CS Nov-Dec 2022
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deepfakes<br />
THE DYSTOPIAN WORLD OF DEEPFAKES<br />
BBC'S RECENT DRAMA, 'THE CAPTURE', WAS AN ALARMING TAKE ON THE GROWING THREAT<br />
OF DEEP FAKES. WE ASK MATT LEWIS, COMMERCIAL RESEARCH DIRECTOR AT NCC GROUP,<br />
TO CONSIDER WHAT THREATS THESE MIGHT POSE IN THE 'REAL WORLD'<br />
Recently, we have seen how deepfake<br />
technology has become more<br />
sophisticated and readily available.<br />
The BBC recently released a second series of<br />
UK TV series 'The Capture', a thriller exploring<br />
the use of deepfakes for political deception<br />
and criminal framing, demonstrating the<br />
impact deepfakes are capable of making<br />
in day-to-day life.<br />
Within the series, deepfake technology is<br />
used to fabricate a statement from a British<br />
politician whereby they announce a major<br />
policy change regarding Chinese artificial<br />
intelligence technology. This mirrors<br />
something that's already happened in<br />
real life with Ukrainian President Volodymyr<br />
Zelensky, where he was portrayed to be<br />
surrendering in the country's conflict with<br />
Russia.<br />
Another sinister and sadly fatal case relating<br />
to deepfakes came earlier this year, with a<br />
young Egyptian girl taking her own life after<br />
she was allegedly blackmailed with deepfake<br />
pornography, created using her imagery.<br />
In early 2020, NCC Group partnered with<br />
University College London (UCL) on a<br />
research project investigating the capabilities<br />
of various free and open-source deepfake<br />
toolkits. It has now been over two years<br />
since this research and, since then, deepfake<br />
technology has become more sophisticated<br />
and is used more readily. So, let's revisit<br />
today's deepfake landscape, looking at<br />
technological developments and societal<br />
implications.<br />
HOW CAN DEEPFAKE TECHNOLOGY<br />
BE USED IN THE REAL WORLD?<br />
The technology of deepfakes has advanced<br />
and there are now many online apps<br />
available for users to create and play around<br />
with it. Improvements to leading opensource<br />
deepfake toolkits, such as DeepFaceLab, have<br />
also continued, rendering the technology<br />
more performant and realistic.<br />
As well as the technology being more<br />
readily available, we are also seeing more<br />
real-time generation of deepfakes. This<br />
includes hooking up to a computer's<br />
webcam to allow impersonation as other<br />
people in real time - for example, on video<br />
conferencing calls. 'The Capture' also does a<br />
good job of demonstrating this, as in series<br />
two a British politician's likeness is digitally<br />
recreated using deepfake technology, whilst<br />
he is supposedly live on TV, making it look<br />
and sound like he's said something else.<br />
HOW CAN WE PREPARE THE WORLD<br />
AGAINST DEEPFAKES?<br />
There is an urgent need for deepfake<br />
detection and blocking. More deepfakes are<br />
20<br />
computing security <strong>Nov</strong>/<strong>Dec</strong> <strong>2022</strong> @<strong>CS</strong>MagAndAwards www.computingsecurity.co.uk