<
https://fortune.com/2024/07/27/ferrari-deepfake-attempt-scammer-security-question-ceo-benedetto-vigna-cybersecurity-ai/>
"It was mid-morning on a Tuesday this month when a Ferrari NV executive started
receiving a bunch of unexpected messages, seemingly from the CEO.
“Hey, did you hear about the big acquisition we’re planning? I could need your
help,” one of the messages purporting to be from Chief Executive Officer
Benedetto Vigna read.
The WhatsApp messages seen by Bloomberg didn’t come from Vigna’s usual business
mobile number. The profile picture also was different, though it was an image
of the bespectacled CEO posing in suit and tie, arms folded, in front of
Ferrari’s prancing-horse logo.
“Be ready to sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement our lawyer is set to send you
asap,” another message from the Vigna impersonator read. “Italy’s market
regulator and Milan stock-exchange have been already informed. Stay ready and
please utmost discretion.”
What happened next, according to people familiar with the episode, was one of
the latest uses of deepfake tools to carry out a live phone conversation aimed
at infiltrating an internationally recognized business. The Italian supercar
manufacturer emerged unscathed after the executive who received the call
realized something wasn’t right, said the people, who asked not to be
identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The voice impersonating Vigna was convincing — a spot-on imitation of the
southern Italian accent.
The Vigna deepfaker began explaining that he was calling from a different
mobile phone number because he needed to discuss something confidential — a
deal that could face some China-related snags and required an unspecified
currency-hedge transaction to be carried out.
The executive was shocked and started to have suspicions, according to the
people. He began to pick up on the slightest of mechanical intonations that
only deepened his suspicious.
“Sorry, Benedetto, but I need to identify you,” the executive said. He posed a
question: What was the title of the book Vigna had just recommended to him a
few days earlier (it was
Decalogue of Complexity: Acting, Learning and
Adapting in the Incessant Becoming of the World by Alberto Felice De Toni)?
With that, the call abruptly ended. Ferrari opened an internal investigation,
the people said. Representatives for the Maranello, Italy-based company
declined to comment on the matter."
Via Joerg Fliege.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
