using technology for the betterment of humanity. “Deepfakes represent a significant challenge in our digital age, blurring the lines between truth and fiction,” he introduces. “They leverage powerful AI technologies to create convincingly realistic images, video and audio recordings that can be difficult to distinguish from genuine content.” Deepfakes have proliferated social media, the internet and headlines over recent years. Though sometimes generated for the purpose of entertainment, deepfakes are usually in the news for reasons more sinister. Those being anything from large-scale fraud to identity theft, revenge pornography to adult content with the faces of celebrities and public figures stitched over the original video or image. “I harbour some serious concerns about the misuse of this technology,” Marr emphasises. “The potential for harm – from spreading misinformation to violating personal privacy – underscores the urgency for both heightened awareness and the development of technological solutions to detect and mitigate their impact.” A MULTIMILLION KEYBOARD SLIP It’s a safe bet that the average person has at some point had an anxiety dream about something bad or embarrassing happening in the workplace. However, this first example is a case where, for one unfortunate employee, that nightmare became a horrifying reality. In February 2024, deepfake technology was used to trick a worker at a Hong Kong branch of a multinational company – conning them out of a tidy $25 million. The seemingly inconceivable story saw an employee from the company’s financial department receiving a message from a ‘person’ stating they were the company’s UK-based chief financial officer – as reported by the South China Morning Post ( SCMP ). This followed with a video call with said CFO and other company employees, all of which turned out to be deepfakes. According to SCMP , based on instructions during the call, the hoax victim transferred $25.6 million to various Hong Kong bank accounts across 15 transfers. It was already a week into the scam by the time the employee contacted the company’s HQ and the penny finally dropped.
WATCH ME! Experience the chilling trailer to Another Body and delve into a harrowing reality
Hong Kong police haven’t named the company or employees involved, indicating the fraudsters had created deepfakes of meeting participants on publicly available video and audio footage. The victim of the scammers did not actually interact with the deepfakes during the video conference, confirmed SCMP . Investigations are ongoing, but no arrests have been made. This highlights how deepfakes have now surged from the bedroom into the boardroom. A report by KPMG emphasises how business have been slow to act in safeguarding against the growing threat. “Since social engineering attacks such as phishing and spear phishing typically rely on some form of impersonation, deepfakes are the perfect addition to the corporate cyber criminal’s tool bag,” the report claims. “Unfortunately, many corporate decision-makers have a very limited understanding of deepfakes and the threat they pose. Most leaders don’t yet recognise that manipulated content is already a problem – rather than an emerging or eventual one – that affects virtually every industry. Even more troubling, many don’t yet believe the business risk is significant.” FAKE IT OFF Perhaps one of the most discussed use cases in deepfakes is where they have been employed to thieve the face and voice of a celebrity or public figure, using it to generate pornographic content – or deliver a misleading or divisive message. So far, it seems no amount of money or fame can protect you from falling victim to this, with recent headlines dominated by a set of pornographic deepfake images being widely circulated on X (formerly Twitter) of global superstar Taylor Swift. For almost a full 24 hours, the offending images invaded the platform, with reports claiming that one image raked in a staggering 47 million views before eventually being taken down. Something that can protect you, however, is your following. Swift’s fanbase is a force of nature when defending its idol, and the Swifties quickly mobilised to mass report the images – putting a stop to the issue. There was a sense of public outcry of this invasion of America’s sweetheart’s
WATCH ME! Seeing is believing, right? That’s not quite the case here, as you’ll find out
feedmagazine.tv
Powered by FlippingBook