How should we respond to the risks posed by AI and disinformation? And can AI be used defensively? In this episode, Simon sits down with Mike Speirs, Customer Director at Faculty, who is working to transform defense and national security capabilities through AI. The two discuss the impact of corporate disinformation, in addition to political disinformation, and the importance of digital literacy.

---------

“We are moving away from the space where you'll look at an image and you'll see someone with six fingers. That's pretty easy for someone to pick up. That kind of window of opportunity of being able to pick up on those types of really obvious tells of a synthetic image is starting to close out.”

“Most people are unaware that there is also a huge economic cost of disinformation. It targets corporations as well as countries.”

Timestamps:

(02:14) Unpacking the different types of deepfakes

(07:57) The cost of corporate disinformation

(11:34) How should we respond to the risks posed by deepfakes and disinformation?

(14:07) Is watermarking effective?

---------

Mike Speirs on LinkedIn
Simon Horswell on LinkedIn

The Fraud Lab

Onfido’s Identity Fraud Report

[Subscribe to the Podcast]
On Apple Podcasts

---------

How can we encourage intel sharing between the private and public sector, while meeting regulations and protecting privacy? In this episode, Simon discusses reciprocity in intel-sharing with Jim Hitchcock, VP of Fraud Prevention at American Bankers Association. There Jim serves as the association’s primary expert on fraud mitigation activities and programs. The two also discuss the resurgence of low tech scams and social engineering to beat automated defenses.

---------

“I just sat down with the US Secret Service…. What they were saying was they get a little frustrated in the sense of not understanding why, when they might call a financial institution and say, “Hey, there's fraudulent money coming your way”, they may freeze that money, send it back to the initial, the sending institution, but then things just kind of end there and they don't get any positive feedback. And all the secret service is trying to do is collect more of that information to try to identify a real person that they could go out and talk to and maybe arrest later on down the street.”

“Financial institutions also have concerns about the lack of law enforcement feedback. But law enforcement can't always give feedback, right? Because….if they're sitting on an individual that they might arrest, sometimes you just can't give that information back. They might have had grand jury documents out to obtain some of this information.So there's secrecy issues there.”

Timestamps:

(01:28) The challenges of intel sharing between the private sector and law enforcement

(08:43) Are there concerns of the government showing favoritism to certain companies?

(15:58) Is there equal reciprocity when sharing information?

(20:42) Pig-butchering compounds in SE Asia

(26:10) A rise in low-tech, in-person scams

---------

Jim Hitchcok on LinkedIn
Simon Horswell on LinkedIn

The Fraud Lab

Onfido’s Identity Fraud Report

[Subscribe to the Podcast]

On Apple Podcasts

How can businesses discourage friendly fraud and what is a professional disputer? In this episode, Simon is joined by Michael Fox, who has significant experience in fraud detection in the financial industry, having worked for President’s Choice Financial, Capital One and Meridian Credit Union before moving to his current role at KOHO, a Neobank based in Canada. The two discuss the evolution of fraud and detection efforts, as well as the rise in friendly fraud and dispute fraud.

---------

“It is often what I call a crime of opportunity where it's a boyfriend or a relative or a grandson. This is often not professional fraudsters going out there and doing complicated hacks. It is that crime of opportunity. Somebody needs a little bit of money and they do that.”

Timestamps:

(01:07) Intro to Michael and Koho

(02:05) How has fraud evolved?

(06:48) What is friendly fraud?

(11:36) What can businesses do to stop friendly fraud?

(13:09) How has fraud detection evolved over the past couple of years?

(19:34) Building trust through good friction

(22:10) Big upcoming change due to deepfakes

---------

Michael Fox on LinkedIn
Simon Horswell on LinkedIn

The Fraud Lab

Onfido’s Identity Fraud Report

[Subscribe to the Podcast]

On Apple Podcasts