Latest news with #CarstenMaple
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Cyber security experts reveal the chilling number of images predators need to make deepfakes of children
Cybersecurity experts have revealed that predators need just 20 images to create deepfake videos of children, prompting urgent warnings over the growing dangers of sharing family photos online. Professor Carsten Maple, a leading expert from the University of Warwick and the Alan Turing Institute, said advanced AI tools can use a shockingly small number of pictures to generate realistic fake profiles and videos of minors. The consequences, he warned, can include identity theft, blackmail, and online exploitation. Parents are unknowingly giving criminals exactly what they need, with many doing it simply by uploading family pictures to social media and cloud storage platforms. 'It takes just 20 images for sophisticated AI tools to create a realistic profile of someone, or even a 30-second video,' said Professor Maple. New research commissioned by privacy tech firm Proton found that UK parents share an average of 63 photos each month, most of them including children. One in five parents post family pictures multiple times a week. Two in five do so several times a month. The findings suggest today's children often have a digital footprint from birth, long before they understand the internet, or can give consent. But it's not just criminals that experts are worried about. Big tech firms are also harvesting these images for their own purposes. Professor Maple pointed to Instagram's recent policy change, which allows the platform to use user photos to train its AI systems. He called the move 'deeply concerning.' He said: 'These companies use consumer data to build advertising profiles, analyse trends, train algorithms and track behaviour — often without people fully realising what's being collected.' Over half of parents now automatically back up their family images to cloud storage. The average parent has around 185 photos of their child saved online at any given time. Yet almost half admit they didn't know that tech companies can access and analyse those photos. The study found four in ten parents believe tech firms only gather basic metadata, things like time, location, or device used, while 11 percent had no idea what kind of information is being collected at all. Experts now warn that a generation of children could face serious long-term risks — including fraud, grooming, and deepfake abuse, simply because of the volume of images being shared. 'Oversharing can lead to digital records that are difficult or impossible to delete,' said Professor Maple. 'This opens the door not just to identity fraud, but also to more sinister forms of exploitation.' Despite this, many parents remain unaware of how vulnerable their images really are. While 72 per cent say photo privacy is important to them, a staggering 94 per cent believe tech firms should be more transparent about how they use stored data. Parental anxiety appears to be rising, with around 32 per cent of parents saying they are constantly worried about their phone or cloud accounts being hacked. Nearly half say they worry about it from time to time. More than half have already taken extra security steps, using Face ID, PIN codes, limiting app downloads, and keeping devices updated. But Professor Maple says that's not enough. With the rapid growth of AI and rising numbers of data breaches, the need to strengthen protection for children has never been more urgent. 'We are building digital profiles of children without their consent,' he said. 'The risks are real, and the damage, in many cases, irreversible.'
Irish Independent
14-05-2025
- Irish Independent
Criminals need just 20 images of one child to produce deep fake, cyber experts say
Parents who share pictures of their children online have been warned that these images could expose them to serious risks and long-term problems, such as identity theft and fraud. Other risks include extortion or exploitation, allowing cyber criminals to create bank accounts and claim benefits in their name. A new research of 2,000 parents with children under 16 in the UK, conducted by Perspectus Global and commissioned by Proton, showed that parents upload an average of 63 photos to social media every month. The majority of these photos – 59pc – include family photos, with one in five parents – 21pc – uploading such pictures multiple times a week, while two in five – 38pc – several times a month. Professor Carsten Maple from the University of Warwick in England and the Alan Turing Institute warned that parents are "unwittingly opening their children up to possible exploitation by criminals who want to use their data for their own purposes". 'It takes just 20 images for sophisticated AI tools to create a realistic profile of someone, or even a 30-second video," he said. 'But it's not just images that can be used, social media posts also reveal sensitive information such as location data and key life moments, that can effectively be used to create an online profile for children long before they're old enough to consent to it. 'Oversharing by parents can lead to numerous problems for the child in the future, including digital records that can be extremely difficult and painful to remove, leading to mental anguish, negative reputations and harm to others," he added. Professor Maple also warned that 'it's not just criminal gangs who can use the data', as Big Tech companies also use images posted on their platforms for their own agendas. It comes as only a few months ago, Instagram changed its user agreement to allow it to use people's images to train its AI. ADVERTISEMENT The professor added that many cloud storage services, such as Google Drive and Photos, use personal information in ways that many parents are unaware of. More than half – 56pc – of respondents said their family photos are uploaded to cloud storage, with an estimated 185 photos of their children on their phone and cloud. When asked what information they think tech companies can access, almost half – 48pc – did not know that data from pictures stored on a cloud can be accessed and used by the companies that hold them. Parents have been advised to think about what they are sharing; ensure their personal moments are held using secure storage; read the small print and set their privacy and security settings; be aware of phishing scams; and be aware of free public wi-fi. They have also been asked to set clear ground rules with their children; use parental controls, filters in search engines, antivirus software; and model healthy online habits.
