Top Senator Targeted in Deepfake Operation

“Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Ben Cardin (D-MD) was recently the target of a sophisticated deepfake operation impersonating a top Ukrainian official,” Punchbowl News reports.

“On Monday morning, the Senate’s security office alerted a select group of leadership aides and security chiefs for various Senate committees about the incident, which occurred earlier this month on the video conference platform Zoom.”

“According to the notice, the individual was impersonating the recently-former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. “Kuleba” was asking questions during the call that the participants thought were bizarre, including: ‘Do you support long-range missiles into Russian territory? I need to know your answer,’ according to the notice sent to senior Senate aides.”

“The impersonator was speaking in the voice of Kuleba, which sources said they believed was likely recreated using artificial intelligence. The notice stated that the impersonation effort had ‘technical sophistication and believability.’”