While on a video call, if you’re boss asked you to open a link, would you do it? If the answer is yes, maybe you should think again as it could be a cyberattack! 🏼🕵🏻♀️
We spoke with cybersecurity software Darktrace’s CEO, Poppy Gustafsson, at an FF event last year about her predictions that cyberattacks will use deep fakes in live videos. The craziest thing is, these attacks will be happening in the near future as they are already happening over audio.
She also discusses the fact that it’s difficult to actually predict the future of technology and that’s one of the things she loves about working in the industry and at Darktrace. Under her leadership, the company has experienced significant growth and global expansion and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021. She was named CEO of the Year at the 2021 Digital Masters Awards and Tech CEO of the Year at the UK Tech Awards 2021 so if anyone can help keep us safe against these threats, it’s Poppy!
00:00:00:22 - 00:00:26:13
Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to Crazy Intel. It's not a podcast about big ideas. I'm your host, Michael Stothard, an investor at First Minute Capital. This is a bite sized episode recorded at a Founders Forum event up in Scotland. And I'm speaking to Poppy Gustafsson, the CEO of the Cybersecurity company Darktrace. I start by asking her what is a big, crazy prediction for the future?
00:00:28:05 - 00:00:55:14
Speaker 2
I think my prediction is going to be cyber based. Obviously, I mean, you think about what is the purpose of a cyber attack. There's initial sort of communications that spear phishing email that says, Hey, you've won the Nigerian lottery. Click this link to claim your winnings or whatever it might be. All of those interactions about trying to elicit the person to do something they wouldn't otherwise have done, like click on a link or open an attachment or send some money, something.
00:00:55:14 - 00:01:25:20
Speaker 2
It's trying to be quick and persuasive. And I strongly suspect that we will start seeing those communications take a much more different form. Today, many of us are communicating through virtual conferencing systems. And so the themes of the world and all of this is happening in the remote world. It's not difficult to imagine and entirely faux communication with video conferencing where you are talking to someone and they are encouraging those behaviors with someone that you apparently know and trust.
00:01:25:20 - 00:01:45:04
Speaker 2
But all of this is just a deepfake based on that image and that technology does exist today. But what I will say is that one of the things I love about being in technology and in the technology industry is that it is so unpredictable. And I find genuinely new what the next world breaking technology ideal is going to be.
00:01:45:20 - 00:02:08:11
Speaker 2
I think at least some of the joy and excitement that comes from working in the technology sector. An example I always use is is Blade Runner, which was created in 1982 and set in 2012, I think. And it was this incredibly futurist vision with these high rise buildings and robots everywhere and flying cars and all this amazing sort of deep imaginings of what that future looks like.
00:02:08:15 - 00:02:37:07
Speaker 2
Dated back to 1982, except, of course, when the futuristic person has a robot servant. Who wants to make it cool? Of course. It's a video called I had that futuristic idea. But to make that video call, they park there. They park them. That flying ship cross the road and get into a video phone booth. And today's only true reality that we have the ability to make video calls from our pockets was completely unimaginable.
00:02:37:11 - 00:02:39:11
Speaker 2
And that, I think, is the joy of working in technology.
00:02:40:00 - 00:02:59:20
Speaker 3
Absolutely. Predicting. Predicting the future is certainly help. But I do want to just just just to go back to that. Do you think the storms of the future are your boss, that you do a zoom with your CEO who says, oh, please, why this? And you think that's a bit weird, but equally, I guess I have to do it.
00:03:00:00 - 00:03:11:11
Speaker 2
It's already happening on audio. That's where the scams exist, where it's a voice purporting to be CEO saying, Please, can you translate this money to this place? And it turned out to be a complete digital fake.
00:03:12:01 - 00:03:16:14
Speaker 3
That is extraordinary. And can, can, can like who? Who, who can. How do you detect that?
00:03:16:17 - 00:03:23:11
Speaker 2
Well, I know some great cybersecurity software that can help you protect you against the cyber attacks of the future, whatever form they might take.
00:03:23:16 - 00:03:30:21
Speaker 3
But is that is that right? Can conduct just tell whether your it's a deepfake of your zoom.
00:03:31:02 - 00:03:45:19
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Darktrace is looking for the consequences of a cyber breach. So if you think about chucking a rock into a pond, we're looking for the ripples rather than the rock. So wherever it comes from, by whatever means, we will spot it by virtue of the ripples that it causes within your organization.
00:03:46:01 - 00:03:48:01
Speaker 3
That is totally fascinating. Thank you so much.
00:03:48:02 - 00:03:50:13
Speaker 2
My pleasure.