Data Breaches

In this second section of the course, we investigate the journey of digital identity, focusing on the escalating issues concerning data security, identity theft, and the emergence of deepfakes. Starting with the early days of the Internet, we discuss how entities tried to bolster security by using identifiable personal information like Social Security numbers and physical IDs. But these methods were flawed, evidenced by catastrophic system failures such as the 2017 Equifax breach that affected nearly half of the US population.

The module further underscores that the problem is worsening, with the ten largest data breaches occurring since 2013, and advanced digital fraud techniques like deepfakes on the rise. Deepfakes, or AI-synthesized realistic media, have paved the way for new types of identity theft, allowing fraudsters to mimic customer or staff images and voices convincingly. We present two startling real-life examples of deepfake misuse, one involving FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and another illustrating how a few generic images can be used to falsify a person's actions. The series continues by introducing pivotal government regulations aiming to combat these increasingly complex digital identity issues