FBI: Bad Actors Weaponizing Deepfakes for Remote Job Hires

The FBI has recently issued a Public Service Announcement (PSA) from the agency's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the division responsible for receiving, collating and categorizing digital threats. According to the PSA, the bureau has seen a relevant increase in the number of complaints surrounding the usage of deepfake technology: actors are now combining deepfake videos with stolen citizen credentials in order to apply to remote jobs.

Deepfakes (AI-generated or AI-assisted videos falsifying human beings) are a relatively known quantity even in mainstream media - particularly due to screenwriter and director Jordan Peele's 2018 showcase of how believable the technology was in animating an otherwise digital ex-president, Barack Obama. While the tech first made forays in the Internet's underground, the increasing ease with which bad actors can weaponize the technology is raising alarms throughout most sectors - or at the very least, they should be.

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