Denise Moussa

How did you first become interested in digital forensics?

That's a question I still ask myself sometimes! I can’t really pinpoint a single moment — it’s just something that’s fascinated me for as long as I can remember. When I discovered that my university offered projects and courses in digital and multimedia forensics, I jumped in... and never looked back.

What are you currently working on, and why is it important?

Right now, I’m evaluating methods for detecting real-time voice deepfakes. With how fast AI is evolving, it's becoming easier for anyone — even without technical skills — to create convincing speech-to-speech conversions. That means someone could impersonate another person’s voice in real-time, which opens the door to serious risks like identity theft and fraud. The goal is to stay one step ahead of this threat.

How could your work change the way people interact with digital media?

I hope it helps people feel more secure when using digital platforms. If we can build reliable tools to detect impersonation, we can make digital spaces more trustworthy — and give people more confidence that what they’re hearing or seeing is actually real.

How do you approach problems that seem unsolvable?

I try to simplify. I’ll take a smaller version of the problem and work on solving that first. Once I understand the basics, I build up from there — step by step.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received, and why was it impactful?

“Stay calm — things will work out.”

It sounds simple, but it’s incredibly helpful, especially in research. When your desk is covered in open questions and leads going in every direction, that reminder to take a breath and keep going makes a big difference.

What trends in your field excite you the most?

Definitely the rapid progress in generative AI. The ability of these models to create complex, high-quality content — whether it’s synthetic audio, images, or now even video — is pretty incredible. Synthetic videos are still not perfect, but the improvements are coming fast. From a technical perspective, it’s thrilling to see how quickly the field is advancing... and honestly, I’m just curious (and a little nervous!) to see what’s next.

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