OpenAI says ChatGPT is being used by hackers to develop malware, here’s how

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a part of our daily lives and helps in many custom tasks. It also helps in better decision-making and reduction in common errors which can be caused by human intervention. However, there are potential risks as well with AI that can cause severe criminal activities like planning cyber attacks.

OpenAI, the world’s leading AI company, in its latest report, ‘Influence and Cyber Operations: An Update’ also confirmed that since the beginning of 2024, it has disrupted over 20 deceptive operations worldwide, spotlighting a troubling trend of AI misuse that includes creating and debugging malware. The report details several incidents where ChatGPT was found to help cybercriminals for online malware attacks.

One of the first such activities was identified by cybersecurity firm Proofpoint in April 2023, when a cyber group, TA547 or ‘Scully Spider’ was suspected of deploying an AI-written PowerShell loader to operate a final payload named Rhadamanthys info-stealer. Another notable incident was when the Chinese cyber-espionage group 'SweetSpecter,' attacked the Asian government’s servers with the help of Open AI, which Cisco Talos first documented in November 2023.

OpenAI’s report also mentioned about the Iranian threat group ‘CyberAv3ngers,’ linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, using ChatGPT to find default credentials for industrial routers and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). These vital components are used in manufacturing and energy infrastructure. Further, the group used ChatGPT to create custom bash and Python scripts to evade detection.