“The Evil Genie”

The fourth industrial revolution brings with it many societal benefits. Massive gains in computational processing of data, volumes of storage and near real-time network transmission have resulted in an age of powerful data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The “Cognitive Computing Era,” often heralded to be the savior for what ails humankind has proven to posses a darker side which, if left unchecked could result in the unwinding of our democratic society.

As with every powerful new technology that benefits society, the opposite is also true.

“Welcome to the Era of Human-Digital Twins.” Artificial Intelligence systems can be used to harness and monitor our sentiments by way of the written online word and emoji’s, listen to our spoken word with natural language processing using virtual digital assistants like Alexa and Siri, and troll troves of data that have been shared on social media sites for years to assemble digital representations of our physical being.

Replicas of our cognition are being assembled — not to impersonate us, but to predict and steer our decisions.

Data science is an exciting field that holds many promises for greater efficiencies and delivering a more optimized outcome. While the field has and is further expected to yield great gains, it is clear from events such as the manipulation of the twenty sixteen election and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, that this is only the beginning of weaponizing data against an individual, a specific group or society in its entirety.

The future of human manipulation lies in cloning digital twins.

In this paper we submit that patients that suffer from various forms of mental illness such as post traumatic stress disorder, depression, bi-polar, sleep disorders and anxiety are particularly exposed and susceptible to human manipulation as a result of “digital twin impersonation” techniques.

Digital Twins are a bridge between the physical and digital world.

The patient population suffering from various forms of mental illness is more likely to go online to perform research, seek help and share their emotional state and experiences further exposing them to the dangers of social media above and beyond the typical social channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to name a few.

Such cybersecurity breaches such as the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) which accounted for the breach of 21.5 million records and the information security breach at the Department of Veterans Affairs resulted in the theft of unencrypted data affecting 26.5 million people, provides enough cause for a heightened level of concern. These records can and have likely been enhanced and enriched with data extracted from the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal and other breaches.

Such information has been harvested, correlated, analyzed and weaponized to widen the divide and further polarize opposing parties and points of view over the threshold where it presents a real and present danger to our democracy.

The development of system modeling tools and endless stream of real time data have provided the instrumentation for the creation, profiling, testing and manipulation of individuals and groups. In the hands of a “criminal attacker,” the “Digital Twin” provides a replica of a physical system which can be disassembled to reveal additional vulnerabilities to formulate a “plan of attack.”

The plan of attack can impact the physical host or the hosts sphere of influence.

Coupled with the threats from Nation States and organized crime such consequences could prove to be disastrous.

In conclusion, "the digital twin serves as a simulation platform for complex systems to verify their behavior prior to deployment. In the hacker’s hands the twin not only reveals the complete solution architecture, it provides a platform to test complex attack plans".

Ahmed Sharaf is the CEO and Chief Research Scientist of XBAND Enterprises, Inc. and the Chief Technology Officer of CromTec Cyber Solutions, Inc.. When he's not out fighting cyber crime, he enjoys time with family, friends and thinking creatively.

References:

Part One: Digital Twins Explained Michael Haines

Part Two: Digital Twins – The Evil One Michael Haines

Part Three: Keeping The Evil Digital Twin At Bay Michael Haines

Digital twin

Evil Digital Twins Travis Kellerman

Your Evil Twin and You Cloakware Staff

The Evil Digital Twin Andrew Hannell

Office of Personnel Management data breach

Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal

Cambridge Analytica and Facebook: The Scandal and the Fallout So Far

VETERANS AFFAIRS DATA PRIVACY BREACH: TWENTY-SIX MILLION PEOPLE DESERVE ANSWERS