Trend Micro PH gears up for the future of a Connected World

Aside from being a tool for cyberextortion, an emerging trend called “Deepfake Technology”—a term used for a collection of different AI based image manipulation techniques—has the potential to produce fake video and audio clips for cybercriminals to illegally connect money from individuals, government institutions, and private companies globally.

“We are living in a golden age for elite cyber attackers,” said Robert McArdle, Trend Micro Research Director, Forward-Looking Threat Research—Cybercrime Research. “In the early ages of hacking, attacks were carried out manually by attackers. Then, the explosion of malware followed, wherein attackers develop codes that perform hacking through compromising machines and using botnets. Now, the most damaging attacks are carried out directly by very skilled human attackers again using effective tools creatively.”

McArdle predicts that attackers will combine Deepfake Technology with some of today’s extortion-based ransomware to form business models that make successful cybercrime attacks against organizations. An attacker can, for example, alter photos and videos (complete with voice or audio) to generate a convincing Deepfake then blackmail a victim by threatening to send the Deepfake link to all the contacts in his/her phonebook or email contacts list unless he/she sends payment to a Bitcoin account.

In the next 12 months, McArdle also foresees the following trends in the threat landscape:

• “Post intrusion” ransomware will significantly increase, and attackers will focus on organizations that provide critical services and infrastructures.

• Cybercriminals will go deeper into banking networks, focusing on the manipulation of interbank networks and attacks targeting ATMs.

• Underground hosting, i.e., how cybercrime-related sites and services are hosted, will evolve and will see greater collaboration and stronger supply chain.