Voice Cloning
Why AI-based voice cloning is the next frontier in social-engineering attacks.
I’m sure we’ve all heard of phishing scams or, unfortunately, experienced them ourselves. At work, you might even receive “training” emails designed to see if you fall for them by clicking on a malicious link. If you do, the IT department might send you to participate in additional training to avoid these in the future. Just when you thought these were scary or just annoying, something even more dangerous and frightening exists that make these email scams seem quaint.
These come in the form of deep fakes enhanced by AI. Essentially, someone can record as little as three seconds of your voice and then use an AI company like ElevenLabs, or the like, that can turn regular text into speech that sounds just like you, including the little ticks and pauses we all tend to have. Combine this with a frantic-sounding voice on the phone, calling you or someone you love and asking for money or other sorts of private information because they are supposedly having an emergency. At that moment, you may doubt the authenticity of the voice but go along with it anyway because you are scared and unsure if you were just being paranoid. Then, you give them everything they asked for without taking a moment to think whether you should do it or not. This is when they “got” you!
These scammers prey on and count on human emotion and turn it into your Achilles heel. Don’t let them! In the age of AI, you have to question things, trust your instincts a little bit more, and pause just a little longer than usual because even the most grounded people can succumb to a temporary lapse of judgement, especially during a time of weakness like when you are exhausted after a long day of work, lack of sleep, or other life stresses. It can happen to any of us.
Larry Magid wrote about his Voice Cloning nightmare back on May 5, 2023. This is the first I had heard of such a thing and it stopped me cold. Read his blog post.
You can also read the original Ars Technica article that inspired my post, if you want more information.