At a glance.
- US agencies warn organizations to be alert for deepfakes.
- Current themes in Russian disinformation.
- Reacting to the strike against Russian naval units in Sevastopol.
US agencies warn organizations to be alert for deepfakes.
NSA, CISA, and the FBI have issued a cybersecurity information sheet, Contextualizing Deepfake Threats to Organizations, intended to lay out the nature of the family of technologies loosely grouped as "deepfake" technologies. These include sophisticated video and imagery manipulation as well as text generated by artificial intelligence systems through large language models. The tone of the warning is prospective rather than immediate. "As with many technologies, synthetic media techniques can be used for both positive and malicious purposes," the advisory says. "While there are limited indications of significant use of synthetic media techniques by malicious state-sponsored actors, the increasing availability and efficiency of synthetic media techniques available to less capable malicious cyber actors indicate these types of techniques will likely increase in frequency and sophistication." Defensive measures remain works-in-progress, but the three agencies offer some suggestions for organizations beginning to prepare themselves for this particular form of disinformation.
Eduardo Azanza, CEO at Veridas thinks the advice represents a positive move toward coping with the malign uses of AI. “The recommendations set out by CISA indicate a promising step forward in enhancing organizations’ resilience against the negative use of AI. We’ve seen already that it can be extremely difficult to spot deepfakes, and humans are starting to fall for deepfake scams," Azanza wrote. "The need to address the situation is more urgent than ever. Deepfakes can affect every aspect of our society – from the integrity of elections and trust in politicians to financial fraud and illegitimate access. With this vulnerability, organizations need to harness technology as their main weapon in fighting adversaries utilizing deepfakes. There are currently several companies developing cutting-edge deepfake detection tools. Tools such as biometrics leverage AI-trained algorithms to evaluate and ascertain the authenticity and liveliness of voices and faces present for access and authentication purposes. This approach can significantly enhance organizations’ verification methods and overall safeguard assets from theft. However, there is a performance gap in deepfake detection algorithms. For organizations looking to implement such solutions, it’s important they have been properly assessed and certified by third-party evaluators.”
Deceptive use of AI is also receiving some Congressional attention. Reuters reports that a measure to limit AI's exploitation in political campaigns has been introduced in the US Senate. The sponsors, Senators Klobuchar, Coons, Hawley, and Collins, said, "This bill would ... prohibit the distribution of materially deceptive AI-generated audio, images, or video relating to federal candidates in political ads or certain issue ads to influence a federal election or fundraise."
Current themes in Russian disinformation.
President Putin this week spoke at the Eastern Economic Forum, a tame meeting held annually in Vladivostok. During a speech that lasted "several hours," he enunciated several disinformation themes:
- The UK, with the connivance of the US, was behind a Ukrainian commando attack (foiled) at an unnamed Russian nuclear power plant. (There's no evidence, the Telegraph reports, that any such attack happened, and President Putin was short on details.)
- The Ukrainian counteroffensive has decisively failed, with casualties far higher than anyone else believes them to be. (He put them, Reuters says, at 70,000, which is roughly the total number of losses Ukraine is thought to have suffered over the whole course of the war.)
- The war continues because Ukraine refuses to negotiate. (As TASS is authorized to disclose. In fairness to Mr. Putin, there's an element of truth to this--Ukraine has indeed refused negotiations that would amount to surrender.)
Reacting to the strike against Russian naval units in Sevastopol.
President Putin's remarks amount to operational-level disinformation. Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov's program yesterday represented reactive, tactical propaganda. It's worth quoting at length, as it offers a representative picture of the hard-war, ultra propaganda being produced for domestic audiences.
"Last night," he said, "Ukraine's armed forces carried out strikes with ten cruise missiles on the Ordzhonikidze Shipyard in Sevastopol." The shipyard is named after Old Bolshevik Sergo Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze, Stalin's People's Commissar of Heavy Industry. "They also used three uncrewed boats against a detachment of Black Sea Fleet ships in the Black Sea. Seven missiles were intercepted by air defense systems. Patrol ship Vasily Bukov destroyed all the uncrewed boats. The enemy's cruise missiles have damaged two ships undergoing repairs, reports the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation. Ten cruise missiles, supplied by Western Nazi scumbags. A strike on Sevastopol by ten cruise missiles. This is just the beginning! This should be understood. The Nazi scum, the British, the French, and Americans, will send every kind of missile, including ATACMS and Taurus, whatever they have." ATACMS is a US artillery missile with a range of 180 miles (300 kilometers). It can be fired from either MLRS or HIMARS launchers, both of which Ukraine already has. The US is widely believed to be about to send ATACMS to Ukraine. Taurus is a Swedish-German air-launched cruise missile that the Bundestag is believed ready to send to Ukraine. "They have only one main goal: to cause maximum damage to the Russian Federation!"
So far, so good--it's a tolerably accurate report, especially by Mr. Solovyov's standards. What follows, however, is violent imagination intended as inspiration. "Yes, we can retaliate against Kyiv and Odesa, but we should retaliate against Berlin, London, Washington, and New York! We should strike Poland, the base where all of it arrives. We should strike factories where all of it is made. There are no other options! This is war. This is war and its nature is already obvious. We're fighting a universal evil!"
He then moved on to denunciation of traitors, with an excursus on "gnomes." "We have a list of traitors, like businessmen who were excluded from sanctions. Shuylgin, Berezkin, Ahkmedov, We have a list of traitors. Naturally, it includes Tinkov, and many, many figures of the pseudo-culture. They aren't foreign agents of scared patriots. They aren't "good Russians." They are traitors to our country. They were relieved of sanctions because they provided active support and sent money to the Ukro-Nazis. That was the secret deal! This includes Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Ponomarov, Gudkov, from Leonid Volkov to...what is that creature's name? I can never remember it. What is the name of that gnome with t*ts? Lordy! The British spy...Pevchikh! Pevchikh, that's it. Pevchikh is the gnome with t*ts. Yeah. People are objecting, saying that she's tall. Take off her heels! Suddenly her height disappears! Gnome has nothing to do with height. People aren't grasping it. A gnome can be of any height. Mmm--yes. A gnome can be of any height." Mr. Solovyov has been razzed by callers who've taken to addressing him as "dwarfette:" the gnome stuff appears to be yardbird tu quoque. The attention given to internal traitors is significant and characteristic, as is the coarseness of the language throughout.
He returned to the special military operation, now frankly called a "war," and laments a Russian restraint no one outside of Russia is able to perceive. "This situation is extremely unpleasant, extremely hard. I believe that this war can't go on with our hands tied. Ten cruise missiles! It's not a coincidence that we noticed foreign reconnaissance gathering over Crimea. They were selecting a target! That's that!"
Mr. Solovyov's audience is largely domestic. The Institute for the Study of War reasonably characterizes his output in this case as "boilerplate" for domestic consumption as opposed to a serious enunciation of Russian official intentions to destroy London, Berlin, Washington, and New York. (He forgot Paris, although he did list the French among the "Western Nazi scumbags" who desire the destruction of Russia.)
