Tag Archive for: write

Cybercriminals Using ChatGPT to Build Hacking Tools, Write Code

/in


Expert and novice cybercriminals have already started to use OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT in a bid to build hacking tools, security analysts have said. 

In one documented example, the Israeli security company Check Point spotted(Opens in a new window) a thread on a popular underground hacking forum by a hacker who said he was experimenting with the popular AI chatbot to “recreate malware strains.” 

The hacker had gone on to compress and share Android malware that had been written by ChatGPT across the web. The malware had the ability to steal files of interest, Forbes reports(Opens in a new window). 

The same hacker showed off a further tool that installed a backdoor on a computer and could infect a PC with more malware. 

Check Point noted in its assessment(Opens in a new window) of the situation that some hackers were using ChatGPT to create their first scripts. In the aforementioned forum, another user shared Python code he said could encrypt files and had been written using ChatGPT. The code, he said, was the first such one he had written. 

While such code could be used for harmless reasons, Check Point said that it could “easily be modified to encrypt someone’s machine completely without any user interaction.”

The security company stressed that while ChatGPT-coded hacking tools appeared “pretty basic,” it is “only a matter of time until more sophisticated threat actors enhance the way they use AI-based tools for bad.”

Recommended by Our Editors

A third case of ChatGPT being used for fraudulent activity flagged by Check Point included a cybercriminal who showed it was possible to create a Dark Web marketplace using the AI chatbot. The hacker posted in the underground forum that he had used ChatGPT to create a piece of code that uses third-party API to retrieve up-to-date cryptocurrency prices, which is used for the Dark Web market payment system.

ChatGPT’s developer, OpenAI, has implemented some controls which prevent obvious requests for the AI to build spyware. However, the AI chatbox has come under yet more scrutiny after security analysts and journalists found it could write grammatically correct phishing emails without typos(Opens in a new…

Source…

ProPublica reporters write about the misfit ransomware code crackers in “The Ransomeware Hunting Team”

/in


MONDAY on “The Source” —Earlier this month, Rackspace was hit by a ransomware group that took customers’ data. Potentially, this group has held onto this data in exchange for ransom, but the company has not said either way due to the investigation run by the FBI.

This unfortunately is not a new story, and as of 2022, almost half of all data breaches began with stolen credentials. Ransomware attacks target businesses, hospitals and nonprofits and hold the data from their customers or employees for ransom. Damages from ransomware as a whole are likely to exceed $30 billion dollars by 2023. Many believe the FBI may not have enough manpower to combat these ransomware attacks, and that is where an informal, largely self-taught coalition of code crackers comes in.

Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden write in their book about this group of people. “The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits’ Improbable Crusade to Save the World from Cybercrime” tells the story of these code crackers who work tirelessly to defend cyber storage.

Who are these code crackers? What is ransomware? What can individuals do to protect themselves from a ransomware attack? Why are civilians the primary defenders of ransomware instead of federal agencies?

Guests: 

“The Source” is a live call-in program airing Mondays through Thursdays from 12-1 p.m. Leave a message before the program at (210) 615-8982. During the live show, call833-877-8255, email [email protected] or tweet@TPRSource.

*This interview will be recorded on Monday, December 19.

Source…

When AI takes on Eurovision: Can a computer write a hit song?

/in
Robots are everywhere these days.

Enlarge / Robots are everywhere these days. (credit: NBC Universal)

Imagine assembling a crack team of musicologists to compose the perfect Eurovision hit, only to end up with a song that crescendos as a robotic voice urges listeners to “kill the government, kill the system.”

That was the experience of a team of Dutch academics who, after an experiment in songwriting using artificial intelligence algorithms, inadvertently created a new musical genre: Eurovision Technofear.

The team—Can AI Kick It—used AI techniques to generate a hit predictor based on the melodies and rhythms of more than 200 classics from the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual celebration of pop music and kitsch. These included Abba’s “Waterloo” (Sweden’s 1974 winner) and Loreen’s “Euphoria” (2012, also Sweden).

Read 36 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Biz & IT – Ars Technica