What Is Deepfake and How to Protect Yourself From It
Deepfakes are videos or other content that have been altered using artificial intelligence, they’re a growing concern for both governments and individuals. People make Deepfakes online with deep fake apps and these synthetic media can be very convincing, they may even undermine our ability to trust our own eyes one day. So, what is Deepfake technology? And why do we consider it dangerous?
What Is Deepfake Technology
Deepfake by literal is a combination of two words: “deep” (comes from “deep learning”) and “fake”. Deep learning is an AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology that can learn from unstructured data, for instance, human faces and voices. That data will then be processed to create a Deepfake image using another machine learning system GAN (Generative Adversarial Network). Because such a process will keep testing the results it creates against the original set, the fake images will become more and more convincing.
Why Is Deepfake Dangerous
Deepfake technology can make convincing videos or images of people, and can also recreate the audio of specific human voices in the same way through deep fake apps. In short terms, a Deepfake that is created with deep fake apps can trick you to believe things that aren't real. This makes Deepfake a serious threat.
While sometimes Deepfakes can be used for fun (for example people make Deepfakes online with deep fake apps to create memes), still the technology and those apps itself can be used by cybercriminals to do serious harm. Since anyone can make Deepfakes online with deep fake apps, it may create people who do not exist or, even worse, create images/videos of real people doing things they never did.
How to Protect Yourself from Deepfake
There are a few basic security procedures that are efficient at countering Deepfake:
- Ensure you and your family know about what Deepfake is, how it works and the threat it can pose.
- Learn how to spot fake news and Deepfake content.
- Always read from good quality news sources.
However, if hackers start deploying Deepfake in an attempt to break into your networks, basic cybersecurity practices will be very useful in minimizing threats:
- Backup your data regularly to protect them against unexpected events and give you the possibility to restore the damaged data.
- Always use unique, strong passwords for all your accounts, and make sure when one network or service has been broken into, it won’t affect your other accounts.
- Use a security package such as the MonoDefense security bundle to protect your home network and devices against cyber risks. This bundle provides all the cyber security features you need, such as VPN Unlimited to prevent your Wi-Fi connections from being hacked, avoid apps knowing where you are, protect your webcams and so much more.
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Note: VPN Unlimited is also part of MonoDefense security bundle.
What Makes VPN Unlimited The Most Secure VPN
VPN Unlimited utilizes the AES-256 protocol. This military-grade encryption algorithm will reliably encrypt all your sensitive information, protecting it from unauthorized access, which means your data is safe and will never be used to generate Deepfakes. Even if hackers manage to intercept your traffic, they will only see ridiculous combinations of characters instead of your sensitive data.
Protocols allow apps to establish a protected tunnel between your device and the internet. Some protocols are faster but less secure, and the other way around. Therefore, you want to be able to choose the protocol that meets all your needs. VPN Unlimited offers you a selection of secure VPN protocols to choose from.
A no-logs policy is the foundation of VPN security. Only providers that don't keep logs of user activity can truly claim that their VPN is secure. Many risks can be avoided by making use of such a virtual private network. Whatever they are, your information is safe because there are no logs of activity to disclose. Hence, no one can use your data for Deepfakes.
When it comes to online safety and how to use the internet properly, the most important thing is to criticize everything you see online. Now that you know of Deepfakes, besides thinking twice before believing videos online, you might want to get an extra layer of security to your web life. VPN Unlimited is without any doubt the best solution for you, with all its benefits, you will be much protected surfing online and be safe from becoming a Deepfake victim and other cybersecurity threats.
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