More than half of Australians are concerned about deepfake scams and AI-based cyberattacks

Although AI has some excited future uses, with that comes the bad with AI deepfakes and AI-based cyberattacks now at the fore of people’s minds. Trend Micro has found that 62 percent of Australians are concerned about deepfake scams and being attacked by AI-based cyberattacks.

Most of us will be using AI to make funny pictures of our pets but cybercriminals are using it for more nefarious means. Luckily for us, computer security companies are also at the forefront of this technological use and have ways to protect us.

Various deepfake scams include:

• Romance scams (e.g. Scammers use deepfakes and face-swapping to ensnare victims in romance scams, building trust with victims, before tricking them into parting with thousands of dollars).
• HR recruiting scams (e.g. Scammers reach out to prospective “employees” encouraging them to apply to a job opportunity. With a job seeker hooked, the scammer solicits personal information such as a Social Security number and more).
• Grandparent scams (e.g. Scammers impersonating older grandchild asking for money for an emergency).

According to Gartner analyst Dan Ayoub, “Readily available, high-quality GenAI applications are now capable of creating photo-realistic video content that can deceive or mislead an audience. Given the low barriers to entry in using these tools and their increasing sophistication, developing a methodological approach to detecting GenAI deepfake content has become necessary.”

Trend Micro has a new feature called the Deepfake Inspector that can detect AI-powered impersonations to help you avoid potentially harmful or costly deceptions. This new Deepfake Inspector is available now but will also soon see an upgrade to use even more advanced methods to spot AI-generated content. This will also be available soon on Trend Micro’s Trend Vision One platform.

Trend Micro Deepfake Inspector is a free solution designed to alert users to potential deepfakes while they are on video call. Analysis takes place in real time and locally on your device, ensuring users’ data and privacy are protected at all times.

With more sophisticated AI-generated attacks becoming more common (and easier to create), now may be the time to look into something like this on your PC. To learn more or download Trend Micro’s Deepfake Inspector head over to their website.