Tag Archive for: deep

Cryptocurrency scammers turn to deep fakes to snare victims

/in


Earlier this month, the consumer watchdog launched legal action against Facebook owner Meta for publishing scam cryptocurrency ads featuring well-known Australians, including former businessman Dick Smith, TV personality David Koch and mining magnate Andrew Forrest.

David Cook, an expert in information warfare and cybersecurity management at Edith Cowan University, has recently received reports of cryptocurrency rorts that involved scammers creating deep fakes of ordinary people.

He said these deep fakes ⁠– which use artificial intelligence and machine learning to create fake videos and images ⁠– were more convincing when they centred on regular people.

“When you target celebrities, it’s almost a theatre because you will see someone say something outlandish,” he said.

“The ring of truth works for mum and dad investors because it is much more believable when it’s just an ordinary person because you don’t question that theatre side of it. You just take it as that’s a person saying what they believe.”

He said the deep fake video of Miranda could be created in as little as half an hour using free online software.

“Deep fakes weaponise your own imagery and your own voice against you,” he said.

The hackers are understood to have gained access to Miranda’s account by bypassing her work’s virtual private network, which was only recently updated with two-step authentication.

She believes they gleaned data of her face and voice by accessing her Microsoft teams meetings and then transformed the material into a convincing deep fake video.

While many of Miranda’s followers were suspicious of the deep fake video because the movement of her lips did not match the audio, at least one acquaintance was almost duped after they responded to the hacker.

Miranda smashed her phone with a hammer when she first discovered she had been hacked and panicked that someone had been in her house, filming her. She reported the matter to police and the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

The experience left her feeling violated, and she wants to ensure no one goes through a similar ordeal.

Loading

The Office of the eSafety Commissioner is concerned about a rise in deep fakes and said the tools…

Source…

Global Security software Market Research Report Covers, Future Trends, Past, Present Data and Deep Analysis 2020-2026 – The Courier

/in


Security software

“A SWOT Analysis of Security software, Professional Survey Report Including Top Most Global Players Analysis with CAGR and Stock Market Up and Down.”

The report on the global “Security software market” studies the existing as well as the future visions of the global Security software market. It includes a detailed outline of the global Security software market along with market pictures. Also, it offers a complete data of the various segments in the global Security software market study. The report analyzes each segment of the global Security software market on the basis of application, end-user, and region. In addition, it also highlights the dominating players in the market joined with their market share. The well-established players in the market are F-Secure, G DATA Software, Trend Micro, Cheetah Mobile, EMC, McAfee, Microsoft, Comodo, Bitdefender, IBM, Symantec, Panda Security, Trend Micro, Fortinet, Symantec, Quick Heal, Qihoo 360, AVG, Rising, Intel, AhnLab, ESET, Avast Software, Kaspersky, Avira.

The global Security software market report is assessed on the basis of revenue (USD Million) and size (k.MT) of the global Security software market. It analyzes various market dynamics such as drivers, limitations, and opportunities impacting on the Security software market. It also predicts the influence of these key elements on the growth of the Security software market in the upcoming period. Through the market share study, the competitive scenario of the dominating market players is assessed.

The report demonstrates the present trends and strategies adopted by the most leading players in the market. This analysis helps the leading as well as new market players to strengthen their positions and enhance their share in the global Security software market. The data demonstrated in the global Security software market research report helps the market players to stand firmly in the global Security software market.

The additional geographical segments are also mentioned in the empirical report.

North America: U.S., Canada, Rest of North America
Europe: UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe
Asia Pacific: China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, North…

Source…

DoD Budgets for the Cyber Fight Against Deep Fakes

/in


If you tuned into social media recently, you might have caught a video of Tom Cruise swinging a golf club, performing a magic trick, and genuinely acting somewhat goofy. However, there was nothing genuine about it-the video was artificially created and perfected using generative adversarial networks (GAN). This technology combines generating a product from a database of images and videos of a person with a system of checks and balances to improve the quality to the point of passing as real. This process is analogous to the human version of a counterfeiter producing S100.00 bills while the forensic analysis with the magnifying glass and chemistry tools continues to find flaws in them until they are acceptable to pass out to the public.

Bad Intentions Make Deep Fakes a Serious Threat

The creator of the Tom Cruise video, Chris Ume, is a visual effect artist who has combined his talent with deep learning artificial intelligence experts to come up with the multi-disciplinary perfect storm of science and creativity. Unfortunately, Ume’s world of deep fake videos is running parallel to those with malevolent intent. Bot accounts, fake photos, and videos can ruin people’s lives, incite panic, impact public perceptions of current affairs, and even be a threat to national security. Fake videos of politicians acting inappropriately, CEOs predicting financial calamity, and famous people in pornographic scenes are becoming more and more prevalent. This scourge on visual media has been going on for years with the invention of such programs as Photoshop, but the sophistication level has reached immense complexity. In response, laws and legislation have been passed recently to combat the problem.

DoD Budgets for the Fight

Congress included language in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that reads as follows:

SEC. 589F. STUDY ON CYBEREXPLOITATION AND ONLINE DECEPTION OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND THEIR FAMILIES. (a) STUDY.—Not later than 150 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall complete a study on…….(8) An intelligence assessment of the threat posed by foreign government and non-state actors creating or using machine-manipulated…

Source…

Hack may have exposed deep US secrets; damage yet unknown

/in


BOSTON (AP) — Some of America’s most deeply held secrets may have been stolen in a disciplined, monthslong operation being blamed on elite Russian government hackers. The possibilities of what might have been purloined are mind-boggling.

Could hackers have obtained nuclear secrets? COVID-19 vaccine data? Blueprints for next-generation weapons systems?

It will take weeks, maybe years in some cases, for digital sleuths combing through U.S. government and private industry networks to get the answers. These hackers are consummate pros at covering their tracks, experts say. Some theft may never be detected.

What’s seems clear is that this campaign — which cybersecurity experts say exhibits the tactics and techniques of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency — will rank among the most prolific in the annals of cyber-espionage.

U.S. government agencies, including the Treasury and Commerce departments, were among dozens of high-value public- and private-sector targets known to have been infiltrated as far back as March through a commercial software update distributed to thousands of companies and government agencies worldwide. A Pentagon statement Monday indicated it used the software. It said it had “issued guidance and directives to protect” its networks. It would not say — for “operational security reasons” — whether any of its systems may have been hacked.

On Tuesday, acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller told CBS News there was so far no evidence of compromise.

In the months since the update went out, the hackers carefully exfiltrated data, often encrypting it so it wasn’t clear what was being taken, and expertly covering their tracks.

Thomas Rid, a Johns Hopkins cyberconflict expert, said the campaign’s likely efficacy can be compared to Russia’s three-year 1990s “Moonlight Maze” hacking of U.S. government targets, including NASA and the Pentagon. A U.S. investigation determined the height of the documents stolen — if printed out and piled up — would triple the height of the Washington Monument.

In this case “several Washington Monument piles of documents that they took from different government agencies is probably a realistic estimate,” Rid said. “How would they use that?…

Source…