'Leonid Volkov' deepfake video calls target European politicians
'Leonid Volkov' deepfake video calls target European politicians
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Occurred: April 2021
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Senior EU and UK politicians and officials were targeted by a campaign in which bad actors appeared to use deepfake technology whilst pretending to be Russian opposition leaders.
The attack took the form of video calls involving an imposter claiming to be Leonid Volkov, chief of staff to Alexy Navalny, in which the Russia's annexation of Crimea was discussed.
The identity and motivation of the actors remains unclear, though Volkov told The Guardian that it may have been an attempt to discredit Russian opposition head Navalny.
Among those targeted included Tom Tugendhat, then chair of the UK's foreign affairs select committee, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Estonian parliament Marko Mihkelson, Rihards Kols, chairman of the Latvian parliament's foreign affairs committee, and the Dutch parliament's foreign affairs committee.
Deepfake
Deepfakes (a portmanteau of 'deep learning' and 'fake') are images, videos, or audio which are edited or generated using artificial intelligence tools, and which may depict real or non-existent people. They are a type of synthetic media.
Source: Wikipedia 🔗
➕ April 2021. It emerged that the incident was a prank, with no effects - deepfake or otherwise - used.
Investigations, assessments, audits 🧐
Investigations, assessments, audits 🧐
News, commentary, analysis 🗞️
News, commentary, analysis 🗞️
https://twitter.com/TomTugendhat/status/1384973766040637441
https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/30/22407264/deepfake-european-polticians-leonid-volkov-vovan-lexus
https://www.baltictimes.com/scammers_imitating_russian_opposition_also_trick_estonian_mps/
https://news.yahoo.com/netherlands-deepfake-video-chat-navalny-212606049.html
https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/kamerleden-vergaderen-met-deepfake-imitatie-van-stafchef-russische-oppositieleider-navalny~b04b5322/
https://nltimes.nl/2021/04/24/dutch-mps-video-conference-deep-fake-imitation-navalnys-chief-staff
https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-accused-using-deepfakes-imitate-political-rivals
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/22/european-mps-targeted-by-deepfake-video-calls-imitating-russian-opposition
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/04/23/deepfake-navalny-aide-targets-european-lawmakers-a73717
https://news.err.ee/1608190012/scammers-imitating-russian-opposition-trick-estonian-mps-with-deepfake
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Type: Incident
Published: February 2023
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