within the interview or assessment environment. No tab-switching. No obvious signs. These tools are designed to blend in.

And then there’s the final, most concerning level: deepfakes.

These range from candidates faking their voice or video to look more polished, to full-on impersonation, where the person on screen isn't the applicant at all. In some cases, these are individuals desperate for a job. In others, it’s something much darker.

Earlier this year, CNN and PBS reported on state-sponsored North Korean operatives using deepfake job interviews to get hired at U.S. companies. According to researchers, these actors are trying to steal money, technology, and access on behalf of the regime’s weapons programs. This isn’t speculation, it’s already happening. (CNN, PBS).

For now, most deepfakes are still easy to spot. But every month, they get more convincing, and soon, we won’t be able to tell the difference at all.

The Pattern Is Familiar

If this sounds chaotic, it is. But it’s also predictable.

We’ve seen this exact playbook before, just in a different industry. When education moved online, dishonesty followed. At first, it was obvious. Then it became sophisticated. Students found new tools. Systems struggled to keep up. And pressure to maintain performance metrics meant cheating was often overlooked.

We’ve worked with millions of students at Proctorio, and we’ve seen two clear truths:

1. Technology that helps people cheat always gets better.
2. People get better at using it.

We’d be surprised if the same thing didn’t happen in hiring. The technology is evolving fast. And candidates, especially those who feel like the odds are stacked against them, are becoming more comfortable bending the rules.

High-Speed Hiring = High Risk

Some companies are more vulnerable than others. If your team:

• Moves quickly
• Hires at high volume
• Rewards recruiters for speed and quantity

You are at risk.

These environments create urgency, not scrutiny. Recruiters are incentivized to move fast, and often don’t have the time or the tools to verify what they’re seeing. One red flag gets missed. Then another. And suddenly, someone’s in your system who should never have made it through the first round, or final round.

And in sectors like government, defense, finance, or healthcare, the stakes are even higher.

What to Do Next: Fight Tech with Tech

You can’t stop dishonesty with good intentions alone. Here’s how to move forward:

Train your team on what’s changed.
Many recruiters still assume cheating looks like someone glancing at their phone. But the tools now are invisible, silent, and built to deceive. Your team needs to know what to look for, and what to expect. Many of the recruiters we talk to are not aware of these new tools.

Give recruiters time to evaluate, not just process.
If your hiring process is all about volume and speed, you’ll miss what matters. Rewarding quality hires, not just quantity, creates space for better decision-making, and more red-flag spotting. Human judgment is still critical and your best defense.

Use technology to secure your process.
If candidates are using tech dishonestly, companies need tech to catch it. That means more than just browser lockdowns. It means real-time identity verification, behavior analysis, and tools that flag suspicious patterns as they happen.

This Is the New Normal

We’re not going back. Interviews will stay virtual, especially in the early rounds. Assessments will stay remote. And tools to help interviewees will keep evolving.

If things keep heading the way they are, hiring will follow the same path education already has: unauthorized assistance becomes the default. Most candidates won’t be showing their real abilities, only how convincingly they can mask them. And in the worst cases, those candidates may not even be who they claim to be. When the risks include fraud, security exposure, and even the funding of hostile state actors, it’s safe to say a lot is at stake.