Associated Incidents
A scammer used artificial intelligence for impersonating the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, raising alarms on the tech involvement in politics.
According to the US State Department, the imposter sent fake voice messages and texts, penned in Marco's writing style, contacting three foreign ministers, a US governor, and a member of Congress via the Signal app.
Furthermore, the department admitted that they are investigating the case and are aware of the incident, which has prompted them to take necessary steps to tighten cybersecurity defences.
The incident was first revealed in the department cable, dated to July 3, which stated that "The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals, and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal."
Moreover, the cable did not specify which individuals were contacted or the content of the voice notes that were received by the fake Marco Rubio.
The cable further shared, "There is no direct cyber threat to the department from this campaign, but information shared with a third party could be exposed if targeted individuals are compromised."
On Tuesday, July 8, the Washington Post first reported the incident. The outlet revealed that US authorities do not know who was behind the impersonations, but they believe the person's goal was to manipulate powerful government officials to gain access to information.
Notably, US politics has a history of AI technology being used to impersonate politicians.
Last year, a fake call claiming to be from former President Joe Biden had urged voters to skip the New Hampshire primary election ahead of the 2024 US election.