The IT Nerd

There’s some new research which was done by the WizCase team exploring how easy it is to create live deepfake videos and hopefully understand this technology’s potential societal impacts. 

Key findings at a glance: 

• In the current environment, anyone with the time and patience to learn basic Python coding, along with slightly above-average hardware can create deepfakes independently. 
• From the results of their experiment, they were successful in deceiving targets despite both noticing minor anomalies during the video call, and remarked that the issues observed in the video or audio were related to connection problems. 
• According to data aggregated by Carnegie Mellon University, there was a “nearly five-fold increase” in deepfake incidents from 2022 to 2023. 
• Deepfake data is highly disproportionate to the recorded 32% increase in reported overall artificial intelligence (AI) controversies in the same period, suggesting that deepfakes are spreading at a more rapid pace than other AI tech.

While deepfake detection tools are continuously being designed and improved, there’s no telling whether the pace of development for that technology can keep pace with deepfake creation software. As such, users need to remain vigilant of the media they consume, as well as the way they interact with friends, family, and colleagues online. 

You can access their report here: https://www.wizcase.com/blog/deepfake-scam-research/

The Chrome Web Store is home to hundreds of AI browser extensions. Taking that into account, researchers at WizCase looked into the privacy implications of using these extensions to understand the potential risks and overreach into user data. We explain some highlights of our findings below.

According to their research:

• Despite being advertised as serverless with no analytics and data collection, WebChat GPT secretly sends data to its own server and records your email address before you even sign up for an account.
• The Liner AI browser extension collects extremely sensitive user information, including 2FA codes, user credentials, and emails, which is a major security and privacy issue.
• Wiseone actively logs sites you visit and can extract data — including email, contacts, and other personal information — from your Google account without your permission or consent.
• LinkedRadar collects excessive browser traffic, actively logging open browser tabs every 10 seconds. 

Why it matters: Their research has shown that, even if browser extensions give users ease-of-use, too often, the software accesses and records information contrary to the Chrome Web Store policies and even the developer’s own, making it almost impossible for consumers to know how secure their information truly is.

You can access their detailed report here: https://www.wizcase.com/blog/privacy-overreach-of-ai-browser-extensions/

The WizCase Team has conducted some research with the aim to understand “How inclusive is social media really?” by creating fresh social media accounts, and showing differences between platforms before algorithms kick in and take over.

According to their research:

• White people were represented more than any other group — ranging from 51-60% of all posts.
• TikTok had the most gender parity, with a 50/50 representation, and YouTube had the least, with 68% males and 32% females.
• Only 4 posts in our sample from X contained any political messaging, 100% of those were conservative.

Why it matters:

Increasingly, fears of and reactions to “cancel culture” and censorship on social media make headlines. Conservatives claim they are being silenced, while liberals claim that hard-right accounts are being inappropriately boosted. Both sides are saying that more representation is needed for their group.

You can access their detailed report here: https://www.wizcase.com/blog/how-inclusive-is-social-media