What to do when you're asked for a ransom

Hello! It’s Rachel in San Francisco. Lately I’ve been thinking about how to protect my family from the specter of AI-assisted voice-cloning [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hello! It’s Rachel in San Francisco. Lately I’ve been thinking about how to protect my family from the specter of AI-assisted voice-cloning scams. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Lyft shares soared, but pared the gain after [correcting a forecast]( • Apple’s longest-serving designer [is leaving the company]( • Instacart is cutting 250 jobs and [restructuring its leadership]( The rise of the ‘family password’ You’ve probably heard tales of people who were [scammed out of money]( after hearing a request for cash from a voice that sounds like a loved one, an [authority figure]( or company official. Or maybe you recently [received a doctored robocall purportedly from President Joe Biden](, which circulated in January, urging voters in New Hampshire not to cast their ballots in a Democratic primary. In a very real sense, extortion has never been easier. The rapid advance of AI-generated media has opened up new avenues of criminality for Joe Biden impersonators and thieves attempting ransoms using family members’ voices. The kind of fakery that used to take time, money and technical know-how can now be accomplished [quickly and cheaply by nearly anyone](. Even as such scams get increasingly high-tech, the solution doesn’t have to be. To protect against one type of theft in particular — a family member reaching out and asking for cash — some people, myself included, are turning to family passwords. The idea is becoming common in the AI research community, one founder told me. It’s also simple and free. Pick a word that you and your family (or another trusted group) can easily remember. Then, if one of those people reaches out in a way that seems a bit odd — say, they’re suddenly asking you to deliver 5,000 gold bars to a P.O. Box in Alaska — first ask them what the password is. Rachel Tobac, an ethical hacker and CEO of SocialProof Security, said she’s heard from many people who are coming up with their own passwords, particularly after she participated in a [“60 Minutes” segment]( last year and demonstrated an AI spoof of a host’s voice. “I think in the next few years most people will have a phrase they use with their friends and family, if not their business,” she said. Tobac, who has long had her own family password, offered some tips for coming up with a good one: - Use a word you don’t frequently say, that isn’t likely to come up in casual conversations. - One word is fine, rather than a passphrase. - Keep the word secret and safe; don’t hint at it publicly. - Avoid making the password the name of a pet, as those are easily guessable. - Avoid words that a person may be able to guess based on your social media presence or other aspects of your life. “If your company is a superhero-themed company and your passcode is ‘Batmobile’, that’s probably something I could guess,” Tobac said. My family came up with our password this week, with the help of our 7-year-old. Since she’s big enough to use a phone or an iPad, I reasoned she can also understand how important it is to make sure that if she answers a call from me asking her to make an uncommonly large gold bar delivery she can check that it is, in fact, me on the other end. —[Rachel Metz](mailto:rmetz17@bloomberg.net) The big story OpenAI is testing a limited rollout that will allow ChatGPT to [retain specific information from one chat to the next](, the company said in a blog post Tuesday. ChatGPT will also have the ability to automatically determine which parts of the conversation should be remembered. One to watch [Watch the Bloomberg Technology TV analysis]( of Bitcoin at $50,000. Get fully charged Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, is cutting about 60 jobs [after naming a new CEO.]( US company is embarking on a mission to put a spacecraft on the moon, and its success would mark the first moon landing by a [privately built spacecraft.]( German battery maker Varta was hit by a cyberattack that [affected five of its production facilities.]( Airbnb ended 2023 stronger than analysts’ had expected but suggested the current quarter’s demand [wouldn’t be as vigorous.]( More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? 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