The real threat of Deep Fakes1:25
High-tech forged videos could wreak havoc on our justice systems, the media, and the technological world in general. Are we prepared for the threat of 'deep fakes'?
Facebook has been slammed for its inadequate responses to the problem of fake news. Picture: Lionel Bonavenutre/AFPSource:AFP
As we head into a federal election, Australian democracy is not ready to defend itself against the cyber manipulation of our political process.
The threats are coming from within and beyond our borders.
There’s been a lot of talk about foreign influence in the 2016 US election. There, the Russian Internet Research Agency’s (IRA) aim was to exploit cultural divisions like race and religion to create conflict and undermine trust in institutions and the political process.
The same operatives who spiked America’s social media with disruptive content are also active here.
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Australian Defence Force Academy cyber security expert Tom Sear. Picture: Linked inSource:Supplied
Following the downing of flight MH17, Russia mounted cyber-attacks on the Australian Defence Force, and the IRA trolled Australian social media users in coordinated distraction campaigns timed to coincide with Australian diplomatic efforts aimed at revealing the truth about who shot down the plane.
We’ve also heard about the hack-and-leak operations targeted at Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
In February this year a ‘sophisticated state actor’ – probably China – intruded into the Australian Parliament’s networks. Investigations are ongoing into what they were trying to steal, but it’s likely they were trying to get embarrassing information on a political party, or data on Australian citizens.
Information obtained in such an operation could be amplified by the use of social media. The
Chinese Government has significant influence over WeChat, a social media platform based in China and heavily used by the Chinese diaspora in Australia.
WeChat will be a key forum for political debate over contested seats in the Australian election.
The electoral process may itself be under threat.
The Australian Electoral Commission has the job of controlling ‘fake news’ and inappropriate political advertising, and claims it’s on top of it.
This requires rapid ‘take down’ action involving large, global social media companies, which, as we discovered in connection with the Christchurch attack, isn’t immediate. In the midst of a short election cycle, we don’t have time to wait.
Australians online are – wittingly or unwittingly – on the front line of a battle for their opinions and their votes.
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Major General Marcus Thompson. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
Major General Marcus Thompson, Head of Information Warfare at the Australian Defence Force, recently asked how do we “educate the Australian population, Australian citizens,
that in fact they are combatants in cyberspace”.
A recent Joint Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Matters report points to the need for legislative and educational responses to protect Australian elections from interference.
But for this election, it’s too little too late.
In truth information warfare is going on all the time, so we need to reorganise Australian democracy to be constantly vigilant in the new reality of cyber influence and intrusion. There’s not going to be simple fix for an issue that involves government, global corporations, the media, citizens and other nation states. But we need to be paying attention – as individuals and as a society - about who is really a ‘friend’ online.
Tom Sear, University of NSW cyber security researcher
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