Ben Cardin’s deepfake debacle

US Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, recently joined a videoconference with a top Ukrainian official. The only problem? It was a deepfake.

Cardin believed he was speaking with former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who wanted to chat over Zoom. But according to the New York Times, Cardin grew suspicious when the person posing as Kuleba began asking questions about politics, the upcoming election, and sensitive foreign policy questions. He asked Cardin whether he supported firing long-range missiles into Russia, for instance. Cardin ended the call, reported it to the State Department, and officials at State told him it was a deepfake. It’s not yet clear who was behind the artificial intelligence mask, which looked and sounded like Kuleba.

Senate security officials warned lawmakers and their aides after the incident. “While we have seen an increase of social engineering threats in the last several months and years, this attempt stands out due to its technical sophistication and believability,” they wrote, cautioning that similar incidents could arise in the future, especially ahead of the November elections.