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FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions
Learn to navigate a world of deepfakes, phishing attacks, and other cybersecurity threats emanating from generative artificial intelligence
In an era where artificial intelligence can create content indistinguishable from reality, how do we separate truth from fiction? In A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions, cybersecurity and deception expert Perry Carpenter unveils the hidden dangers of generative artificial intelligence, showing you how to use these technologies safely while protecting yourself and others from cyber scams and threats. This book provides a crucial understanding of the potential risks associated with generative AI, like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, offering effective strategies to avoid falling victim to their more sinister uses.
This isn't just another book about technology – it's your survival guide to the digital jungle. Carpenter takes you on an insightful journey through the "Exploitation Zone," where rapid technological advancements outpace our ability to adapt, creating fertile ground for deception. Explore the mechanics behind deepfakes, disinformation, and other cognitive security threats. Discover how cybercriminals can leverage even the most trusted AI systems to create and spread synthetic media and use it for malicious purposes. At its core, FAIK is an empowering exposé in which Carpenter effectively weaves together engaging narratives and practical insights, all aimed to equip you with the knowledge to recognize and counter advanced tactics with practical media literacy skills and a deep understanding of social engineering.
You
Learn to think like a hacker to better defend against digital threats. Gain practical skills to identify and defend against AI-driven scams. Develop your toolkit to safely navigate the "Exploitation Zone." See how bad actors exploit fundamental aspects of generative AI to create weapons grade deceptions. Develop practical skills to identify and resist emotional manipulation in digital content. Most importantly, this is ultimately an optimistic book as it predicts a powerful and positive outcome as a period of cooperation, something now inconceivable, develops as it always does during crises and the future is enhanced by amazing new technologies and fabulous opportunities on the near horizon.
Written by an expert, yet accessible to everyone, FAIK is an indispensable resource for anyone who uses technology and wants to stay secure in the evolving digital landscape. This book not only prepares you to face the onslaught of digital deceptions and AI-generated threats, but also teaches you to think like a hacker to better defend against them.
In an era where artificial intelligence can create content indistinguishable from reality, how do we separate truth from fiction? In A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions, cybersecurity and deception expert Perry Carpenter unveils the hidden dangers of generative artificial intelligence, showing you how to use these technologies safely while protecting yourself and others from cyber scams and threats. This book provides a crucial understanding of the potential risks associated with generative AI, like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, offering effective strategies to avoid falling victim to their more sinister uses.
This isn't just another book about technology – it's your survival guide to the digital jungle. Carpenter takes you on an insightful journey through the "Exploitation Zone," where rapid technological advancements outpace our ability to adapt, creating fertile ground for deception. Explore the mechanics behind deepfakes, disinformation, and other cognitive security threats. Discover how cybercriminals can leverage even the most trusted AI systems to create and spread synthetic media and use it for malicious purposes. At its core, FAIK is an empowering exposé in which Carpenter effectively weaves together engaging narratives and practical insights, all aimed to equip you with the knowledge to recognize and counter advanced tactics with practical media literacy skills and a deep understanding of social engineering.
You
Learn to think like a hacker to better defend against digital threats. Gain practical skills to identify and defend against AI-driven scams. Develop your toolkit to safely navigate the "Exploitation Zone." See how bad actors exploit fundamental aspects of generative AI to create weapons grade deceptions. Develop practical skills to identify and resist emotional manipulation in digital content. Most importantly, this is ultimately an optimistic book as it predicts a powerful and positive outcome as a period of cooperation, something now inconceivable, develops as it always does during crises and the future is enhanced by amazing new technologies and fabulous opportunities on the near horizon.
Written by an expert, yet accessible to everyone, FAIK is an indispensable resource for anyone who uses technology and wants to stay secure in the evolving digital landscape. This book not only prepares you to face the onslaught of digital deceptions and AI-generated threats, but also teaches you to think like a hacker to better defend against them.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 20, 2024
30 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 19, 2025
This was a tremendous book and I really appreciated the format. The book itself was conversational without any technical jargon. I lived the actionable items that we were left with. And my favourite part, all the footnotes, seriously, it was like having the opportunity for Perry to really show his personality as you were reading like he was sitting there reading it with you.
The book would be good for teenagers to seniors. Requires no special knowledge. And make you a little smarter for having read it.
The website and podcasts for this book are also top notch. Perry has consistently made better and better books, I am already looking forward to his next one.
The book would be good for teenagers to seniors. Requires no special knowledge. And make you a little smarter for having read it.
The website and podcasts for this book are also top notch. Perry has consistently made better and better books, I am already looking forward to his next one.
November 30, 2025
It reads like an extremely long AI generated LinkedIn post. I barely managed to struggle through all these forced analogies, meme lingo, “quirky”popculture references and a never-ending stream of cliches. It really is a shame because the information in the book is good and relevant but the delivery cannot be worse.
December 18, 2024
In 2009, a new cryptanalytic attack on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) was found to be more effective than a brute force attack. Noted security expert Bruce Scheier observed that “attacks always get better; they never get worse.”
The early attacks on phishing emails were simple to detect. The attackers made such blatant grammatical and spelling errors that it was hard not to see that they were fake.
Today, with significant advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, detecting fakes and bogus content is becoming quite difficult. Deepfakes, disinformation, and similar attacks have also improved dramatically, and it is becoming quite challenging to discern between what is real and what is fake.
This week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a statement that Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia.
These agencies based it on information available and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. Russian influence actors also manufactured a video falsely accusing an individual associated with the Democratic presidential ticket of taking a bribe from a U.S. entertainer.
This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans. In the lead-up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the agencies expect Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.
It’s evidently clear that these deepfakes are not just pushing fake cryptocurrency and other scams. They are actively trying to undermine American democracy.
In 2019, I reviewed Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behavior by Perry Carpenter. He’s back with another excellent book in FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions (Wiley). Here, he has written an informative guide on dealing with the new disinformation era we find ourselves in.
The truth is that the creation of fake news and content is far from new. Misinformation, disinformation, and other forms of media manipulation have existed since the beginning of communications. What has changed is that machine learning and artificial intelligence have improved our ability to do these things so much that they are completely altering the way we live.
While it used to take significant time and effort to create fake content and information, today, readily available tools can create content quickly, easily, and cheaply. Even experts are not completely sure what is real or fake or what humans or A.I. created.
There is still much hype around generative A.I. But beyond the hype, it is a force that must be reckoned with. Carpenter has written an interesting and entertaining guide that provides the reader with a thorough understanding of generative A.I. and AI-generated media.
Generative A.I. and AI-generated media are particularly powerful, given that despite our intelligence and reason, we are still creatures easily manipulated by our automatic, emotionally driven cognition. This cognitive bias is significant, as the cognitive bias codex lists nearly 200 different types of biases.
While there are nearly 200 different types of biases, the book lists many different types of AI-powered deceptions. These range from phishing and financial fraud to romance scams, online harassment, and many more.
After spending seven chapters discussing the problems, risks, and threats, chapter 8 discusses several defenses that can be used. One of the more compelling approaches is the SIFT Method.
SIFT is a series of actions you can take to determine the validity and reliability of claims and sources on the web. The SIFT method is quick and simple and can be applied to various kinds of online content: news articles, scholarly articles, social media posts, videos, images, etc. SIFT is an additional set of skills to build on checklist approaches to evaluating online content based on the CRAAP Test - (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose).
While countless attackers use deepfake technologies to exploit people, the industry has responded with tools to defend against them. It’s a quickly expanding sector, with new tools and solutions coming out regularly.
One of the more interesting tools I’ve seen is Wolfsbane A.I., a deterrence and detection (DnD) system meant to protect digital content. It can detect AI-generated content and monitor client identities on social media for deepfakes.
Deepfakes are here to stay, and the first step in defending against them is awareness of the problem. In FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions, Perry Carpenter has written an insightful guide that makes the reader eminently aware of the many risks of deepfakes and misinformation and encourages them to take active action against those threats.
The early attacks on phishing emails were simple to detect. The attackers made such blatant grammatical and spelling errors that it was hard not to see that they were fake.
Today, with significant advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, detecting fakes and bogus content is becoming quite difficult. Deepfakes, disinformation, and similar attacks have also improved dramatically, and it is becoming quite challenging to discern between what is real and what is fake.
This week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a statement that Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia.
These agencies based it on information available and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. Russian influence actors also manufactured a video falsely accusing an individual associated with the Democratic presidential ticket of taking a bribe from a U.S. entertainer.
This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans. In the lead-up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the agencies expect Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.
It’s evidently clear that these deepfakes are not just pushing fake cryptocurrency and other scams. They are actively trying to undermine American democracy.
In 2019, I reviewed Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behavior by Perry Carpenter. He’s back with another excellent book in FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions (Wiley). Here, he has written an informative guide on dealing with the new disinformation era we find ourselves in.
The truth is that the creation of fake news and content is far from new. Misinformation, disinformation, and other forms of media manipulation have existed since the beginning of communications. What has changed is that machine learning and artificial intelligence have improved our ability to do these things so much that they are completely altering the way we live.
While it used to take significant time and effort to create fake content and information, today, readily available tools can create content quickly, easily, and cheaply. Even experts are not completely sure what is real or fake or what humans or A.I. created.
There is still much hype around generative A.I. But beyond the hype, it is a force that must be reckoned with. Carpenter has written an interesting and entertaining guide that provides the reader with a thorough understanding of generative A.I. and AI-generated media.
Generative A.I. and AI-generated media are particularly powerful, given that despite our intelligence and reason, we are still creatures easily manipulated by our automatic, emotionally driven cognition. This cognitive bias is significant, as the cognitive bias codex lists nearly 200 different types of biases.
While there are nearly 200 different types of biases, the book lists many different types of AI-powered deceptions. These range from phishing and financial fraud to romance scams, online harassment, and many more.
After spending seven chapters discussing the problems, risks, and threats, chapter 8 discusses several defenses that can be used. One of the more compelling approaches is the SIFT Method.
SIFT is a series of actions you can take to determine the validity and reliability of claims and sources on the web. The SIFT method is quick and simple and can be applied to various kinds of online content: news articles, scholarly articles, social media posts, videos, images, etc. SIFT is an additional set of skills to build on checklist approaches to evaluating online content based on the CRAAP Test - (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose).
While countless attackers use deepfake technologies to exploit people, the industry has responded with tools to defend against them. It’s a quickly expanding sector, with new tools and solutions coming out regularly.
One of the more interesting tools I’ve seen is Wolfsbane A.I., a deterrence and detection (DnD) system meant to protect digital content. It can detect AI-generated content and monitor client identities on social media for deepfakes.
Deepfakes are here to stay, and the first step in defending against them is awareness of the problem. In FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions, Perry Carpenter has written an insightful guide that makes the reader eminently aware of the many risks of deepfakes and misinformation and encourages them to take active action against those threats.
July 4, 2025
Good content, but should have been half as long.
February 14, 2025
Wow. What an important book. Teaching media literacy is so important right now. Perry Carpenter doesn’t waste everyone’s time with explaining everything there is going on in AI, because by the time the ink hit the page, it would be obsolete. That’s just dumb.
This book explains how AI can be used for nefarious purposes by describing how all scams and misinformation work. Each attack isn’t new but a variation on a very old them. Now just done with better grammar and punctuation.
One thing that made this book so great to read was his sense of humor. Please, for the love everything noble, read ALL the footnotes at the bottom of the page.
This book explains how AI can be used for nefarious purposes by describing how all scams and misinformation work. Each attack isn’t new but a variation on a very old them. Now just done with better grammar and punctuation.
One thing that made this book so great to read was his sense of humor. Please, for the love everything noble, read ALL the footnotes at the bottom of the page.
February 5, 2025
Very important read that dives into AI and spotting fakes.
November 1, 2025
Solid 4.5
Great read for any level tech reader. Some of the topics/references/jokes get repetitive, but still a fun read!
Great read for any level tech reader. Some of the topics/references/jokes get repetitive, but still a fun read!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews