OpenAI's release of ChatGPT last November stunned the world as it displayed the power of large language models (or LLM), a form of artificial intelligence known as generative AI that can churn out human-like content in just seconds.
Researchers have recently discovered a brand-new chatbot called WormGPT, an AI tool that is comparable to ChatGPT but has "no ethical boundaries or limitations," and it is providing hackers with a method to conduct large-scale attacks.
In a blog post, cyber security firm SlashNext informed readers that WormGPT is the generative AI Tool Cybercriminals Are Using to Launch Business Email Compromise attacks.
"WormGPT is an AI module based on the GPTJ language model, which was developed in 2021. It boasts a range of features, including unlimited character support, chat memory retention, and code formatting capabilities," the company explained in the blog post.
"WormGPT was allegedly trained on a diverse array of data sources, particularly concentrating on malware-related data."
According to The Independent, leading AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard have in-built protections to prevent people from misusing the technology for nefarious purposes; however, WormGPT is allegedly designed to facilitate criminal activities.
The experiment saw WormGPT produce an email that was "not only remarkably persuasive but also strategically cunning, showcasing its potential for sophisticated phishing attacks", the researchers claimed.
The anonymous developer of WormGPT posted screenshots to the hacker forum demonstrating the different tasks the AI bot is capable of, including creating emails for phishing attacks and generating code for malware attacks.
A recent report from the law enforcement agency Europol warned that all of the information ChatGPT provides is freely available on the internet, and the possibility to use the model to provide specific steps by asking contextual questions makes it significantly easier for malicious actors to better understand and subsequently carry out various types of crime.
"ChatGPT's ability to draft highly authentic texts on the basis of a user prompt makes it an extremely useful tool for phishing purposes," the report said.
