#FactCheck - Fake Video Uses AI Voice to Falsely Attribute Remarks on Prasidh Krishna to Virat Kohli

Executive Summary:

 A viral online image claims to show Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, welcoming Elon Musk during his visit to India to discuss Delhi’s administrative policies. However, the CyberPeace Research Team has confirmed that the image is a deep fake, created using AI technology. The assertion that Elon Musk visited India to discuss Delhi’s administrative policies is false and misleading.

Claim

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A viral image claims that Arvind Kejriwal welcomed Elon Musk during his visit to India to discuss Delhi’s administrative policies.

Post link

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Fact Check:

Upon receiving the viral posts, we conducted a reverse image search using InVid Reverse Image searching tool. The search traced the image back to different unrelated sources featuring both Arvind Kejriwal and Elon Musk, but none of the sources depicted them together or involved any such event. The viral image displayed visible inconsistencies, such as lighting disparities and unnatural blending, which prompted further investigation.

Using advanced AI detection tools like TrueMedia.org and Hive AI Detection tool, we analyzed the image. The analysis confirmed with 97.5% confidence that the image was a deepfake. The tools identified “substantial evidence of manipulation,” particularly in the merging of facial features and the alignment of clothes and background, which were artificially generated.

  Analysis link

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Moreover, a review of official statements and credible reports revealed no record of Elon Musk visiting India to discuss Delhi’s administrative policies. Neither Arvind Kejriwal’s office nor Tesla or SpaceX made any announcement regarding such an event, further debunking the viral claim.

Conclusion:

The viral image claiming that Arvind Kejriwal welcomed Elon Musk during his visit to India to discuss Delhi’s administrative policies is a deep fake. Tools like Reverse Image search and AI detection confirm the image’s manipulation through AI technology. Additionally, there is no supporting evidence from any credible sources. The CyberPeace Research Team confirms the claim is false and misleading.

• Claim: Arvind Kejriwal welcomed Elon Musk to India to discuss Delhi’s administrative policies, viral on social media.
• Claimed on: Facebook and X(Formerly Twitter)
• Fact Check: False & Misleading

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Introduction

DDoS – Distributed Denial of Service Attack is one of the cyber-attacks which has been evolving at the fastest pace,  the new technologies have created a blanket of vulnerability for the victim which allows the cyber criminals to stay under the radar and keep launching small scale high intensity cyber attacks. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic. DDoS attacks achieve effectiveness by utilizing multiple compromised computer systems as sources of attack traffic. Exploited machines can include computers and other networked resources such as IoT devices. From a high level, a DDoS attack is like an unexpected traffic jam clogging up the highway, preventing regular traffic from arriving at its destination.

Op Power Off

In a recent Operation by Law enforcement agencies known as Op Power Off, LEAs from United Kingdom, United States of America, Netherlands, Poland, and Germany joined hands to target the cybergroups committing such large-scale attacks which can paralyse the Internet become inaccessible for a large faction of netizens. The services collectively seized were by far the most popular DDoS booter services on the market, receiving top billing on search engines. One such service taken down had been used to carry out over 30 million attacks. As part of this action, seven administrators have been arrested so far in the United States and the United Kingdom, with further actions planned against the users of these illegal services.  International police cooperation was central to the success of this operation as the administrators, users, critical infrastructure, and victims were scattered across the world. Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre coordinated the activities in Europe through its Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT).

Participating Authorities

• United States: US Department of Justice (US DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• United Kingdom: National Crime Agency (NCA)
• The Netherlands: National High Tech Crime Unit Landelijke Eenheid, Cybercrime team Midden-Nederland, Cybercrime team Noord-Holland and Cybercrime team Den Haag
• Germany: Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt), Hanover Police Department (Polizeidirektion Hannover), Public Prosecutor’s Office Verden (Staatsanwaltschaft Verden)
• Poland: National Police Cybercrime Bureau (Biuro do Walki z Cyber-przestępczością)

Issue related to DDoS Attacks

DDoS booter services have effectively lowered the entry barrier into cybercrime: for a fee as low as EUR 10, any low-skilled individual can launch DDoS attacks with the click of a button, knocking offline whole websites and networks by barraging them with traffic.  The damage they can do to victims can be considerable, crippling businesses financially and depriving people of essential services offered by banks, government institutions, and police forces. Emboldened by perceived anonymity, many young IT enthusiasts get involved in this seemingly low-level crime, unaware of the consequences that such online activities can carry. The influence of toolkits available on the dark net has made it easier for criminals to commit such crimes and at times even get away with it as well.

‍Recent examples of DDoS Attacks

• In February 2020, Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered a DDoS attack sophisticated enough to keep its incident response teams occupied for several days also affecting customers worldwide.
• In February 2021, the EXMO Cryptocurrency exchange fell victim to a DDoS attack that rendered the organization inoperable for almost five hours.
• Recently, Australia experienced a significant, sustained, state-sponsored DDoS attack.
• Belgium also became a victim of a DDoS attack that targeted the country’s parliament, police services, and universities.

DDoS vs. DoS Attacks: What’s the Difference?

It’s important to avoid confusing a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack with a DoS (denial of service) attack. Although only one word separates the two, these attacks vary significantly in nature.

• Strictly defined, a typical DDoS attack manipulates many distributed network devices between the attacker and the victim into waging an unwitting attack, exploiting legitimate behavior.
• A traditional DoS attack doesn’t use multiple, distributed devices, nor does it focus on devices between the attacker and the organization. These attacks also tend not to use multiple internet devices.

Conclusion

In this era of cyberspace, it is of paramount importance to maintain digital safety and security equivalent to physical safety, the cybercriminals will not stop at anything and can stoop to any level to target netizens and critical infrastructures in order to commit ransomware and malware attacks. As we can see DDoS-ing is taken seriously by law enforcement, at all levels of users, and are on the radar of law enforcement, be it a gamer booting out the competition out of a video game, or a high-level hacker carrying out DDoS attacks against commercial targets for financial gain.

Recent Incidents:

Recent reports are revealing a significant security threat linked to a new infostealer based malware campaign known to solely target gaming accounts. This attack has affected users of Activision and other gaming websites. The sophisticated software has captured millions of login credentials, notably from the cheats and players. The officials at Activision Blizzard, an American video game holding company, are still investigating the matter and collaborating with cheated developers to minimize the impact and inform the accounts’ residents of appropriate safety measures.

Overview:

Infostealer, also known as information stealer, is a type of malware designed in the form of a Trojan virus for stealing private data from the infected system. It can have a variety of incarnations and collect user data of various types such as browser history, passwords, credit card numbers, and login details and credentials to social media, gaming platforms, bank accounts, and other websites. Bad actors use the log obtained as a result of the collection of personal records to access the victim’s financial accounts, appropriate the victim’s online identity, and perform fraudulent actions on behalf of the victim.

Modus Operandi:

• Infosteale­r is a malicious program created to illegally obtain pe­ople's login details, like use­rnames and passwords. Its goal is to enable cybe­rattacks, sell on dark web markets, or pursue­ malicious aims.

• This malware targets both personal de­vices and corporate systems. It spre­ads through methods like phishing emails, harmful we­bsites, and infected public site­s.

• Once inside a device­, Infostealer secre­tly gathers sensitive data like­ passwords, account details, and personal information. It's designe­d to infiltrate systems being undete­cted. The stolen cre­dentials are compiled into datalogs. The­se logs are then sold ille­gally on dark web marketplaces for profit.

Analysis: 

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Basic properties:

• MD5: 06f53d457c530635b34aef0f04c59c7d
• SHA-1: 7e30c3aee2e4398ddd860d962e787e1261be38fb
• SHA-256: aeecc65ac8f0f6e10e95a898b60b43bf6ba9e2c0f92161956b1725d68482721d
• Vhash: 145076655d155515755az4e?z4
• Authentihash: 65b5ecd5bca01a9a4bf60ea4b88727e9e0c16b502221d5565ae8113f9ad2f878
• Imphash: f4a69846ab44cc1bedeea23e3b680256
• Rich PE header hash: ba3da6e3c461234831bf6d4a6d8c8bff 
• SSDEEP: 6144:YcdXHqXTdlR/YXA6eV3E9MsnhMuO7ZStApGJiZcX8aVEKn3js7/FQAMyzSzdyBk8:YIKXd/UgGXS5U+SzdjTnE3V
• TLSH:T1E1B4CF8E679653EAC472823DCC232595E364FB009267875AC25702D3EFBB3D56C29F90
• File type: Win32 DLL executable windows win32 pepe dll
• Magic: PE32+ executable (DLL) (GUI) x86-64, for MS Windows
• File size: 483.50 KB (495104 bytes)

Additional Hash Files:

• 160389696ed7f37f164f1947eda00830
• 229a758e232aeb49196c862655797e12
• 23e4ac5e7db3d5a898ea32d27e8b7661
• 3440cced6ec7ab38c6892a17fd368cf8
• 36d7da7306241979b17ca14a6c060b92
• 38d2264ff74123f3113f8617fabc49f6
• 3c5c693ba9b161fa1c1c67390ff22c96
• 3e0fe537124e6154233aec156652a675
• 4571090142554923f9a248cb9716a1ae
• 4e63f63074eb85e722b7795ec78aeaa3
• 63dd2d927adce034879b114d209b23de
• 642aa70b188eb7e76273130246419f1d
• 6ab9c636fb721e00b00098b476c49d19
• 71b4de8b5a1c5a973d8c23a20469d4ec
• 736ce04f4c8f92bda327c69bb55ed2fc
• 7acfddc5dfd745cc310e6919513a4158
• 7d96d4b8548693077f79bc18b0f9ef21
• 8737c4dc92bd72805b8eaf9f0ddcc696
• 9b9ff0d65523923a70acc5b24de1921f
• 9f7c1fffd565cb475bbe963aafab77ff

Indicators of Compromise:

• Unusual Outbound Network Traffic: An increase in odd or questionable outbound network traffic may be a sign that infostealer malware has accessed more data.

• Anomalies in Privileged User Account Activity: Unusual behavior or illegal access are two examples of irregular actions that might indicate a breach in privileged user accounts.

• Suspicious Registry or System File Changes: Infostealer malware may be trying to alter system settings if there are any unexpected changes to system files, registry settings, or configurations.

• Unusual  DNS queries: When communicating with command and control servers or rerouting traffic, infostealer malware may produce strange DNS queries.

• Unexpected System Patching: Unexpected or unauthorized system patching by unidentified parties may indicate that infostealer malware has compromised the system and is trying to hide its footprint or become persistent. 

• Phishing emails and social engineering attempts:  It is a  popular strategy employed by cybercriminals to get confidential data or implant malicious software. To avoid compromise, it is crucial to be wary of dubious communications and attempts of social engineering.

Recommendations:

• Be Vigilant: In today's digital world, many cybercrime­s threaten online safe­ty, Phishing tricks, fake web pages, and bad links pose­ real dangers. Carefully che­ck email sources. Examine we­bsites closely. Use top se­curity programs. Follow safe browsing rules. Update software­ often. Share safety tips. The­se steps reduce­ risks. They help kee­p your online presence­ secure.

• Regular use of Anti-Virus Software to detect the threats: Antivirus tools are vital for finding and stopping cybe­r threats. These programs use­ signature detection and be­havior analysis to identify known malicious code and suspicious activities. Updating virus de­finitions and software-patches regularly, improve­s their ability to detect ne­w threats. This helps maintain system se­curity and data integrity.

• Provide security related training to the employees and common employees: One should learn Cybe­rsecurity and the best practice­s in order to keep the­ office safe. Common workers will ge­t lessons on spotting risks and responding well, cre­ating an environment of caution.

• Keep changing passwords: Passwords should be changed fre­quently for better se­curity. Rotating passwords often makes it harder for cybe­r criminals to compromise and make it happen or confidential data to be­ stolen. This practice keeps intruders out and shie­lds sensitive intel.

Conclusion:

To conclude, to reduce the impact and including the safety measures, further investigations and collaboration are already in the pipeline regarding the recent malicious software that takes advantage of gamers and has stated that about millions of credentials users have been compromised. To protect sensitive data, continued usage of antivirus software, use of trusted materials  and password changes are the key elements. The ways to decrease risks and safely protect sensitive information are to develop improved Cybersecurity methods such as multi-factor authentication and the conduct of security audits frequently. Be safe and be vigilant.

Reference:

• https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/28/activision-says-its-investigating-password-stealing-malware-targeting-game-players/
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/activision-enable-2fa-to-secure-accounts-recently-stolen-by-malware/
• https://cyber.vumetric.com/security-news/2024/03/29/activision-enable-2fa-to-secure-accounts-recently-stolen-by-malware/
• https://www.virustotal.com/
• https://otx.alienvault.com/

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