Amid the rising tide of impersonation scams and sophisticated deepfake technology, it’s easy to despair of ever keeping the cyber criminals at bay.
But, according to an online security expert, the answer could lie in a simple password.
Not, however, any old computer password but one created to help family and friends identify whether they are interacting with a person they really know or an AI-generated deepfake.
Cody Barrow, a former US government adviser, said artificial intelligence has made impersonation scams easier to create.
He added that AI was helping to ‘lower the barrier to entry’ for cyber-criminals and extra precautions beyond basic online security were needed to combat it.
Deepfake technology is used to alter a person’s appearance to pretend to be someone else.
Mr Barrow, boss of cyber security firm EclecticIQ, added: ‘AI is huge. It’s not just hype. It’s very easy to dismiss it as such, but it’s really not.
‘My wife and I were discussing this – we have a secret code that we use that only the real me or the real her would know, so that if one of us ever receives a FaceTime video or WhatsApp video that looks and sounds like us, asking for money, asking for help… we can use that code to verify that we’re the right person.’
Amid the rising tide of impersonation scams and sophisticated deepfake technology, it’s easy to despair of ever keeping the cyber criminals at bay
Cody Barrow, a former US government adviser, said artificial intelligence has made impersonation scams easier to create – his warning follows a string of cyber attacks on UK retailers, including M&S and the Co-op
Mr Barrow said his approach was necessary because the recent rise of data breaches means many internet users will have had their details compromised at some point.
He added that creating passwords with loved ones was especially important for people who were less computer-literate.
His warning follows a string of cyber attacks on UK retailers, including M&S and the Co-op.
