In the near future one hacker may be able to unleash 20 zero-day attacks on different systems across the world all at once. Polymorphic malware could rampage across a codebase, using a bespoke generative AI system to rewrite itself as it learns and adapts. Armies of script kiddies could use purpose-built LLMs to unleash a torrent of malicious code at the push of a button. Case in point: as of this writing, an AI system is sitting at the top of several leaderboards on HackerOne--an enterprise bug bounty system. The AI is XBOW, a system aimed at whitehat pentesters that "autonomously finds and exploits vulnerabilities in 75 percent of web benchmarks," according to the company's website.

When the presenters take the stage, their attitude is briskly professional but energetic. I'm expecting a technical dive into standard AI tools--something that gives an up-close look at how ChatGPT and its rivals are manipulated for dirty deeds. Sherri Davidoff, Founder and CEO of LMG Security, reinforces this belief with her opener about software vulnerabilities and exploits. But then Matt Durrin, Director of Training and Research at LMG Security, drops an unexpected phrase: "Evil AI." "What if hackers can use their evil AI tools that don't have guardrails to find vulnerabilities before we have a chance to fix them?" "[We're] going to show you examples." And not just screenshots, though as the presentation continues, plenty of those illustrate the points made by the LMG Security team.

If you've been creeping around underground tech forums lately, you might have seen advertisements for a new program called WormGPT. The program is an AI-powered tool for cybercriminals to automate the creation of personalized phishing emails; although it sounds a bit like ChatGPT, WormGPT is not your friendly neighborhood AI. ChatGPT launched in November 2022 and, since then, generative AI has taken the world by storm. But few consider how its sudden rise will shape the future of cybersecurity. In 2024, generative AI is poised to facilitate new kinds of transnational--and translingual--cybercrime.

Check to see if your name, number, or other personal data is online without you even knowing - plus how to remove it. The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) in our daily lives has indisputably been a boon, remolding industries and redefining the paradigms of our routines. However, the rosy picture fades when one steps into the shadows and discerns the malignant uses AI is being tailored for. The emergence of AI tools such as WormGPT and FraudGPT, specifically designed for cybercrime, is a stark reminder of this reality. The odious advent of WormGPT, camouflaged in the guise of cutting-edge technology, has reverberated through the murky corridors of the cyber underworld.

Just months after OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot upended the startup economy, cybercriminals and hackers are claiming to have created their own versions of the text-generating technology. The systems could, theoretically at least, supercharge criminals' ability to write malware or phishing emails that trick people into handing over their login information. Since the start of July, criminals posting on dark-web forums and marketplaces have been touting two large language models (LLMs) they say they've produced. The systems, which are said to mimic the functionalities of ChatGPT and Google's Bard, generate text to answer the questions or prompts users enter. But unlike the LLMs made by legitimate companies, these chatbots are marketed for illegal activities.