Almost three quarters of UK adults have never heard of deepfakes

Nearly three out of four UK adults (72 percent) say they have never heard of deepfake videos, according to survey results shared by iProov, which could have potentially huge implications for personal and professional security. Even when the idea was fully explained to them, 28 percent said they considered deepfakes to be harmless.

Respondents demonstrated some understanding of how difficult deepfakes are to detect, with 70 percent acknowledging they would not be able to tell a deepfake from a genuine video, and 72 percent say they would be more likely to use a social media network if it has measures in place to mitigate them. Social networks are responsible for combatting deepfakes, according to 55 percent.

A senior U.S. intelligence official recently told Biometric Update that there is concern among authorities that deepfakes could be used to interfere in the country’s upcoming elections.

“Awareness is the first defence against any cyber-security threat, as we’ve already seen with attacks like phishing and ransomware. Deepfakes, however, represent a whole new kind of danger to businesses and individuals,” comments iProov Founder and CEO Andrew Bud.

“Technology also has a big role to play in combating the threat, yet if the vast majority of people in the UK have such little awareness of deepfakes right now, they simply cannot begin to prepare themselves as they need to.”

In contrast to the 28 percent who are not concerned with deepfakes, 65 percent said that such content undermines their faith in the internet, once it had been explained to them. Identity theft was cited as a concern by 42 percent.

“Taking the fight to this new wave of fraud means that security measures in this new post-truth era simply have to be as creative, sophisticated and fast-moving as the fraudsters,” Bud adds. “Whilst adoption of biometric technology to crack down on deepfakes is growing amongst financial institutions, governments and large-scale enterprises, the challenge ahead lies in the effective detection of genuine human presence – a challenge that should not be underestimated.”

Google recently released a huge database of deepfakes to help researchers develop tools to combat their threat.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  cybersecurity  |  deepfakes  |  fraud prevention  |  iProov  |  social media  |  spoof detection