Exposed Identities: Sophisticated Threats and Cyber Attacks in the Digital Age

Modern technologies and sophisticated attack tactics are turning identity into a constant prey. The growing complexity of cyber threats, such as attacks based on artificial intelligence and machine learning, Deepfake, and increasingly advanced document falsification techniques, jeopardize identity security, creating an environment that is increasingly vulnerable and difficult to protect.
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In 2022, half of the cyberattacks registered in Italy involved the theft of digital identity or victims' credentials (Annual Report 2022 - SISR). Hackers use various techniques, such as phishing, social engineering and deepfake to carry out such attacks and access sensitive information, creating false identities for use in the physical and digital world.

Let's see together which are the most used techniques for identity theft and which realities present possible vulnerabilities:

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Social Engineering and Deep Fake

Social engineering is a manipulation technique that exploits deception to gain access to confidential information or sensitive systems. In this context, deepfakes emerge as sophisticated tools and with a constant recorded annual increase of 900% YAY (World Economic Forum). This technology creates manipulated content in a very simple way and through the use of special APPs, achieving convincing results as to their authenticity. In cases of identity fraud, deepfakes can impersonate trusted individuals or authority figures. For example, using video or audio, cybercriminals can simulate video interactions or imitate the voice to obtain sensitive information or access protected systems. These attacks compromise the authenticity of information and can undermine trust in identification and identity verification sources. The introduction of deepfakes in social engineering amplifies this threat, since the authenticity and veracity of the manipulated information can make it more difficult to detect deception.

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Falsification of documents

The evolution of technology, especially artificial intelligence, has fueled and amplified document falsification methods, making counterfeits more sophisticated and difficult to detect.

Through the use of software and the search for false documents on the dark web, it has become increasingly simple to use techniques for the digital manipulation of images and texts for the production of false documents that faithfully replicate the originals, raising serious concerns regarding the protection of identities.

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Digital identity at risk

The risks of manipulation in the digital age increase as technology advances. A recent Rai Report service focused on the effectiveness of anti-fraud measures when identifying people, useful for the release, in this case, of the SPID digital identity. It all started with a 300,000€ scam on the Culture Bonus discovered by the Trieste prosecutor's office against almost a thousand victims, where false digital identities were used to take advantage of the bonus in a completely fraudulent manner.

In contemporary society, digital identity plays an increasingly central role in our daily lives, becoming a fundamental tool for accessing a wide range of both public and private online services. One of the main dangers associated with the use of digital identity is represented, therefore, by the attack of cybercriminals who aim to obtain sensitive personal data and images and then reprocess them. The mentioned examples of Social Engineering, Deepfake and document falsification are just some of the fraudulent methods used by criminals to evade the security measures provided for identification useful for the release of SPID first, and authentication through the said identity later.

The ease with which a double digital identity can be created underlines the urgency of advanced anti-fraud verification methods to protect citizens and businesses.

An anti-fraud approach for the correct protection of identity

Correct anti-fraud protection in the various phases of identifying people proves to be of vital importance to combat these upstream threats.

Thus, the need for advanced solutions and tools, also through artificial intelligence itself, to combat these frauds increases, highlighting the importance of methods such as biometric recognition of faces and documents, strong authentication processes and constant IT security monitoring to thus protect identity.

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