New Report Finds that Criminals Leverage AI for Malicious Use � And It’s Not Just Deep Fakes

Europol, UNICRI and Trend Micro uncover current and future threats of AI and how to combat them

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HONG
KONG SAR - Media OutReach -
20 November 2020 – A
jointly developed new
report by Europol, the United Nations
Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and Trend Micro looking into
current and predicted criminal uses of artificial intelligence (AI) was
released today. The report provides law enforcers, policy makers and other
organizations with information on existing and potential attacks leveraging AI
and recommendations on how to mitigate these risks.

The complete results of this research are available here:
https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hk/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/exploiting-ai-how-cybercriminals-misuse-abuse-ai-and-ml  .

“AI promises the world greater
efficiency, automation and autonomy. At a time where the public is getting
increasingly concerned about the possible misuse of AI, we have to be
transparent about the threats, but also look into the potential benefits from AI
technology.” said Edvardas Šileris, Head of Europol’s Cybercrime Centre. “This
report will help us not only to anticipate possible malicious uses and abuses
of AI, but also to prevent and mitigate those threats proactively. This is how
we can unlock the potential AI holds and benefit from the positive use of AI
systems.”

The report concludes that cybercriminals will leverage AI
both as an attack vector and an attack surface. Deepfakes are currently the
best-known use of AI as an attack vector. However, the report warns that new
screening technology will be needed in the future to mitigate the risk of
disinformation campaigns and extortion, as well as threats that target AI data
sets.

For example,
AI could be used to support:

• Convincing social engineering attacks at scale
• Document-scraping malware to make attacks more efficient
• Evasion of image recognition and voice biometrics
• Ransomware attacks, through intelligent targeting and evasion
• Data pollution, by identifying blind spots in detection rules

“As AI
applications start to make a major real-world impact, it’s becoming clear that
this will be a fundamental technology for our future,” said Irakli Beridze,
Head of the Centre for AI and Robotics at UNICRI. “However, just as the
benefits to society of AI are very real, so is the threat of malicious use.
We’re honored to stand with Europol and Trend Micro to shine a light on the
dark side of AI and stimulate further discussion on this important topic.”

The paper
also warns that AI systems are being developed to enhance the effectiveness of
malware and to disrupt anti-malware and facial recognition systems.

 ”Cybercriminals
have always been early adopters of the latest technology and AI is no
different. As this report reveals, it is already being used for password
guessing, CAPTCHA-breaking and voice cloning, and there are many more malicious
innovations in the works,” said Tony Lee, Head of Consulting, Hong Kong &
Macau, at Trend Micro. “We’re proud to be teaming up with Europol and UNICRI to
raise awareness about these threats, and in so doing help to create a safer
digital future for us all.”

The three
organizations make several recommendations to conclude the report:

-  Harness
the potential of AI technology as a crime-fighting tool to future-proof the
cybersecurity industry and policing

-  Continue
research to stimulate the development of defensive technology

-  Promote
and develop secure AI design frameworks

-  De-escalate
politically loaded rhetoric on the use of AI for cybersecurity purposes

-  Leverage
public-private partnerships and establish multidisciplinary expert groups

About Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3)

Europol set up the European
Cybercrime Centre (EC3) in 2013 to strengthen the law enforcement response to
cybercrime in the EU and thus to help protect European citizens, businesses and
governments from online crime. Our focus is on cybercrime committed by
organised crime groups, which generate large profits (online fraud), seriously
harm victims (online child sexual exploitation) or impact critical
infrastructure and information systems in the EU, including cyber-attacks.
Since its establishment, Europol’s EC3 has made a significant contribution to
the fight against cybercrime: it has been involved in hundreds of high-profile
operations and hundreds on-the-spot operational-support deployments resulting
in hundreds of arrests. https://www.europol.europa.eu/about-europol/european-cybercrime-centre-ec3

About UNICRI

The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute
was established in 1968. Within the broad scope of its mandate, the Institute
contributes, through research, training, field activities and the collection,
exchange and dissemination of information, to the formulation and
implementation of improved policies in the field of crime prevention, justice
and emerging security threats, due regard being paid to the integration of such
policies within broader policies for socio-economic change and development, and
to the protection of human rights.

In 2017, UNICRI opened its Centre for Artificial Intelligence and
Robotics in The Hague, the Netherlands, with a view towards advancing
understanding of artificial intelligence, robotics and related technologies
vis-a?-vis crime prevention, criminal justice, the rule of law and security.
The Centre seeks to share knowledge and information on the potential beneficial
applications of these technologies and to contribute to addressing any harmful
effects and the malicious use. www.unicri.it

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro, a global leader in cybersecurity, helps make the
world safe for exchanging digital information. Leveraging over 30 years of
security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend
Micro enables resilience for businesses, governments, and consumers with
connected solutions across cloud workloads, endpoints, email, IIoT, and
networks. Our XGen™ security strategy powers our solutions with a
cross-generational blend of threat-defense techniques that are optimized for
key environments and leverage shared threat intelligence for better, faster
protection. With over 6,700 employees in 65 countries, and the world’s most
advanced global threat research and intelligence, Trend Micro enables
organizations to secure their connected world www.trendmicro.com.hk.