Deepfake risks from anime photo generator apps

The trend of creating cartoon photos has been around in Vietnam for a long time, but it became popular in late August. On social networks, many people shared anime-style photos created from their real photos. The Loopsie app and another AI photo editing app once topped the list of most downloaded apps in Vietnam on the App Store and Google Play.

At the meeting on the afternoon of September 6, the Department of Information Security - Ministry of Information and Communications said: "Using photo editing applications that provide personal facial photos poses many risks."

According to Mr. Nguyen Duy Khiem, representative of the Information Security Department, this type of application always requires users to provide images, and may also request access to photo libraries, phone cameras and some other rights. If the user agrees, the service provider can collect information about the face, appearance and some personal information such as email, phone number, then process it for different purposes.

Meanwhile, facial data is one of the important data today, which can be used to authenticate accounts. With deepfake technology, facial data can be used to create fake images that copy other people's portraits. "From this connection, we assess that the use of these photo editing applications poses a potential risk of information security loss," said Mr. Khiem.

According to the Department's representative, there are two scenarios in which criminals can take advantage of facial data: using it to steal accounts in applications that require facial authentication and creating deepfake calls impersonating friends and relatives to trick them into transferring money. This is also one of the popular online scams that the Department has warned about recently.

In addition to the photo editing applications that have become popular recently, the Department also emphasized that facial data collection can occur in photos that users share publicly online. "We should limit posting images and personal information on social networks," said Mr. Khiem.

If using photo editing applications, especially AI photo creation applications that have become popular recently, he recommends that users should be selective and look for reputable applications or applications that have been evaluated by competent authorities.

"Before using an application, users need to read the terms carefully, consider access rights before clicking the accept button and should not share private, sensitive images on these applications," he said.