Main points
- An unknown person used artificial intelligence to impersonate US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
- He had contacts with officials and foreign ministers.
The impostor posed as Rubio / Photo Getty Images (illustrative photo)
An unknown person impersonated US Secretary of State Marco Rubio using artificial intelligence. He contacted officials and foreign ministers.
This was reported by Channel 24 , citing The Washington Post.
The impostor posed as Rubio
An impostor posing as Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress, sending them voice and text messages that mimicked Rubio's own voice and writing style using artificial intelligence software.
The unknown person created an account on the messaging app Signal with a username similar to Rubio's official work name and sent messages to officials under his name. This happened starting in mid-June.
US authorities do not know who is behind it, but believe that the culprit was likely trying to manipulate influential officials “in order to gain access to information or accounts.”
The publication writes that officials refused to discuss the contents of the messages or the names of the diplomats and officials.
The State Department itself, as the publication writes, confirmed that they are investigating the incident and “will take measures to ensure that something like this does not happen again.”
The Washington Post writes that this is not the first case. In May, unknown persons hacked the phone of the White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, after which they began sending messages on her behalf to politicians and entrepreneurs. It is known that the FBI and the White House have begun investigations.
