Criminals Just Need 20 Images Of Your Child, To Produce A Deep Fake

Posting your child’s adorable first day of school? That birthday cake smash pic? It might seem harmless – but according to cybersecurity experts, it could be handing criminals all they need to digitally clone your child.

New research, commissioned by privacy-first tech company Proton, reveals that just 20 images are enough for AI tools to build a deepfake version of your child’s face – or even create a 30-second video. That’s not sci-fi paranoia – it’s already happening.

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“Parents are unwittingly opening their children up to possible exploitation by criminals who want to use their data for their own purposes,” warns Professor Carsten Maple of the University of Warwick and the Alan Turing Institute.

With the average parent uploading 63 photos a month – and 59 percent of those being family shots – kids are racking up digital footprints before they’ve even learned to write their own name. One in five parents share family images several times a week. That’s a lot of digital crumbs to follow.

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“It’s not just images that can be used,” says Professor Maple. “Social media posts also reveal sensitive information such as location data and key life moments, that can effectively be used to create an online profile for children long before they’re old enough to consent to it.”

And the risks go far beyond dodgy deepfakes. Cyber criminals can use this data to open bank accounts, commit identity fraud, or even manipulate children once they’re older. “Oversharing by parents can lead to numerous problems for the child in the future,” adds Professor Maple. “Digital records that can be extremely difficult and painful to remove, leading to mental anguish, negative reputations and harm to others.”

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It’s not just shady hackers either. Big Tech companies are getting in on the data feast. Instagram recently changed its terms to allow user images to train AI. Professor Maple points out that “Big tech companies frequently use consumer data for their own devices – whether it be creating advertising profiles for targeted marketing, selling data to third parties, analysing photo content, trends, and usage patterns.”

And cloud storage? Just as leaky. More than half of parents surveyed upload their family snaps automatically to services like Google Drive or iCloud. Yet nearly half had no idea that these platforms could access and use photo data, despite 72 percent saying they wanted their photos to remain private.

The solution? Sharpen your privacy settings, read the small print, and think before you post. Or as Professor Maple puts it: “The need for stronger protections has never been more pressing.”