It’s a fine line between deepfake and prank. But online pranks, fakes and impersonations cause havoc in our business and personal lives, often resulting in financial loss and stress.
Although we need to be extra aware of jokes on the 1st April to make sure we don’t end up a fool, online safety should be a priority for our business every day of the year.
Technology makes the unbelievable believable
Technology powers remarkable innovations. Particularly with the increasingly widespread use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and bots in so many areas of our online lives now, we could be forgiven for being drawn into the scams that use our trust, and love, of technology against us.
Would you fall for it?
Remember, April Fools’ pranks are funny, online scams and fraud are not.
As individuals and as businesses we should always be in control of our cybersecurity. From targeted phishing attacks to online scams, to ‘vishing’ – using voice actors to trick and extort people into disclosing personal information and/or funds. We should assume wherever there is the slightest suspicion of foul play there is breach-possibility.
Identifying a prank
An online prank, or fake, that doesn’t ask for your money – we hope is easy to spot. So, In the spirit of April Fools’ Day we’ve rounded up some of the best digital online pranks staged by some well-known brands. Not just to illustrate how borderline-believable some jokes can be in our tech-driven world, but how pranks don’t, at any point, ask you to part with information or money.
“Hello Google Tulip”
Google have poured all their research into using technology to help us understand plants! This Google Tulip prank by Google is the perfect mix of believable, warm humour and borderline-possible.
Watch the video and enjoy it along with those making it who can hardly keep straight faces. A pure prank for prank’s sake.
Duolingo’s in-person push notifications
If you don’t practise, you won’t learn. Duolingo’s prank to turn their push notifications into actual in-person, in a big plush owl suit, notifications to Duolingo’s language learning users is nothing short of hilarious and absurd.
Their promise to “take notifications out of your phone”, we think is comical genius. Although posed as a “premium feature”, you obviously can’t actually buy this so there’s no harm done.
Adobe Capture
A ridiculous, but another harmless one, Adobe Capture purports to use ‘scent-sei’ technology to give users the ability to use their camera to capture smells from the real world – and preview smells through their phone’s charging port.
Google’s Screen Cleaner
Another one from Google’s master prankers – Google Screen Cleaner claims to use micro-vibrations to create a non-stick shield around your phone. Almost believable is that the ap cleans your screen “from the inside” and features a smudge-detecting API.
We really love this one for its use of persuasive almost-believable language. Just brilliant.
1Password’s Password Book
Really taking the most basic of cybersecurity advice of ‘what not to do’ and turning it into a cybersecurity product is funny. But the only problem with this one is that someone might actually believe it and put themselves at risk, which is why 1Password were so careful to clearly state this is an April Fool and to not be fooled.
1Password’s Password Book is simply a notebook in which to write down all your internet passwords. As 1Password say, writing down passwords is marginally more secure than using the same password for everything – but not by much. We certainly don’t recommend it and nor do they.
Take charge of your cybersecurity
Be proactive and be aware – every day of the year - of online scams that potentially put you and your business at risk.
- Recognise that AI is being used to produce fakes that can fool us
- Put strict authentication processes in place to verify all users’ identities
- Use tiered, controlled access to the most sensitive information, i.e. restrict areas of network to management/senior staff
- Make staff training on cybersecurity mandatory
- Maintain a security-first approach
We hope you enjoyed the April Fools’ Day pranks. Stay safe and stay aware online.
Need help putting a cybersecurity strategy in place? Get in touch.
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