Sophistication of AI-backed operation targeting senator points to future of deepfake schemes
Washington — A sophisticated deepfake operation this month targeted Senator Ben Cardin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in the latest sign that nefarious actors are turning to artificial intelligence in efforts to deceive top political figures, according to the Office of Senate Security . the United States.
Experts believe that these types of plans will become increasingly common as the technical barriers that once existed around generative artificial intelligence have diminished. The message from Senate Security sent to Senate offices on Monday said the effort “stands out for its technical sophistication and credibility.”
The plan revolved around Dmytro Kuleba, the former Ukrainian foreign minister. Cardin’s office received an email from someone they believed was Kuleba, according to the message, an official who knew Cardin from a previous meeting.
When the two met for a video call, the connection was “consistent in appearance and sound with previous encounters.” It wasn’t until the caller posing as Kuleba started asking questions like, “Do you support long-range missiles to Russian territory?” I need to know your answer,” that Cardin and his staff suspected “something was wrong,” according to the Senate message.
“The speaker continued and asked the senator politically charged questions regarding the upcoming election,” likely trying to entice him to comment on a political candidate, according to the statement from Senate Security Director Nicolette Llewellyn. Their staff ended the call and quickly contacted the State Department, who verified it was not Kuleba.”
Cardin described the encounter Wednesday as “a malicious actor engaged in a deceptive attempt to conduct a conversation with me by posing as a well-known individual.”
“After it became immediately clear that the person I was talking to was not who they claimed to be, I ended the call and my office took swift action, alerting the relevant authorities,” Cardin said. “This matter is now in the hands of law enforcement and an extensive investigation is underway.”
Cardin’s office did not respond to a request for additional information.
Generative artificial intelligence can use enormous computing power to digitally alter what appears on a video, sometimes changing the background or subject of a video in real time. The same technology can also be used to digitally alter audio or images.
Such technology has been used in nefarious schemes before.
A financial officer in Hong Kong paid $25 million to a scammer who used artificial intelligence to pose as the company’s chief financial officer. A political advisor used artificial intelligence to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice and urged voters not to vote in New Hampshire’s presidential primary, leaving the consultant facing more than two dozen criminal charges and millions of dollars in fines. And experts in the field of caring for older Americans have long been concerned AI-powered deepfakes will boost financial scams targeting seniors.
Senate security officials and artificial intelligence experts alike believe this could be just the beginning, as recent technological leaps have made plans like the one against Cardin not only more credible but also easier to execute.
“Over the past few months, the technology to parse live video deepfake along with live audio deepfake has become increasingly easy to integrate,” said Rachel Tobac, a cybersecurity expert and the CEO of SocialProof Security. who added that previous versions of this technology had clear indications that they were fake, from awkward lip movements to people blinking backwards.
“I expect there will be more incidents like this in the future,” said Siwei Lyu, an artificial intelligence expert and professor at the University at Buffalo. “Anyone with some evil intent in their mind now has the ability to carry out these types of attacks. These can come from a political angle, but also from a financial angle, such as fraud or identity theft.”
The memo to Senate staff reflected this sentiment, directing staffers to ensure meeting requests are authentic and warning that “other efforts will be made in the coming weeks.”
R. David Edelman, an artificial intelligence and national security expert who led White House cybersecurity policy for years, described the plan as a “sophisticated intelligence operation” that “feels pretty groundbreaking” in the way it uses of artificial intelligence technology with more traditional intelligence operations that recognized the ties between Cardin and the Ukrainian official.
“They recognized the existing relationship between these two parties. They knew how they could communicate with each other: timing, mode and how they communicate,” he said. “There is a sophistication in the intelligence operation.”