Scam video calls to hit Ireland in six months, cybersecurity experts warn

James Cox

Deepfake video hacking attempts are expected in Ireland within six months, according to cybersecurity experts.

Scam video calls represent one of the newest threats to organisations’ data and the issue came to prominence after a high profile case in Hong Kong earlier this month.

In the widely reported incident, an employee was duped into joining a video call which they thought included a number of colleagues, but which were actually fake recreations.

The hackers then tricked the person into making a series of payments to them worth a total of $25 million (€2.9 million).

Tens of millions of video calls are happening around the world every day, encompassing a combination of private and business discussions.

Ken Sheehan is operations manager of Smarttech247, which is organising Zero Day Con, the annual cybersecurity conference due to take place in Dublin next week.

Mr Sheehan explained why scam video calls could occur in Ireland in the coming months: “The emergence of new threats is one thing that never changes in the world of cybersecurity, and we expect 2024 to be a major period of innovation among cybercriminals. Online activity will soar higher than ever as 50 countries hold elections and other high profile events take place including the summer Olympics."

He added: "Hackers will be looking to exploit any gap in security - whether that’s tech-related or a simple lapse in human concentration. The deepfake video attack preys on the reassurance we get from seeing and speaking to someone we think we know and trust, with potentially disastrous results.

"The trend we’re seeing of more frequent and more advanced incidents like these leads us to predict organisations in Ireland will begin to face this kind of threat by the end of August. However, the good news is many of the golden rules around cybersecurity still apply in this scenario."