Estonia’s recently published
annual Foreign Intelligence Service report focuses on the aggressive activities of two main adversaries – Russia and China. Historically Russia has been a primary concern for Estonia’s clandestine services. It’s activities have not decreased since Estonia regained its independence, but have shifted in tradecraft and tactics.
Estonia is not alone as a target for Moscow’s active measures. Russia is the primary threat for the EU, the latter being besieged by cyber warfare, online espionage and the deployment of growing deepfake technology.
The report predicts that Russian special services will boost their development of ‘deepfake’ technology within cyber warfare. This technology involves the generation of synthetic media, mostly video, employing artificial intelligence and machine learning tools. This permits an individual’s facial expression and speech to be altered so that the fake appears to be real. This threat is of serious concern, because the technology will inevitably make messages so convincing that an audience will be unable to distinguish between true and false information.
(Pikemalt saab lugeda Eesti Elu 26. veebr. 2021 paber- ja PDF/Digilehest)
