#FactCheck -Truth Behind the Viral Snake Rain Video: AI-Generated, Not Real
Executive Summary
A shocking video claiming to show snakes raining down from the sky is going viral on social media. The clip shows what appear to be cobras and pythons falling in large numbers instead of rain, while people are seen running in panic through a marketplace. The video is being shared with the claim that it is the result of “tampering with nature” and that sudden snake rainfall occurred in an unidentified country. (Links and archived versions provided)
CyberPeace researched the viral claim and found it to be false. The video does not depict a real incident. Instead, it has been generated using artificial intelligence (AI).
Fact Check
To verify the authenticity of the video, we extracted keyframes and conducted a reverse image search using Google Lens. However, we did not find any credible media report linked to the viral footage. We also searched relevant keywords on Google but found no reliable national or international news coverage supporting the claim. If snakes had genuinely rained from the sky in any country, the incident would have received widespread media attention globally. A frame-by-frame analysis of the video revealed multiple inconsistencies and visual anomalies:
In the first two seconds, a massive snake appears to fall onto electric wires, yet its body passes unrealistically through the wires — something that is physically impossible. The snakes falling from the sky and crawling on the ground move in an unnatural manner. Instead of falling under gravity, they appear to float mid-air. Around the 9–10 second mark, a person lying on the ground has a visibly distorted hand structure, a common artifact seen in AI-generated videos.
Such irregularities are typical indicators of AI-generated content. The viral video was further analyzed using the AI detection tool Hive Moderation, which indicated a 96.5% probability that the video was AI-generated.
Additionally, image detection tool WasitAI also classified the visuals in the viral clip as highly likely to be AI-generated.
Conclusion
CyberPeace ’s research confirms that the viral video claiming to show snakes raining from the sky is not authentic. The footage has been created using artificial intelligence and does not depict a real event.
Related Blogs
Executive Summary:
A misleading video of a child covered in ash allegedly circulating as the evidence for attacks against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh. However, the investigation revealed that the video is actually from Gaza, Palestine, and was filmed following an Israeli airstrike in July 2024. The claim linking the video to Bangladesh is false and misleading.
Claims:
A viral video claims to show a child in Bangladesh covered in ash as evidence of attacks on Hindu minorities.
Fact Check:
Upon receiving the viral posts, we conducted a Google Lens search on keyframes of the video, which led us to a X post posted by Quds News Network. The report identified the video as footage from Gaza, Palestine, specifically capturing the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in July 2024.
The caption of the post reads, “Journalist Hani Mahmoud reports on the deadly Israeli attack yesterday which targeted a UN school in Nuseirat, killing at least 17 people who were sheltering inside and injuring many more.”
To further verify, we examined the video footage where the watermark of Al Jazeera News media could be seen, We found the same post posted on the Instagram account on 14 July, 2024 where we confirmed that the child in the video had survived a massacre caused by the Israeli airstrike on a school shelter in Gaza.
Additionally, we found the same video uploaded to CBS News' YouTube channel, where it was clearly captioned as "Video captures aftermath of Israeli airstrike in Gaza", further confirming its true origin.
We found no credible reports or evidence were found linking this video to any incidents in Bangladesh. This clearly implies that the viral video was falsely attributed to Bangladesh.
Conclusion:
The video circulating on social media which shows a child covered in ash as the evidence of attack against Hindu minorities is false and misleading. The investigation leads that the video originally originated from Gaza, Palestine and documents the aftermath of an Israeli air strike in July 2024.
- Claims: A video shows a child in Bangladesh covered in ash as evidence of attacks on Hindu minorities.
- Claimed by: Facebook
- Fact Check: False & Misleading
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Executive Summary:
A viral image circulating on social media claims to show a Hindu Sadhvi marrying a Muslim man; however, this claim is false. A thorough investigation by the Cyberpeace Research team found that the image has been digitally manipulated. The original photo, which was posted by Balmukund Acharya, a BJP MLA from Jaipur, on his official Facebook account in December 2023, he was posing with a Muslim man in his election office. The man wearing the Muslim skullcap is featured in several other photos on Acharya's Instagram account, where he expressed gratitude for the support from the Muslim community. Thus, the claimed image of a marriage between a Hindu Sadhvi and a Muslim man is digitally altered.
Claims:
An image circulating on social media claims to show a Hindu Sadhvi marrying a Muslim man.
Fact Check:
Upon receiving the posts, we reverse searched the image to find any credible sources. We found a photo posted by Balmukund Acharya Hathoj Dham on his facebook page on 6 December 2023.
This photo is digitally altered and posted on social media to mislead. We also found several different photos with the skullcap man where he was featured.
We also checked for any AI fabrication in the viral image. We checked using a detection tool named, “content@scale” AI Image detection. This tool found the image to be 95% AI Manipulated.
We also checked with another detection tool for further validation named, “isitai” image detection tool. It found the image to be 38.50% of AI content, which concludes to the fact that the image is manipulated and doesn’t support the claim made. Hence, the viral image is fake and misleading.
Conclusion:
The lack of credible source and the detection of AI manipulation in the image explains that the viral image claiming to show a Hindu Sadhvi marrying a Muslim man is false. It has been digitally altered. The original image features BJP MLA Balmukund Acharya posing with a Muslim man, and there is no evidence of the claimed marriage.
- Claim: An image circulating on social media claims to show a Hindu Sadhvi marrying a Muslim man.
- Claimed on: X (Formerly known as Twitter)
- Fact Check: Fake & Misleading
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Introduction
With the advent of cloud computing, new information and asset delivery avenues have become possible, including Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service, and Software-as-a-Service. With this change, the conventional paradigm of "computer as a product" is replaced with "computing as a service," which is provided to customers via the internet by big data warehouses or the cloud. Additionally, it has brought about an essential shift in how organisations function, allowing them to access computer tools and services online instead of needing to construct and manage their IT systems. As a result, organizations are now more agile, scalable, and efficient and can react swiftly to shifting consumer demands and market situations.
The Growth of Remote and Hybrid Workspaces
Hybrid and remote workplaces are becoming more popular post-pandemic era. Many businesses have used regional workplace solutions to manage a more scattered workforce. IT departments are put in a difficult position since they have to make sure that branch office staff and remote workers can access the information they require safely and dependably. VPNs and Direct Internet Access links are becoming more and more popular, thus IT professionals are coming up with innovative ways for connecting distant locations to the main office while protecting the confidentiality of information.
User Portability
The widespread use of mobile devices for work, along with the growing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture, has significantly contributed to the rise of remote work and flexible work environments. Employees can now connect to corporate systems using either personal or company-issued devices through secure methods such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or cloud-based platforms. This has made teleworking, work-from-home setups, and flexible work hours increasingly common and practical, allowing for greater productivity and work-life balance.
Growing Volume of Traffic
Professionals in the modern workplace must have access to private apps stored in a data centre or a multi-cloud setup. Nevertheless, these programs might not always be easily accessible from branch offices or by remote workers and staff members might not have instant support for IT. Organizations must discover solutions to this problem so that remote workers may consistently and dependably access company resources while also making the most of their current assets. It is important to note that employees need reliable and secure ways to access their work tools from anywhere, just like they would in the office.
Battling Networking and Security Issues in a Post-Pandemic Setting
While many businesses have successfully adopted a cloud-first approach for new system implementations or have deployed specific Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions, many are still struggling to fully reap the benefits of moving most or all of their business software to the cloud.
- Conventional IT frameworks allowed for the creation of the present company applications. Because of this, these applications are frequently inflexible and configured for fixed capacity across a limited number of data facilities. Certain organizations could lack the elements required to oversee an entire cloud migration. This could be the result of things like an affinity for on-premises systems, aversion to alteration, or a lack of experience with cloud systems.
- Although cloud computing might be a cost-effective solution for some workloads, it might not be the best choice overall. Running certain applications in a combination of cloud services or on-premises may be more cost-effective.
- Particularly if they are regionally distributed, workloads requiring high connection speeds or low latency may not be ideal for cloud computing.
- If a corporation lacks authority over the servers in the cloud, it may be concerned about the integrity of its data stored there. Consequently, they would rather keep it inside their data facilities.
- Firms may be restricted in their ability to migrate some types of information to the cloud by legal or compliance regulations.
Networking and Cybersecurity Consolidation: Handling Present Risks
In the past, protecting a network required establishing boundaries and keeping an eye on communication between recognized devices. However, it is now required for a network's components to work together as a cohesive system due to shifting expectations. To do this, flexible network pieces must be able to communicate with one another while also protecting workflows, apps, and payments that move across different devices. The current problem is to effortlessly combine security with network capabilities and connection so that data can flow between constantly moving devices while being inspected, encrypted, and subject to regulation.
Infrastructure and security personnel must update their methods and equipment to better meet these constraints to deliver reliable, efficient, and trustworthy access across users, apps, and regions within an enterprise. Inevitably, networking and safety will eventually merge for improved organizational alignment.
Businesses may stay ahead of the competition in attracting top people in an increasingly diverse and cost-effective workplace by integrating a virtual and physical workforce. The future of security solutions lies in consolidation and platformisation; a cloud-centric Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) the capacity offering paired with network edge capabilities like secured Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) can improve and automate the safety measures of the company while also cutting down on the complexity and expense of managing disparate point remedies.
Safe Networking: Moving Towards This Phenomenon and Concentration of Cybersecurity
Companies relying on conventional networking models often face challenges in securing modern elements, such as cloud-based applications, remote users, mobile devices, and distributed locations, because traditional networks were not designed with these factors in mind. A robust networking strategy integrates both safety and networking into one system to get around these problems. It enhances security posture and network performance. It improves the user's experience and lessens the complexities of management. It is important to combine point product providers into a risk management platform rather than implementing safety measures one at a time. Tighter cooperation, greater efficiency, and a quicker, better-coordinated reaction to network threats are made possible by this.
SASE: A Coordinated Method
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a cloud-based architecture that offers security and networking solutions as needed and unites all edges into a single logical connection.
SASE drivers
Conventional safety measures are ill-suited to deal with the more dispersed and complicated IT environment brought about by the advent of the Internet of Things, edge computing, and telecommuting. Using SASE, security and network services may be accessed from the cloud, eliminating the need to backhaul traffic to a single data centre for safety assessment.
- Distant user traffic assessment and blind spots presented difficulties for companies.
- Full oversight over hybrid network operations is provided by SASE technology, which provides network services including FWaaS, SWG, DLP, and CASB.
- Issues around abnormal port usage and policy violations have arisen as more customers access SaaS apps from different gadgets and regions.
- SASE technology reduces the cost of hiring IT staff by combining safe access to resources from one supplier.
- SASE technology consolidates secure accessibility capabilities from one vendor, hence lowering the cost of hiring IT workers.
- One major benefit of SASE technology is its ease of administration. Even when overseeing multiple offices inside a corporate network, the IT department's job is minimized because a single cloud-based administrator manages the entire system.
Recommendations
- For high-risk use cases, consider utilizing Zero Trust Network Access to supplement or replace the outdated VPN for distant users.
- Take inventory of the gear and agreements in order to progressively replace the branch and perimeter hardware on-site over a few years in favour of delivering SASE functionalities via the cloud.
- Simplify and cut expenses by grouping suppliers when VPN, CASB, and encrypted web portal agreements are up for renewal. Profit from a market that has come together and integrated these security edge services.
- Limit SASE products to a couple of partnering companies.
- Irrespective of location, integrate Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and methods of authorization (such as MFA) for every client, including those in the workplace or branch.
- To meet security and regulatory requirements, select SASE products that provide you control over where inspection takes place, how traffic is directed, what is recorded, and where records are kept.
Conclusion
The development of cloud technology, the rise of offsite and hybrid workplaces, and the increased challenges in communication and privacy following the pandemic highlight the necessity for a comprehensive and integrated strategy. By adopting SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), a cloud-centric framework that enables secure connectivity across diverse environments, businesses can enhance cybersecurity, streamline operations, and adapt to the evolving needs of modern workplaces. This approach ultimately contributes to a safer and more efficient future for information architecture.
References
- https://www.dsci.in/files/content/knowledge-centre/2023/DSCI-Fortinet%20POV%20Paper.pdf
- https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/cloud/cloud-trends-and-cybersecurity-challenges-navigating-future
- https://banagevikas.medium.com/cybersecurity-trends-2024-navigating-the-future-10383ec10efe
Authors:
Soumya Gangele (Intern - Tech & Policy), CyberPeace
Neeraj Soni (Sr. Researcher), CyberPeace
