Using AI to spread rumors and extend the black chain... How to build a stronger network security firewall?

From September 11th to 17th, the 2023 National Cybersecurity Awareness Week will be held nationwide. Currently, information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence are advancing rapidly. At the same time, network attacks, network theft, and network fraud are frequently occurring, and the risks of network security are constantly being magnified by technology. What does cybersecurity risk mean for individuals, society, and the country? What new situations, problems, and challenges do the technological updates bring to today's network security? How to build a stronger network security firewall to prevent attacks, theft, and fraud?

The scale of internet users in our country exceeds 1 billion, and network security concerns us

By June 2023, the number of Internet users in China has reached 1.079 billion, an increase of 11.09 million over December 2022, and the Internet penetration rate has reached 76.4%. Currently, information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence are advancing rapidly, bringing great convenience to our lives. At the same time, cyber attacks, cyber theft, and cyber fraud are frequent occurrences, and some unscrupulous individuals are constantly amplifying the risks of cybersecurity through rapid iteration techniques.

Using network technology to extend the black chain of "pig killing plates"

In recent years, various regions and departments have continuously increased their efforts to crack down on illegal and criminal activities related to telecommunications network fraud, effectively curbing the rapid increase in cases. However, there are still criminals who take risks and constantly innovate their methods to commit fraud. For example, with the advancement of technology, online fraud gangs have set up multiple telecommunications fraud dens in multiple overseas locations, equipped with tools such as computers, mobile phones, chat software accounts, and more; On the other hand, set up domestic money launderers, technical maintenance teams, domestic promotion and diversion teams, dens supervisors, dens criminals, set up false investment and financing rebates and other apps, use domestic official account or websites to promote and divert, and finally attract potential victims to download designated apps to implement "pig killing dish" fraud activities.

Using AI to spread rumors: "Even if there is a video, there may not be the truth."

For us personally, the risks of cybersecurity have caught the attention of criminals on our wallets, and from a societal perspective, there are now many people using AI technology to spread rumors, seriously disrupting social order and causing adverse effects.

Even if there is a video, there may not be the truth. On June 2nd this year, the Zhejiang police cracked a case of using AI technology to create false videos, fabricate online rumors, and illegally make profits. This video of a major fire in the Shaoxing Shangyu Industrial Park was deeply synthesized using AI technology. The seemingly insincere broadcast event is actually a pipe dream, and the video is actually edited and pieced together from other online fire scenes.

The reporter learned that since mid May, the gang has been using AI synthesis technology to automatically generate fake videos in order to attract followers and profit, illegally profiting more than 40000 yuan through platform rebates. As of the incident, more than 18000 false videos have been fabricated, with 20 videos causing adverse effects.

Through AI synthesis technology, criminals have greatly reduced the threshold for producing fake videos, some of which can be completed in just one minute; When this technology is applied to the production of fake articles, it becomes a high-risk area for illegal activities.

In June of this year, a picture article titled "Mianyang university students suspected of prostitution for over 800 times, earning over 1.2 million yuan, successfully arrested by the police" attracted netizens to watch. Later, it was confirmed by the police that AI software automatically generated false articles;

In March of this year, the Shandong police cracked a major case of spreading rumors and attracting online followers. A certain media company used group control software and artificial intelligence technology to crawl short video content from both domestic and foreign sources, tamper with and fabricate sensitive social events, and publish false information on online platforms. Through its operation of more than 40000 self media accounts, there were over 800000 false post information.

In addition to some "online water armies" spreading false information through fabrication, creating hot topics, creating a rhythm, and seeking economic benefits, there are also some illegal elements who use online rumors to carry out extortion.

Since March this year, Zhang and three others in Shandong have operated multiple "big V" accounts with over a million followers, specifically fabricating and publishing false information targeting units or individuals, and using multiple accounts to share comments and engage in hype, taking advantage of the opportunity to extort and extort victims from units and individuals, seriously disrupting social order and causing a negative impact.

Wuhan Earthquake Monitoring Center was attacked by overseas cyber attacks

For individuals, online fraud is deeply abhorrent, but for society and the country, what threats will cyber attacks and cyber theft pose? In July of this year, the Jianghan Branch of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau issued an unusual police report, which showed that some network equipment at the front-end stations of the Wuhan Earthquake Monitoring Center's earthquake rapid report data collection points had been attacked by the network, and related earthquake intensity data was highly likely to be stolen.

According to the police report from the Jianghan Sub bureau, after the Wuhan Earthquake Monitoring Center was attacked by a network, the seismic intensity data collected by the earthquake rapid report front-end station is highly likely to be stolen.

According to experts in the field of earthquakes, seismic data is currently the most effective means of detecting underground spaces. The large amount of evidence obtained by the investigation team also shows that the mastermind behind the cyber attack on the Wuhan earthquake monitoring center came from American intelligence agencies.

360 Company's cybersecurity expert Bian Liang: Through big data, we have discovered the complexity of writing a sample, the level of meticulousness of this weapon, including the importance of the attacking unit, and a very special attack event. We analyzed and restored this event and found that the writing habits of this code, including the overall architecture of the weapon, strictly followed the technical framework related to CIA.

It is understood that in recent years, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies of the United States frequently launch cyber attacks against relevant sensitive institutions in China. Their cyber weapons use extremely strict technical specifications for espionage. Various attack methods echo back and forth and link up with each other. Now they have covered almost all Internet and Internet of Things assets in the world. They can control other countries' networks at any time and anywhere and steal important and sensitive data from other countries.

Du Zhenhua, Senior Engineer of the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center: Currently, there are 18 main intelligence agencies in the US intelligence agency system. In addition to the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and National Reconnaissance Agency, all of which are under the jurisdiction of the US Department of Defense, have strong military geographic and geological information intelligence analysis capabilities. We cannot rule out the possibility of cooperation among multiple intelligence agencies in this attack.

What new challenges are facing the field of network security?

With the development of technology, what new situations, problems, and challenges are currently facing in the field of network security?

Guangdong Province Digital Government Network and Data Security Emergency Response Expert Group Expert Li Xinliang: The network security situation we are facing is becoming increasingly severe. Distributed denial of service attacks have increased by 200% during the same period, the number of websites tampered with has increased by 159%, and the number of implanted backdoors has increased by more than 250%. Some of the problems we are facing, especially in terms of network security construction, because in the past, we have relied more on compliance to build website security capabilities. Therefore, facing high-intensity or diversified network attacks is far from enough.

Li Xueying, member of the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee: Generative artificial intelligence may be used by attackers to mine vulnerabilities and generate malicious code, and even automatically carry out network attacks, which lowers the threshold for cybercrime and poses a huge challenge to network security. Generative artificial intelligence may also be used to generate false information, which may pose corresponding security risks at the social and national levels.

The basic establishment of the "four beams and eight pillars" of network security

This year is the sixth year since the implementation of China's Cybersecurity Law. This fundamental law in the field of cybersecurity in China has made clear provisions on personal information protection, governance of online fraud, and implementation of the real name system, becoming an important milestone in the construction of the rule of law in China's cyberspace. In recent years, China has accelerated the top-level design in the field of network security, and the "four beams and eight pillars" of network security have been basically established. So, to prevent attacks, theft, and fraud, how can we build a stronger network security firewall?

Expert level of the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee: In terms of regulation, in recent years, the country has introduced many laws related to network security. From the perspective of future foresight, the promotion and enforcement of these laws are increasing year by year. Secondly, from the perspective of the entire transformation of informatization, most of the data and information systems, including some applications, are located in the cloud. Therefore, in the future, more and more manpower and material resources may be invested in ensuring the security of the cloud. The third is to protect personal information and enhance everyone's awareness, including sensitivity and vigilance against sensitive data leakage, as well as not downloading malicious software casually. The public should raise such awareness.