Role of Accomplices in Morphing Attacks: AComprehensive Survey

Morphing attacks, where digital objects like images, videos, or biometric information are manipulated to look legitimate while hiding malicious intent, are serious threats to security systems. This extensive survey explores the vital role accomplices play in carrying out morphing attacks. Accomplices can be from human insiders and outside collaborators to automated systems, all of whom play their role in different stages of the attack—ranging from data gathering and morphing methods to delivery and evasion of detection. Human accomplices can help by providing access to sensitive information, controlling security mechanisms, or facilitating social engineering tactics. Simultaneously, botnets and image manipulation tools are potential automated accomplices that can aid in generating and propagating manipulated data. This survey delves into how accomplices cooperate, how this affects the efficacy of morphing attacks, and the cybersecurity implications. Through examining the accomplices' role, this research hopes to better understand morphing attack methods and influence the creation of more effective defense mechanisms.