Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) systems have proven to be effective in improving the sophistication of phishing lures, creating fake profiles, and developing basic malware.
Security experts have demonstrated that a complete attack chain may be established, and malicious hackers have already begun experimenting with AI-generated code.
The Check Point Research team employed current AI tools to design a whole attack campaign which began with a phishing email sent by OpenAI's ChatGPT that prompts the target to open an Excel document. Researchers also developed an Excel macro that runs malware obtained from a URL and a Python script to infect the intended system using the Codex AI programming tool.
To evaluate the effectiveness of AI in data collection and team response to cyberattacks on vital systems and services, as well as to draw attention to the need for solutions that enhance human-machine collaboration to lower cyber risk.
In recent weeks, ChatGPT, a large language model (LLM) based on OpenAI's generative pre-trained transformer (GPT-3) third iteration, sparked a scope of what-if scenarios for the possible uses of AI/ML. Due to the dual-use nature of AI/ML models, firms are looking for ways to use the technology to increase efficiency, while campaigners for digital rights are concerned about the effects the technology will have on businesses and employees.
However, other aspects of security and privacy are also being impacted by AI/ML. To enhance profiles used for fraud and misinformation, generative neural networks (GNNs) were utilized to produce photographs of fake persons that look real but do not portray a real person.
The employment of the most advanced artificial intelligence system by cyber attackers does not, as of yet, make the attacks more difficult to spot. However, by emphasizing the technical signs, cybersecurity tools can still detect the issue. Even the most effective fake imitation would be defeated by the procedures used to double-check requests to modify an account for payment and paycheck transfer unless the threat organization had access to or control over the further layers of security that have become increasingly frequent.
