New Cyber Technology Threatening Global Leaders

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Deepfake technology involves the creation of synthetic media, generally, video material, using artificial intelligence and machine learning tools which allow for an individual’s facial expressions and speech to be doctored to appear real. Russia is likely to turn to deepfake technology against its rivals in the near future, a new report from the Estonian intelligence services says.

The annual security assessment from Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service noted that Russia continues to apply certain ‘KGB-style’ tactics in cyberspace to sow discord among Western societies.

The report states that in all likelihood, Russian special services will now seek to step up their development of so-called ‘deepfake’ technologies in the field of cyber warfare. The Russian threat “will be particularly high once technological development reaches a level where deepfakes are convincing enough to be unrecognisable to the human eye,” the research adds, also noting that this will present challenges in the future in terms of the ability of the public to distinguish between true and false information.

The threat of deepfake technologies has long been on the radar of law enforcement agencies in the EU. According to euractiv.com, the European police agency Europol has already recommended in a November report that EU law enforcement authorities should make ‘significant investments’ into developing new screening technologies that could help to detect the malicious use of deepfakes.

The purpose of politically-motivated deepfakes is often to stoke social unrest and political polarisation between online users, by way of delivering falsified messages from well-known leaders. A series of high-level politicians have already felt the impact of these technologies, with falsified videos being produced of German Chancellor Merkel, former US President Obama, and ex-Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.