National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: How to Protect Yourself from Deepfakes
The term deepfake often appears in news stories and can stir up feelings of fear and uncertainty. But as with most scams, being informed can be your best defense.
What exactly is a deepfake?
A deepfake is a computer-generated video, image, or audio clip that uses artificial intelligence to make someone appear to say or do something they never actually did.
How do bad actors create deepfakes?
Bad actors create deepfakes by leveraging AI models trained on large sets of images, videos, or voice recordings of a target. Once the system learns the patterns of a person’s facial expressions, speech, and movements, it can produce convincing but fake media.
There are various tools which can be used to accomplish this, but the more data available about the target (such as photos and audio clips posted online), the easier it is to create a convincing deepfake.
Real World Attacks
Cryptocurrency Scam: Last year, bad actors leveraged a deep fake video of Elon Musk to trick people into investing in a fake cryptocurrency. One person who lost $690,000 to this scam tells his story saying, "I mean, the picture of him — it was him."
The "Grandparent" Scam: Bad actors often leverage social media and other online sources in order to build deep-fake voices or videos to impersonate family members or friends. Read the story from a woman who received a phone call from someone claiming to be their grandson, needing help because they were in jail.
How can you protect yourself against these types of attacks?
Look closely.
Deepfake videos may have unnatural facial movements, lip-sync errors, or facial gestures that appear robotic exaggerated.
Deepfake images may have unnatural smudging around facial edges, hair, or jewelry.
Check the source.
Only trust content from reliable outlets.
Use fact-checking tools like Snopes, Reuters Fact Check, or Google Reverse Image Search.
Leverage “Safe Words” with family and when travelling.
A safe word is a pre-agreed code word or phrase only you and your trusted group know. If you ever receive an urgent call or message, asking for the safe word is a quick way to verify the person’s identity.
👉 Remember: Not everything you see or hear online is real. Stay alert and think twice before believing or sharing suspicious content.
Additional Resources:
National Cybersecurity Alliance (StaySafeOnline.com)
HUIT Awareness & Education Events (click on View recordings of past sessions, requires Harvard Key)
Deepfakes with Kerry Tomlinson, investigative reporter
Wired.com