Digitization Minister Bohdan Ivan said on Wednesday that there are discussions at the highest level with major technology companies, especially from the US, regarding the development of capacities in Romania, including the creation of a Google data center. “I hope that in the near future I will be able to provide you with concrete data. At the same time, until the middle of 2024,” said the minister.

• “Discussions are underway at the highest level with large technology companies, especially with companies from the United States of America, regarding the development of new capacities and opportunities on the territory of Romania, in an extraordinary opening of the Romanian government and Prime Minister Marcel Colacu.
• Admittedly, the example you gave earlier is real. There are other examples and other discussions that we have with big companies, global companies in the technology industry, and I tell you that Romania is one of the most attractive states for investment,” said the minister of digitalization in the government on Wednesday, when asked about the possibility opening of a Google data center in Romania.

When asked when we will be able to find out something specific, Minister Bohdan Ivan said that due to the confidential information being discussed, he does not have the consent of other partners to disclose this data, but still gave a time frame.

• “I hope that in the near future I will be able to provide you with concrete data. In this case, let’s come out with concrete information by mid-2024,” he said.

Karan Bhatia, Google’s vice president of government affairs, with whom Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu met in the US, will come to Romania early next year to discuss possible cloud and data center investments in Romania, HotNews was told last month by the government .ro sources

• “For the possibility of creating a data center in Romania, the Ministry of Digitization and Google will first start a market study. Investments amount to 2 billion euros,” government sources told HotNews.ro.

During his visit to the USA, Prime Minister Marcel Čolaku met with Google representatives, to whom he offered, among other things, the creation of a data processing center in Romania.

• Sources: Google VP to come to Romania early next year / €2 billion possible data center investment

Ivan: We are trying to make sure that Romania does not become the target of mass waves of deep fakes in the near future

The minister says he is also in discussions with other technology companies, with the threat of deep fake technology on the agenda.

• “I have negotiations and discussions with the officials of Google and Meta, and Microsoft, and IBM, and with many large technology companies, both in the context of their investments in Romania and in the context of the difficult period we are going through, from threats, which come from artificial intelligence software, to deep counterfeiting and the year 2024, and I do not hide the fact that just yesterday we had discussions with officials of large technology companies, through which we are trying to ensure that Romania will not be the target of a wave in the near future period there are massive in-depth fakes,” said the minister.

Images of some politicians, including Marcel Čolaka and Sebastien Bourdugia, were used in deep fake attacks

The National Cyber ​​Security Agency (DNSC) has been warning about the dangers of deep fake technologies since November last year, citing as an example the case involving the image of Prime Minister Marcel Čolaka.

• “Criminals use deep fake (technologies used to manipulate video footage) to mislead potential victims and give a high degree of credibility to the information presented.
• Videos of well-known individuals running these “investment schemes” are often posted by online criminals on newly created and used social media accounts or compromised ones that previously belonged to other users.
• Usually, criminals use the image of politicians (the case today), businessmen and even journalists to present these traps to the public,” DNSC warns.

How does a trap set by criminals work?

• “Unlike other cases where the primary purpose of a sponsored post was to direct a potential victim to a phishing site, in other similar cases the attackers invite the audience to express their interest in joining the ‘program’ by sending a private message. . Once connected in this way, attackers will use social engineering techniques and phishing sites to convince users to provide sensitive data,” DNSC experts said.

Sebastián Burduja, the Minister of Energy, filed a criminal complaint this month with the Prosecutor’s Office at the High Court of Cassation and Justice for an attempt at a deep fake, with which they try to mislead citizens with non-existent investments. scheme of the ENEL company.

In particular, a fake video was published on social media in which the Minister of Energy encourages citizens to invest in this bogus scheme in order to make a profit. The images seem to be real, but upon closer inspection, it can be seen that the minister’s voice is slightly distorted, and his facial movements look unnatural.

What is Deep Fake

Deepfake is artificially faked content, i.e. video or audio recordings that look and sound like they’re real, but actually aren’t.

Many times deepfake technology can be used to get money fraudulently. For example, in 2019, a director of a British energy company was persuaded to send €200,000 to a supplier in Hungary because he believed his boss had told him to do so.

Even the mayors of several European capitals fell on the hook of the deepfake. In 2022, they conducted a video call with their alleged colleague in Kyiv, only the interlocutor was not Vitaliy Klitschko, although he looks like him. Those who were deceived are the mayors of Berlin, Madrid and Vienna.

• Read: The case of deepfake with the Romanian minister and the energy company / A criminal case was opened