The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) on Thursday said they already identified the individuals involved in spreading the “deepfake” audio to which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. fell victim.
NICA Deputy Director General for Special Concerns Abelardo Villacorta said the agency has been coordinating with the international community in identifying the people behind the manipulated content of Marcos supposedly ordering military action against another country.
“In fact, some intelligence agencies from other countries have been very active in supporting us and that’s why we are able to achieve a lot that is just not broadcast or published by the media,” Villacorta said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Asked about the identities of the people involved, he said: “Yeah, we have identities already.”
However, Villacorta mentioned having trouble locating the individuals involved, citing that the perpetrators are using a virtual private network (VPN) to hide themselves.
“It happened that these individuals have a virtual personal something. And although we know that they came from one country, their VPN shows they’re in another country. So it’s becoming very challenging on our part to really identify these people involved in this kind of activity,” Villacorta said.
“But, we have some partnership with other intelligence agencies. Not only domestic but international; our partnership is very strong,” he added.