Russia Using AI and Sex to Lure Victims

One of the biggest uses of the Internet is to sell sex. Whether it is chat rooms, pictures of naked people, whatever, it is a big money maker on the Internet.

The hottest subject in town these days, even hotter than crypto, is AI.

So what are Russian hackers doing? They are combining sex and AI to lure people in, compromise their systems and information and extract money from them one way or another.

One of the popular themes on the Internet right now, separate and apart from Russia, is sites that claim to use AI to “nudify” a photo for you. In general, you upload a photo, the AI removes the victim’s clothing and lets you download the result.

One group these sites is popular with is underage teenage boys. This of course represents a problem in many dimensions. They download pictures of girls they want to harass, use the software to “remove” their clothes and then they threaten the girls in a variety of ways. Not exactly society’s best side.

So Russia figures why not get in on the action. Morals are not exactly part of Putin’s playbook.

How does the scam work.

The Russian hackers create multiple websites that claim to nudify photos for the user. Of course, the user, whether underage or of legal age, can’t exactly go to Good Housekeeping to see if the site is legit. Some of these sites look very professional.

The scam varies a bit from here, but conceptually the end game is the same.

First you upload the photo. That works as expected.

Then the site claims to do it’s AI magic. There is no way for a user to know whether that is real or not, so they have to trust. Not a great plan, but they do it anyway.

Finally, the moment of truth. One version of the scam gives the user a button to click to download the nudified photo. Of course, there is no photo, but what there is malware of many varieties.

It might be a remote access trojan that gives the hacker full access to your device.

Another version says it requires a new browser plugin to see the result.

Yet another offers the user the ability to download a “Deepnude Generator” tool. Also know as malware.

The sites get taken down in many cases, but new ones pop up just as quickly, so the risk remains.

One thing that companies (and individuals) can do to help stop this type of attack is called DNS filtering. There are numerous products out there; we sell some and a few are free. **IF** you are a defense contractor we can arrange to get you one of the best ones for free, paid for by the Pentagon. Let us know if you need help with this.

Once they own your computer or phone they can do several things. Obviously, one is to steal your information – banking passwords, address book, etc. The other is to turn YOU into a malware generator for them. Now, you are sending out malware to your buddies and maybe even people you don’t know. After all, it can’t be easily traced back to the hackers, but, the cops can trace it back to you.

It seems like an easy mark to the Russians and, apparently, it is working. Don’t fall for it. Credit: Silent Push

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