With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, related applications are entering all aspects of our lives. However, this also brings new challenges to the protection of personal information. At the 2024 National Cyber Security Publicity Week, which opened on the 8th, topics such as AI face swapping and voice swapping on personal privacy have become the focus of everyone's attention. A "portrait photo" or a close-up video of a person may become a new means and tool for criminals to commit crimes.
At this year's Cyber Security Expo, major security companies have demonstrated new products and technologies in the field of security, especially for artificial intelligence security protection has become a key area for major security companies.
In the picture, the technician is demonstrating the "AI face swap" technology, which can make the person in the photo move with just a static photo of the target person.
Zhang Bo, member of the Artificial Intelligence Security Governance Professional Committee of the China Cyberspace Security Association: It is a static picture that does not move, after the presenter makes some movements, the AI face swapping software collects the features of the presenter's facial movement, and integrates the features into the static picture, so that the picture moves according to the demonstrator's actions, and can also form a video.
Zhang Bo introduced that although AI face swapping and voice swapping now have certain technical thresholds and operating costs, if it is obtained by criminals, it may be used to impersonate others and carry out related criminal activities.
Zhang Bo, member of the Artificial Intelligence Security Governance Professional Committee of the China Cyberspace Security Association: At present, AI face swapping technology is still relatively mature, and it can support real-time face swapping in video calls, which can reach the level of fake and real. In addition to changing the face, combined with changing the background environment, changing the voice, etc., the realism will be higher and more difficult to distinguish.
Falsifying indecent photos through "face swapping".
Criminals extort money
Once AI face-swapping, voice swapping and other technologies are used by criminals, they will also become a tool for extortion, and many such cases have occurred in various places. Not long ago, the Shenzhen police smashed a criminal gang that collected victims' picture information from various channels such as the Internet, and then synthesized them for extortion.
Not long ago, Mr. Wu, a citizen of Shenzhen, suddenly received an MMS message from an unfamiliar mobile phone number, and when he clicked on it, he saw that it was an indecent photo of him and a strange woman in a hotel room.
Mr. Wu: At that time, I received an MMS message with a nude photo of me. He threatened me to contact him and transfer money before what time, and I called the police as soon as I thought something was wrong.
After receiving the report, the Shenzhen police immediately investigated the clues provided by Mr. Wu. By combing through the report records, the police found that Mr. Wu was not the only one in the city who had the same experience, and the suspects' extortion methods were the same.
As the investigation deepened, the police found that this was a criminal gang headed by Wang, with a clear division of labor within the gang, some people were responsible for retouching pictures, some people were responsible for finding targets for crimes, and some people were responsible for sending text messages and making phone calls for extortion. After grasping a large number of clues, the Shenzhen police launched a unified network collection operation and successfully arrested more than 10 criminal suspects led by Wang.
In the suspect's computer, the police found a large number of indecent photos after compositing and changing faces.
Zhang Wei, police officer of the Pingshan Branch of the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau: The relevant evidence extracted from the suspect's computer, these pictures are the victim's picture information collected by the suspect from various channels, and then synthesized and processed to blackmail the victim.
At present, Wang and others have been prosecuted by the procuratorate. The case is under further proceedings.
Experts: Accelerate the development and application of relevant countermeasure technologies
The use of advanced AI technology to produce face-swapping videos or simulated voices for illegal activities is indeed easy for people to be deceived, which not only poses new challenges to personal privacy protection, but also highlights the importance of relevant regulations and countermeasures.
It is understood that at present, various acts of infringing on personal information against the "AI face swap" technology occur from time to time, and are abused in the gray field and even in the field of illegal crimes. Cybersecurity experts suggest that the development and application of relevant countermeasures should be accelerated.
Zhang Bo, member of the Artificial Intelligence Security Governance Committee of the China Cyberspace Security Association: The authenticity of the video can be identified through artificial intelligence detection technology, and whether there is fake content. In addition, it can also be combined with identity authentication and digital watermarking to increase the difficulty of forgery. In terms of management, it is necessary to accelerate the formulation and implementation of relevant laws, regulations, and regulatory measures to standardize the use and application scenarios of AI applications.
Cybersecurity experts suggest that the most critical reason for illegal behaviors such as AI face swapping is the leakage of personal privacy information. Therefore, in the process of daily surfing the Internet, we should try to avoid excessive disclosure and sharing of personal biological information such as faces and fingerprints. If you receive a video of "family", "leader" and other transfers and remittances, you must carefully screen the authenticity.
Zhang Bo, member of the Artificial Intelligence Security Governance Professional Committee of the China Cyberspace Security Association: AI face swapping is usually accompanied by transaction fraud scenarios, such as video calls, pay attention to the details such as facial contours and light backgrounds in the other party's video to see if there is anything abnormal. If necessary, you can ask the other party to quickly look up, nod, and turn their heads to further determine whether the video has abnormal details to confirm that the video is real.
Wary! Don't post these kinds of photos casually
In daily life, many people like to post food and beautiful scenery on Moments and short videos, but if you are not careful, these behaviors are likely to indirectly leak your personal information. If it is acquired by someone with ulterior motives, it may endanger the property and even personal safety of oneself and one's family. Which photos must be careful not to post on the Internet?
Do not post a photo with an ID card or a blank sheet of paper. These photos will contain sensitive information such as personal names, ID numbers, and addresses, and once leaked, criminals may use this information to commit identity theft, handle financial services such as credit cards and loans, and even carry out illegal activities. In addition, photos such as holding blank paper or newspapers are often used to verify identity, and if obtained by criminals, they may be used to make fake documents or carry out online fraud, which will bring financial losses and reputational damage to individuals.
Do not post photos of various ticket types. Many people on business trips and travels like to take train tickets or plane boarding passes and share them with their circle of friends. These tickets will not only contain information such as name, place of departure, destination, etc., but also contain passengers' personal information in the stripe code or QR code, which may be cracked and stolen by criminals.
Don't post photos of house keys, license plates, etc. Through big data and other technical means, the offender will analyze the specific location of the publisher at a specific time through these photos, and will also obtain the relevant living habits of the publisher. So, the best thing to do is not to show obvious items in the photo, such as house keys, license plate numbers, etc.
Cybersecurity experts emphasize that protecting the privacy of individuals is paramount. The public should be vigilant and avoid posting photos containing sensitive personal information on the Internet. At the same time, it is recommended to regularly check and update personal privacy settings to ensure the security of personal information.
Source: "Beijing Network Report" WeChat public account