"From Chatbots to Cyberattacks: How AI is Transforming Cybercrime"

 

Cybersecurity – both on the good side and on the bad side – is becoming increasingly dependent on artificial intelligence. Organizations can maximize the efficiency and protection of their systems and data resources by leveraging the latest AI-based tools that are available. 

However, cybercriminals are also capable of launching more sophisticated attacks with the help of technology. Artificial intelligence is changing the face of cybercriminals, it offers tools to clean up their language and allows hackers to open new doors for them to break into computer networks. 

For example, e-mails that trick recipients into sharing personal information or that fabricate images or videos that are used to extort victims have enabled cybercriminals to clean up their language. It is believed that the increase in cyberattacks has played a role in fueling the growth of the AI-based security products market. 

The advisory firm Acumen Research and Consulting estimates that by 2030 the global market for systems and robotics is likely to reach $133.8 billion, up from $14.9 billion in 2021, based on a report released in July 2022. 

A growing number of reports of cyberattacks on schools, medical centres, private companies, government agencies and military contractors is increasing as the FBI in San Antonio is dealing with a rapidly increasing number of cyberattacks. 

Cybercrime is the act of stealing personal health and financial information from local computer networks by international hackers. In general, the FBI tends to refrain from stating whether it is investigating a specific case, but Delzotto has said the FBI has "absolutely" seen an increase in the reports of ransomware attacks and business email compromise scams, also known as BEC scams, which they label as malicious acts. 

The language models that comprise large language networks (LLNs), such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft's Bing Chat, and Google's Bard AI, continue to be a matter of surprise to us because of their unique capabilities for processing language. It was not only Midjourney and Dall-E that blew our minds. 

Other generative AI applications such as Stable Diffusion and Midjourney have inspired us with their amazing artworks just by following a few sentences in their instructions. With every passing day, it seems that these projects keep getting better and it is so great that anyone can get access to them, and the fact that they can be used by anyone is an excellent thing. 

Despite this, some people might also find themselves at risk because of this. Malware of the Next Generation Cyber security experts has recently released a report which outlines how LLMs have the potential to be used to create advanced malware that will be able to evade security measures and potentially escape detection. 

A group of researchers managed to circumvent a content filter that was designed to prevent the generation of malware by the researchers. It has come to our attention that LLMs have also been used to create malware (albeit to varying degrees of success in some cases). 

A significant amount of implications can be drawn from this. LLMs may already be being used by cybercriminals to develop less detectable, easier-to-evade traditional cyber security defences and more destructive malware which can cause greater damage than traditional malware by using LLMs. Increasing numbers of companies in San Antonio have been affected by cyberattacks in recent months. 

A breach of HCA Healthcare's San Antonio division, which includes Methodist Healthcare hospitals in the city, has led to approximately one million patient records being posted to the deep web, which is inaccessible to search engines. This breach affected about one million patient records in July. 

There have been 11 million patients affected across 20 different states as a result of the breach, which was uncovered in July. Along with hospitals and clinics in Austin, the Rio Grande Valley, Corpus Christi, and Houston, several other Texas hospitals and clinics had also been affected by the outbreak. 

There were 18,000 members of Generations Federal Credit Union affected by a data breach that occurred in the summer of 2016 that affected the union's membership. Consumer information included name, address, social security number, driver's license number, passport number, credit card number, health information, and medical information. 

During that same month, USAA, a company that deals in insurance and financial services, also announced a data breach, which affected almost 19 thousand members, including 3,726 Texas residents, whose personal information had been accessed by "unauthorized individuals." 

A ransomware attack was blamed for a security outage on Rackspace Technology's Microsoft Hosted Exchange platform in December when thousands of customers were unable to access email on the platform due to an outage caused by the ransomware attack. 

Following the incident, the cloud computing company was sent a few federal lawsuits, which resulted in it discontinuing that particular business line as a result. 

AI-Powered Cyberattacks Deep fakes Deepfake is a term that combines the words "deep learning" and "fake media," as it involves the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create/manipulate audio/video content to appear authentic, using artificial intelligence. 

Using this technology, cybercriminals have already been manipulating celebrities' non-consensual pornography as well as spreading false news about politics. In 2019, a UK-based energy company was tricked into transferring €220,000 to a Hungarian bank account by using this technology. 

The use of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) by cybercriminals is being used to exploit the algorithms used to guess the passwords of users. There are already some algorithms available for breaking passwords, but cybercriminals will be able to extract password variations from large password datasets and use them as a source for password cracking. 

AI-Assisted Hacking: The use of artificial intelligence is being used by cybercriminals for a wide range of hacking activities, in addition to password cracking. There are countless ways in which Artificial Intelligence algorithms can be used to automate vulnerability scanning, to detect and exploit weaknesses in systems intelligently, to develop adaptive malware, etc. 

Supply Chain Attacks:  It is also possible to use machine learning to compromise the software & hardware supply chains of an organization, such as embedding malicious code or components within legitimate products or services to compromise the supply chain. 

Artificial intelligence has proven to be a highly useful tool for cybercriminals, allowing them to carry out more complex and efficient attacks with greater efficiency than ever before. Even though the threats are constantly evolving and getting more sophisticated, the threats will continue to increase. 

Businesses must develop a proactive approach against these threats rather than being reactive to them. This requires an advanced, multi-faceted approach that combines advanced artificial intelligence-powered cybersecurity solutions with a proactive stance that is aimed at preventing threats from being introduced.