Almost every second business lacks confidence in deepfake detection, according to a new industry assessment. This particularly relates to uncertainty with detection, leaving firms vulnerable to rising fraud risks. The study also uncovers significant gaps in preparedness, particularly in the Financial Services sector, where the threat is growing. The study comes from Regula , a global developer of identity verification solutions. The key message is a gap in preparedness: nearly half of businesses admit they are only partially confident in their ability to detect deepfakes, leaving them vulnerable to escalating fraud risks. Based on Regula’s study, “ The Deepfake Trends 2024 ,” 59 percent of businesses consider video deepfakes a serious threat, while 58 percent feel the same about audio deepfakes. Certain industries and regions feel the impact more acutely : In the Financial Services sector, 66 percent of respondents rank audio deepfakes as a moderate to significant risk. Traditional banks are among the least confident, with only 49 percent feeling prepared. In contrast, FinTech companies report the highest confidence levels at 63 percent. In terms of national trends, Mexico leads globally in deepfake threat perception, with 83 percent concerned about video deepfakes and 85 percent about audio deepfakes. By contrast, only 50 percent of U.S. organizations express concern about video deepfakes; meanwhile, Germany ranks slightly higher, with 57 percent of organizations worried. Germany leads in uncertainty, with only 47 percent of businesses expressing strong confidence in their defenses, while the UAE (63 percent) and the U.S. (60 percent) show the highest levels of confidence. Notably, businesses that have previously experienced identity fraud are twice as likely to view deepfake threats as a major concern. Despite widespread awareness, on average, 42 percent of businesses admit they are only “somewhat confident” in their ability to detect deepfakes. To address the issue, the study reveals that businesses adopting online identity verification (IDV) early are significantly more prepared. Those with seven years of IDV experience report 20 percent higher confidence than recent adopters. However, tackling deepfakes in-house can backfire. Companies building their own IDV systems reported higher average losses—$515,000 compared to $444,000 for those using ready-made solutions—underscoring the complexity of fighting fraud effectively. The report also uncovers a disconnect between owners and managers where 76 percent of business owners are confident in their ability to manage deepfake threats. Yet only 47 percent of managers feel the same, reflecting the day-to-day challenges of mitigating fraud. Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news.Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.How to Watch Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Games – Monday, December 30
Barcelona, which has already taken action to stop the spread of holiday rental apartments, is the latest Spanish city to see protests for cheaper housing. Backed by left-wing parties and unions, the demonstrators gathered in central Barcelona behind a giant banner declaring "Lower the rents". "Today a new political cycle starts concerning housing," Carme Arcarazo, spokesperson for the Catalan Tenants Union, the main organiser, told reporters. "Investors must not be allowed to come to our cities and play with the apartments like a game of Monopoly," she added. The union would target "profiteers" who are taking "half of our salaries", Arcarazo said. The demonstrators demanded a 50 percent cut in rents, leases with an unlimited term and a ban on "speculative" sales of buildings. They threatened to start a rent strike. An estimated 22,000 people took part in a similar demonstration in Madrid on October 13. Campaigns have been launched in other cities. According to the Idealista specialised website, rental prices per square metre have risen 82 percent across Spain over the past decade. The average salary has gone up by 17 percent in that time, according to the national statistics institute. Facing pressure over a housing crisis, the government in 2023 passed legislation calling for more social housing, greater restrictions on rents in high demand areas and penalties for owners who do not occupy properties. But rents have continued to rise while the government has battled city and regional authorities to get some parts of the law applied. vid-vab/tw/jm
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Voters dejected by the presidential election results need to find a way to give back and remain involved, Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday as they celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Clinton presidential library. The former president urged audience members in a packed theater to remain engaged and find ways to communicate with those they disagree with despite a divisive political time. The two spoke about a month after former President Donald Trump's win over Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election. “We’re just passing through, and we all need to just calm down and do something that builds people up instead of tears them down,” Bill Clinton said. Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state who was defeated by Trump in the 2016 election, said she understands the next couple of years are going to be challenging for voters who don't agree with the decisions being made. "In addition to staying involved and staying aware, it’s important to find something that makes you feel good about the day because if you’re in a constant state of agitation about our political situation, it is really going to shorten your life," she said. The Clintons spoke during a panel discussion with journalist Laura Ling, who the former president helped free in 2009 when she was detained in North Korea with another journalist. The event was held as part of a weekend of activities marking the 20th anniversary of the Clinton Presidential Library's opening in Little Rock. The library is preparing to undergo an update of its exhibits and an expansion that will include Hillary Clinton's personal archives. Hillary Clinton said part of the goal is to modernize the facility and expand it to make it a more open, inviting place for people for convene and make connections. When asked about advice he would give for people disappointed by the election results, Bill Clinton said people need to continue working toward bringing people together and improving others' lives. “If that's the way you keep score, then you ought to be trying to run up the score,” he said. “Not lamenting the fact that somebody else is winning a different game because they keep score a different way." “And in addition, figure out what we can do to win again,” Hillary Clinton added, eliciting cheers. The program featured a panel discussion with cast members of the hit NBC show “The West Wing” and former Clinton White House staffers. The weekend amounted to a reunion of former Clinton White House staffers, supporters and close friends, including former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and adviser James Carville. McAuliffe said he and Carville ate Friday at Doe's Eat Place, a downtown restaurant that was popular with Clinton aides and reporters during Clinton's 1992 White House run. He said he viewed the library and its planned expansion as important for the future. “This is not only about the past, but it's more importantly about the future," McAuliffe said. “We just went through a very tough election, and people are all saying we've got to get back to the Clinton model.” Andrew Demillo, The Associated PressColumn: Newport News council’s revised gun rule has long legal precedentIn December 1978, Jimmy Carter – who has died aged 100 – outlined his belief that American strategic decisions abroad should be shaped by an adherence to human rights. “ Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy ... because human rights is the soul of our sense of nationhood.” In the sphere of foreign affairs, Jimmy Carter’s one term as US president (1977-1981) had some notable achievements. The most significant was the 1978 Camp David accords . Carter, Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat signed an agreement that saw Begin agree to relinquish the entire Sinai Peninsula, captured by Israel in the 1967 six-day war, in exchange for peace and full diplomatic relations with Egypt. This exemplified Carter’s belief in the power of American diplomacy and why US presidents should courageously assume the difficult task of peace-making . Twenty-five years later, and against the backdrop of the build-up to the second Gulf war, Carter was recognised for his role in the accords and awarded the 2002 Nobel peace prize. The Nobel committee said that while President George W. Bush was planning an invasion of Iraq: “former President Jimmy Carter was awarded the Peace Prize for undertaking peace negotiations, campaigning for human rights, and working for social welfare”. They added that the prize was in recognition of “his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development”. On leaving office in January 1981, Carter sought to use his status as a former president to engage in the issues and causes that mattered to him most. He established the Carter Center to pursue his own course of personal diplomacy. Starting in 1982, the centre has monitored more than 110 elections in 39 countries. Ahead of the 2020 US presidential election and as then president Donald Trump on refused to commit to a peaceful transition should he lose, the Carter Center took the extraordinary step of designating the US as a “backsliding” democracy . Devout diplomacy Carter, a devout Christian, maximised his personal relationships with former world leaders to promote democracy and human rights, support scientific work on eliminating diseases, and to mediate where possible to prevent conflict. His activism was not always appreciated by some of his White House successors, both Republican and Democrat. Randall Balmer , professor of religion at Dartmouth College, said that the former president’s personal brand of diplomacy could often complicate and even contradict contemporary US diplomatic initiatives. Carter was a member of The Elders , an independent group of global leaders working on peace promotion, social justice, climate change and global human rights. During his years of active membership Carter dedicated significant energy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict , visiting the region on a number of occasions to support the Elders’ work. In the early 1990s the former president became involved in mediation work between the US State Department and several rogue states including North Korea and Libya. In 1994, Carter supported the US government’s diplomatic efforts to resolve an increasingly tense nuclear weapons’ situation with North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. Carter met with Kim in June 1994, becoming the first former US president to visit the country. The trip laid the groundwork for an eventual bilateral deal between North Korea and the US. The agreement saw North Korea pledge to freeze its plutonium weapons programme, while the US agreed to offer aid. Continued work in his 90s Carter continued to weigh-in on contemporary geopolitical events well into his 90s. He was openly critical when Trump announced in May 2018 that he was withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear agreement , which had been negotiated by the Obama administration in 2015. He called Trump’s move a “serious mistake” . Carter felt that an international agreement made by an American president needed to be binding on all their successors and that by walking away from the Iran deal the US was signalling a “message to North Korea that if the United States signs an agreement, it may or may not be honored”. One of Carter’s major accomplishments since leaving office was his centre’s work in health care, and specifically the eradication of Guinea-worm disease. This is a parasitic infection caused by drinking contaminated water. The consequences of the illness , while not fatal, can incapacitate the sufferer and lead to permanent disability. The Carter Center committed to training over 100,000 village-based health care workers, invested in education programmes and provided water filters to protect people from swallowing the parasite. The results have been highly successful. According to the centre: “incidences of Guinea-worm disease have been reduced from an estimated 3.5 million in 1986 to 13 in 2023 , with the disease being eliminated in 17 countries”. Jimmy Carter’s commitment to human rights never went away and his concept of a human-rights focused foreign policy has become permanently encoded in the global conversation . The former president’s work brought him international acclaim, and illustrated why the nation’s leaders should reject short-sighted calculations that risk the US being complicit in human rights violations . Richard Hargy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Apple's Browser Rules Stifle Innovation on iOS, Says UK Regulator
NoneCowboys G Zack Martin, CB Trevon Diggs out vs. Commanders