Microsoft and OpenAI worry about new hacking threats posed by ChatGPT

Hackers are using large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT to improve their existing cyber attack techniques, Microsoft and OpenAI said on Wednesday.

The companies found that groups backed by Russia, North Korea, Iran and China were trying to use tools like ChatGPT to research targets and build social engineering techniques.

OpenAI partnered with Microsoft Threat Intelligence to disrupt five nation-affiliated actors seeking to leverage AI services to support malicious cyber activity.

“We defeated two China-linked threat groups, Charcoal Typhoon and Salmon Typhoon; Iran-linked threat group Crimson Sandstorm; North Korean actor Emerald Sleet; and Russian-linked actor Jungle Blizzard,” Sam said · said the company run by Altman.

The identified OpenAI accounts associated with these participants have been terminated. These bad actors attempted to use OpenAI services to query open source information, translate, find coding errors, and run basic coding tasks.

“Cybercriminal groups, nation-state threat actors and other adversaries are exploring and testing different artificial intelligence technologies, trying to understand the potential value of their operations and the security controls they may need to circumvent,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The company said that while attackers remain interested in the current capabilities and security controls of artificial intelligence and detection technologies, it is important to understand the context of these risks.

The tech giant noted: “As always, hygiene practices like multi-factor authentication (MFA) and zero-trust defenses are critical as attackers may use AI-based tools to improve existing cyberattacks that rely on Social engineering and looking for unsecured devices and accounts.”

(This article has not been edited by News18 staff and is published by IANS, the associated news agency)