The latest edition of the quarterly Consumer Cyber Safety Pulse Report from cybersecurity company Norton has shed light on how cybercriminals are using artificial intelligence to create realistic and sophisticated cybersecurity threats aimed at individuals and businesses alike.
In particular, the report that cybercriminals are using the popular AI tool ChatGPT to generate malicious threats through its ability to generate human-like text that adapts to different languages and audiences.
Norton noted that through ChatGPT, cybercriminals can now quickly and easily craft email or social media phishing lures in a manner that makes it more difficult to tell what’s legitimate and what’s a threat. In addition, the AI tool can also generate code that they can manipulate and use to scam at a larger and faster scale.
“While the introduction of large language models like ChatGPT is exciting, it’s also important to note how cybercriminals can benefit and use it to conduct various nefarious activities. We’re already seeing ChatGPT being used effectively by bad actors to create malware and other threats quickly and very easily,” said Mark Gorrie, Asia Pacific Managing Director at Gen.
“Unfortunately, it’s becoming more difficult than ever for people to spot scams on their own, which is why Cyber Safety solutions that look at all aspects of our digital lives are comprehensibly needed, be it our mobile devices to our online identity, or the wellbeing of those around us – being cyber vigilant is integral to our digital lives,” Gorrie added.
Norton has also warned that criminals can also use it to create deepfake chatbots. These chatbots can impersonate humans or legitimate sources, like a bank or government entity, to manipulate victims into turning over their personal information in order to gain access to sensitive information, steal money or commit fraud.
To avoid these threats, Norton has reminded users to avoid chatbots that do not appear on a company’s website or app and to be cautious of providing any personal information during a chat session. Users are also reminded to update their security solutions and make sure it has a full set of security layers that go beyond known malware recognition, such as behaviour detection and blocking.
The report also highlighted Norton’s efforts in blocking cybersecurity threats in 2022. For that year, Norton reported that it thwarted over 3.5 billion threats worldwide. In Australia, throughout the last quarter alone, Norton blocked over 28 million threats, including 960,000 phishing attempts, 1.3 million file threats, and 24 thousand mobile threats
