Why Criminal Groups Are Using Deepfake Technology?
Europol’s Innovation Lab published its first report under its observatory function on April 28. Its report ‘Facing Reality? Law Enforcement and the challenge of deepfakes’ contains many interesting details about deepfake technology.
However, before discussing Innovation Lab’s report, let’s learn more about Europol’s Innovation Lab itself. It aims to identify, promote, and develop concrete innovative solutions in support of the EU member states’ operational work. This will help investigators as well as analysts to make the most of the opportunities offered by new technologies to avoid duplication of work, etc.
The activities of Europol’s Innovation Lab are directly linked to the strategic priorities as laid out in Europol Strategy 2020+. According to Europol Strategy 2020+, the organization shall be at the forefront of law enforcement innovation and research.
Deepfake technology and its importance
The Innovation Lab’s report is very interesting. It is based on extensive desk research and in-depth consultation with law enforcement experts. The report provides a detailed overview of the criminal use of deepfake technology, alongside the challenges faced by law enforcement in detecting and preventing the nefarious use of deepfakes.
Its report includes a number of contemporary examples showing deepfakes’ potential use in serious crimes such as CEO fraud. Moreover, the volume and quality of deepfake content are increasing, which is facilitating the proliferation of crimes that harness deepfake technology. So, law enforcement agencies must pay more attention to deepfakes.
It is possible to identify much of the deepfake content through manual methods that rely on human analysts. Nevertheless, this is a labor intensive task that is not actionable as scale. Accordingly, Europol’s Innovation Lab’s report argues that law enforcement agencies will need to enhance the skills and technologies at officers’ disposal if they are to keep pace with the criminal use of deepfakes. One option is to create software that will use artificial intelligence to detect deepfakes according to the report.
