ChatGPT has been in the recent news regularly, as its November public launch has introduced people to the possibilities it offers. Capable of answering complex questions, while also mimicking human writing, it gives sophisticated responses, with potential applications for a wide range of fields, including the scripting of programming code, according to an article by the CBC.
It’s this coding application that’s drawing some concern from cybersecurity professionals as at least one cybersecurity company has identified instances where the chatbot was used to generate code capable of being used for phishing or malware. Check Point Software Technologies claims to have observed users of underground hacking forums sharing their experiences in using the chatbot. Says Rob Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point, to the CBC, ”We’re finding that there are a number of less-skilled hackers or wannabe hackers who are utilizing this tool to develop basic low-level code that is actually accurate enough and capable enough to be used in very basic-level attacks.”
While the ChatGPT chatbot does have content-moderation functions in place, users have been able to find ways around some of the content-moderation limits, making it possible to get answers about supposedly banned or restricted topics. OpenAI, the creator of the chatbot, has been working to improve these content-limiting abilities.
As for the severity of cyberattacks using the responses of ChatGPT, Alexander Essex, associate professor of software engineering at Western University, notes “These are going to be sort of lower-grade cyber attacks. The really good stuff really still requires that thing that you can’t get with AI, and that is human intelligence, and intuition and, just frankly, sentience.”
Source:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/chatgpt-cybercriminals-warning-1.6710854
