I don’t know about you, but I find deepfakes extremely unsettling.
It seems that if you’re good at making them, though, you could get away with quite a bit of (illegal) cash.
These particular hackers targeted the Hong Kong branch of a multinational company. The employees there were fooled into believing their digital recreation of its chief financial officer were real.
They also filled in other faked video conference participants to make it all look even more legit.
The hackers used publicly available footage to create their own representations of the staff.
It began with a message stating that a secret transaction needed to be made, which was understandably met with skepticism. Apparently a group video call with their Chief Financial Officer put those hesitations to rest, though.
The “people” on the call had not only their colleague’s faces, but their voices, too.
They lucked out, as by sticking to a script they never had to interact directly with the one actual employee on the call.
Deepfakes are in the crosshairs after the x-rated (and fake) images of Taylor Swift made the rounds. Other nefarious people have used them to get kidnapping ransom, as well as in other extortion incidents.
If you ever find yourself in a situation like this (and the way things are going, you just might), experts say you can ask them spontaneous questions or just request that they move their head.
Preferably before you send them $25 million.
If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.