Technology promises to make our world far more convenient … but it comes with a dark side
Sometime in the not-so-distant future …
It’s a Saturday afternoon. You’re out shopping.
After picking up a few things at the store, you reach the checkout line. But this time, instead of fumbling with cash … or a credit card … or even something like Apple Pay on your phone …
You just wave your hand at a checkout terminal and you’re on your way.
This is what Amazon is envisioning.
The tech giant is creating checkout terminals that could be placed in all sorts of brick-and-mortar stores that would read people’s hands. Their credit card information would be linked to their handprint (Amazon recently filed a patent application for what it described as a “non-contact biometric identification system”).
Later that day, you return home. Getting ready for an evening out, you head toward what has become one of the “smartest” rooms in your house — the bathroom.
Your “intelligent toilet” senses you coming, raises the lid, lights up with your personalized coloring choice, and gets ready to position its bidet according to your pre-set preference.
You use voice control to check the news and weather before walking over to the “smart shower” where a touch-screen interface enables you to draw up your preferred water temperature and flow-strength.
After your shower, your “smart bathmat” uses its 7,000 pressure sensors to analyze your weight and posture among other details, before shooting them to the cloud for analysis.
These are all products that were displayed at the recent CES consumer technology showcase.
Finally, as you’re dressing for the evening, your phone dings with an incoming video message from your spouse. She’s running late, but she has a request — earlier that day, she opened a new brokerage account and needs you to fund it with a wire.
The request is a bit strange, but that was your significant other, so you initiate the wire … only to be shocked later that night when your bewildered spouse reveals she never sent you any such video. And the money? Gone.
Wait — what?
We were just talking about fun technological advancements. What’s suddenly happening with this video and now missing money?
Yes, it was meant to be a bit jarring.
The video you received in our hypothetical — which wasn’t from your spouse — is what’s called a “deepfake” video, and it’s very real. Unfortunately, it’s the dark side of technological advancement.
You see, the same artificial intelligence that’s powering hand-waving checkout terminals, smart bathrooms, and the avalanche of other tech products coming our way, is also being used for more malicious purposes, including the latest cyber-threat …
Deepfake videos.
These are videos, enhanced by artificial intelligence, that appear so real that the average viewer couldn’t identify them as fake.
And before you make the mistake of believing you’d be able to tell the difference, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the FBI is warning that deepfakes could soon be indistinguishable from reality — even able to pass biometric tests.
So, in today’s Digest, let’s take a brief detour from the fun side of tech to make sure you’re aware of the flip side of the coin. But then, let’s discuss how we can profit by aligning ourselves with one of the leading companies fighting this tech-dark-side.
Let’s jump in …
***When good technology goes bad
A deepfake video uses artificial intelligence to overlay a person’s image onto some other existing image or video. The effect is it can show people saying or doing something they never said or did.
Below are several screenshots from a video from CNN explaining the process. They’ll give you a general sense for the transposition.
Our example at the beginning of this Digest illustrated just one way in which deepfakes might be used against us, but the threat also exists on a larger, national security scale.
From The Wall Street Journal:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is worried that emerging technologies such as AI present challenges to national security, particularly in the form of fraudulent videos created to mimic public figures.
“What we’re concerned with is that, in the digital world we live in now, people will find ways to weaponize deep-learning systems,” said Chris Piehota, executive assistant director of the FBI’s science and technology division …
“As the AI continues to improve and evolve, we’re going to get to a point where there’s no discernible difference between an AI-generated video and an actual video,” he said.
The FBI has conducted laboratory tests using deepfakes and other techniques to generate artificial personas with such high degrees of verisimilitude that they can even pass some measures of biometric authentication, Mr. Piehota said.
As we’re in a presidential election year, consider the potential for political disinformation posed by deepfake videos. In this era of “fake news,” what happens when we can no longer distinguish between fact and fiction in actual videos?
***This is just the latest manifestation of tech being used against us
While deepfake technology is the latest, most advanced form of cybercrime, criminals using technology against us is hardly new.
According to security and anti-virus company Emisoft, in 2019, the U.S. faced an “unprecedented and unrelenting barrage of ransomware attacks.”
A study from Emisoft found that 103 state and municipal governments and agencies were hit last year. Other victims included 759 healthcare providers and 86 universities, colleges, and school districts.
Plus, the problem is getting worse …
Juniper Research estimates that by 2023, cybercriminals are estimated to steal 33 billion records. This is a 175% increase from the 12 billion records stolen in 2018. And Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that global cybercrime will cost upwards of $6 trillion (that’s trillion with a “T”) annually by 2021. That’s up from $3 trillion in 2015.
***Profiting from this “inevitable” problem
As this decade unfolds, our lives will grow increasingly intertwined with all things “tech.” Just look at the examples that opened this Digest.
While this will be wonderful from a “convenience” perspective, it will also afford criminals new ways of using our technological advancements against us.
Think about it — if deepfake videos will be able to pass biometric tests as the FBI representative above claimed, then how long will it be until, say, Amazon’s “non-contact biometric identification system” can be hacked?
While we hope we’re able to avoid such outcomes, their possibility serves as a massive tailwind for the growth of the cybersecurity industry. In fact, its growth is inevitable.
Here’s how famed investor, Louis Navellier, describes this:
When it comes to making great investments, few stocks can match the power of “inevitables.””Inevitables” is a concept popularized by legendary investor Warren Buffett.
It’s his term for big companies that dominate their industries. The companies have such well entrenched and well defended spots in the marketplace that their continued success and customer loyalty is virtually inevitable. This makes “inevitables” excellent long-term investments that allow you to make big money while still sleeping well at night …
I love to invest in massive business trends that are so entrenched … have such bright futures … and such guaranteed future demand that strong growth is “inevitable” … virtually guaranteed.
That’s why I believe investing in the top cybersecurity stocks is one of the best financial decisions you can possibly make right now.
As we’ve noted before in the Digest, one of Louis’ favorite “inevitable” plays is CyberArk. Accelerated Profits subscribers who acted on Louis’ recommendation are up 58% in the stock as I write.
It’s easy to see why when you view CyberArk through Louis’ free Portfolio Grader tool:
Best of all, if you want to get in, there’s still room. Louis likes the stock up to $140. As I write, it’s trading around $119.
As we wrap up, keep your eyes open for news about deepfakes. They present a growing and serious problem. But viewed from another angle, this just gives us an opportunity to profit from elite cybersecurity companies tackling this issue.
The “inevitable” nature of cybercrime means there are big profits to be made in the years ahead.
Have a good evening,
Jeff Remsburg
