Dernière mise à jour: 20 mai 2023
In the X-men movie, the character Mystique is able to change his appearance to look like everyone he wanted. This trait was one of the most powerful in science fiction movies, allowing a person to gain someone's trust before killing them.
La confidence is an important element for human relations to function. And the cybercriminals always try to exploit it in different ways for malicious purposes.
Until now, the video may still have been something to be believed. We said to ourselves that it was complicated to modify. Now, it will still be a medium that we can no longer trust.
Discover the world of deepfake, imitate anyone to make him say and do anything.
Deepfake, what is it?
Deepfake is a computer method which allows to create fake videos based on artificial intelligence. Indeed, this technology is mainly used to superimpose existing videos on other videos (for example: the change of face of a person on a video).
Le word deepfake is formed from "deep learning"(deep learning) and"Fake". This method can be used to create fake news and malicious hoaxes.
Today, thanks to open source programs, a day can be enough for a single person in the back of their room to tweak a deepfake of average quality but which will have its small effect.
An example is that of a deepfake of Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook. The video, posted on Instagram, reveals the whole truth about his social network and his intention to control humanity. Issue ? This video is fake!
How does a deepfake work?
The best known approach for create a deepfake is the substitution from one face to another et his animation as perfect as possible.
To do this, you have to take a person who looks a bit like the target and film them from different angles and lighting, asking them to make various facial expressions. Then, the program will use this base to artificially animate the real face of the target.
So, to animate a face, you have to have access to several thousand pictures of a person, from different angles. Often collecting frame by frame from a video can suffice.
How to create a DeepFake?
To create a DeepFake, you need a powerful computer and a good dose of patience. Once these prerequisites are in place, you can let the artificial intelligence do its job by calculating the different images needed to create your manipulation. A popular application in the market for this is face swap.
This program is written in Python and can be run on different operating systems. It is free and relatively easy to use. Its main purpose is to perform a face swap in a video.
To use FakeSwap, the user must first provide hundreds of images of Character A (the target) and Character B (whose face will be applied). A possible source for these images is Google, DuckDuckGo or Bing. However, videos from interviews, public speeches or films are a preferable source, as they will capture many more natural poses and expressions.
The program will then put in competition these bases A and B thanks to the neuronal learning, until a convincing result is obtained (the software indicates that an error rate of 0,02% is acceptable).
Then just press "Create" to start the production of the faked video. For more info, look at their official site.
The danger of DeepFake
One can imagine many uses of DeppFake, here are some of its uses.
Fake news or manipulation of information
At a time when “false informationSeem to contribute to most of the world's woes, deepfakes have taken on the role of a propaganda tool. This video from Barack Obama show me how deepfake can be used for manipulate the truth and disclose information, en masse.
Deepfake offers a very powerful mechanism for those who would like manipulate public opinion.
Involuntary porn
At present, most deepfakes are used in theporn industry. A recent study on this practice found that women constitute the majority of victims in deepfake porn. In these cases, their faces are inserted into existing pornographic content. The goal is to ruin a person's reputation targeted beforehand.
Cybercriminality
Deepfake is the ideal technology to make improve social engineering used by hackers. Their strategy? Audio files reproducing voice of your boss are generated using artificial intelligence. They make a call and order you to make a money transfer. And presto, voila! This has already been done with the case of a UK CEO who was brought in to transfer $ 240 to a fraudster.
Social engineering, a tactic used in many cybercrimes that manipulates natural human behavior by playing with our confidence, urgency, shame, etc.
Le sextortion, for example, is theperfect deepfake app. Sextortion is a form of blackmail. It's when someone threatens you to send an intimate photo or video of you to other people if you refuse to send them money.
The scam usually takes the form of an email informing you that you have been filmed on camera, in a "compromising position". To prevent the video from being shown, you need to pay ransom by bitcoin.
Fake videos or fake audio files are becoming more and more realistic and easier to perform. The best weapon for this kind of trick is your vigilance. So stay vigilant, scammers will always be one step ahead!