WormGPT And the Like

 

It was bound to happen. When ChatGPT was designed, it was also a signal that generative AI tools for hacking and cybercrime would follow. WormGPT is a generative AI tool which is on the dark net.

It is being used to hack sites, steal information and do a lot of other disruptive and damaging things on the net. Large Language Models (LLM) are AI algorithms which improve with every use. Just like ChatGPT, WormGPT will help a hacker to penetrate networks or secure portals and cause disruption. Sometimes coders use ‘jailbreaks’ – effectively, engineers prompts and inputs designed to disclose sensitive information, produce inappropriate content, or create harmful code.

The possibilities of using a Large Language Model to cause harm are endless. They can be used to generate dis and misinformation, shift public opinion, and even sway political campaigns – the risks for unsuspecting users are endless, especially when you add bootleg AI models to the mix.    

Essentially it boils down to the speed and number of scams a language model can generate at once, which is obviously worrying when you consider how fast language models can generate text. This makes cyberattacks such as phishing emails particularly easy to replicate when put in the hands of even a novice cybercriminal.

Even attackers with limited skills can use this technology, making it accessible for a broader spectrum of cybercriminals.

If you receive any communication from a hacker seeking information, it will be so well written, that you may find it difficult to believe it is a hack. The grammar and sentence construction will be of a very high standard. Genuine validations will be provided to convince you of the legitimacy of the communication.

Accessing Worm GPT is risky to say the least. It resides in the dark corners of the web, meaning it is not easily accessible. Only people with malicious intent generally make use of it. One also has to pay a subscription fee. If you download WormGPT, you will be monitored continuously. Your intentions will be studied as the use of this tool is punishable by law.

New techniques are being developed by cybercriminals to do what is called BEC. Business Email Compromise. This means impersonating high level executives in an organization to deceive employees by writing emails which are malicious. These messages are sometimes designed to bypass security systems in companies to cause financial harm or just plain theft. Hack passwords, steal data or disrupt a functioning system.

WormGPT is trained on diverse data to make it more versatile. Cybercrime experts believe it is already being used widely. This tool will help the criminals to increase the frequency of attacks and make the attacks more sophisticated. It will be that much more difficult to defend against and trace these attacks.  

As of today, there is no protection from WormGPT if it is used against you. Your best bet is to protect your system by busing antivirus software and being alert. In a sophisticated cyberattack using tools like Worm GPT, it is the operator who may become the weak link.  Meanwhile, companies like OpenAI and Google are taking steps to combat the abuse of large language models (LLMs).

As AI makes progress and becomes more advanced, expect more such harmful applications to surface.