Bad actors are using deepfakes to interview for remote work tech jobs

[Shawn Knight]

A hot potato: Deepfakes rely on AI to create highly convincing images or videos of someone saying or doing something they never actually said or did. Some examples produced for entertainment purposes equate to harmless fun but others are using the tech for nefarious purposes.

In a recent public service announcement from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the agency warned of an increase in the number of complaints received regarding the use of deepfakes and stolen personal information to apply for remote and work-from-home jobs.

While deepfakes have come a long way in a relatively short period of time, there are still some rough edges that attentive employers can occasionally pick up on. During live online interviews, for example, the actions and lip movements of the person being interviewed aren't always in sync with the audio of the voice being heard. Furthermore, actions like coughing or sneezing are another indicator that something fishy is going on as they don't align with what is being seen.

The FBI said positions applied for in the reports included information technology and computer programming, database, and software-related job functions. Some of these positions would grant the applicant access to customer personally identifiable information, corporate financial data, IT databases and / or proprietary information, all of which could be valuable on the black market.

Companies or victims of this sort of activity are encouraged to report it to the FBI's IC3 division.

Image credit: Anna Shvets

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https://www.techspot.com/news/95188-bad-actors-using-deepfakes-interview-remote-work-tech.html

 

[RudyBob]

The times aren't a comin anymore they are here

 

[Uncle Al]

Corporations get what they deserve. When they are too cheap to fly the prospective interviewee in for a face to face they take a great risk and in the end, they get what they pay for and deserve .....

 

[brucek]

Corporations get what they deserve. When they are too cheap to fly the prospective interviewee in for a face to face they take a great risk and in the end, they get what they pay for and deserve .....

I think initially this change was a lot less about cost and a lot more about societal pressure / doing the right thing in not putting people on planes unnecessarily in a pandemic.

Over time I think it's still a lot less about cost and about mutual expectations having evolved as to how people communicate.

 

[techseven]

So, if you look a certain way - you will be granted "the keys" to the company? I guess not...

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

Corporations get what they deserve. When they are too cheap to fly the prospective interviewee in for a face to face they take a great risk and in the end, they get what they pay for and deserve .....

Companies must produce profit in order to grow and hire more people. Many companies are not in good financial shape and their cash flow is basically borrowing from a line of credit and hopefully paying it off a month down the road. When they don't, the death spiral begins. What is wrong with trying to do things as least expensive as they can. Don't you? I don't begrudge a company trying to make as much profit as the market allows. The potential of profit sparks innovation.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

So....if they get the job, wouldn't they be "good" actors?

*ba dum tiss*.

 

[pmshah]

No matter how the interview was conducted it should not be finalised until there is at least one face to face meeting with the prospective appointee. I am pretty sure the cost of flying in the candidate would be a very small % of the salary to be paid but would be a HUGE advantage as security measure.