Tech Tip Tuesday is written and made possible by Computek who has been providing Georgetown and Austin businesses with fast, reliable and secure IT support and services since 2001. Learn more about Computek on their website, Facebook page or Instagram profile.
Deepfake technology has been advancing rapidly in recent years. This type of technology can be used to fool even the most seasoned professionals. It is critical for businesses to be aware of the dangers of deepfake technology. In 2024, LastPass disclosed a failed attempt to use an AI-generated deepfake to breach company information. While the attempt was not successful, LastPass shared the incident as a warning to other companies.
You can never be too sure when it comes to what a cyber criminal will do to steal your data, passwords, and financial information. To safeguard your company from cybercrimes through deepfakes, let’s first dive into what a deepfake is and how it can be used to steal your information.
What is a Deepfake?
A deepfake is a video or audio created to mimic a specific person in order to spread false information or steal sensitive data. There have been many convincing deepfakes floating around in the last few years impersonating political figures and celebrities, but deepfakes can be used to impersonate nearly anyone with an online presence.
How Can Deepfakes Be Used to Steal Information?
On a larger scale, deepfakes can be used to impersonate CEOs, COOs, and directors to fool those within the company into giving out sensitive information. On a smaller scale, deepfakes can be used to impersonate friends, family, and co-workers simply by using phone number spoofing and voice cloning. Sometimes a deepfake video call will be used if there is enough video footage online of the person the hacker is deepfaking.
How Can I Prevent Deepfakes?
Keeping your accounts and information as private as possible is your best bet to inhibit deepfakes. To do so, limit your online information, enable privacy settings, utilize multi-factor authentication, and always use secure passwords. Additionally, keeping your software up to date can help prevent cybercriminals from exploiting vulnerabilities.
What Can I Do to Avoid Deepfakes?
While avoiding deepfakes altogether may become increasingly difficult as the technology becomes easier for hackers to access and harder to recognize, there are a few things you can do to recognize them. Strange lighting, eye movements, and unnatural body behaviors are telltale signs of a deepfake. You can also look out for blurred edges around the face or teeth or blinking that occurs too often or not enough.
The Bottom Line
While it might be impossible to avoid deepfakes completely, keeping your information as private as possible and learning to recognize how to recognize a deepfake can help prevent you from falling victim to this type of attack.
For more information on keeping your company protected from cyber-attacks and employee education contact us at Computekonline.com or by calling 512-869-1155 to schedule a free consultation.
That’s all for this week, we’ll see you next time for Tech Tip Tuesday!
Comments