Researchers at Palo Alto Networks’s Unit 42 are monitoring phishing assaults exploiting curiosity in generative AI instruments. The researchers noticed spikes in suspicious area registrations over the previous yr that correlated with present information.
“The area registration pattern is clearly correlated to the fluctuating recognition of the subject, with knowledge peaks aligning with main ChatGPT milestones,” the researchers write.
“Following Microsoft’s announcement of ChatGPT integration with Bing on Feb. 7, 2023, we noticed a surge within the variety of new domains the place lots of them include each logos (e.g., msftchatgpt[.]com). One other important spike occurred on March 14, 2023, coinciding with the official launch of GPT-4. The following peak corresponds to the announcement of recent GPTs on Nov. 6, 2023, throughout which quite a few associated domains, like gptsotre[.]com, had been registered.”
The time period “gpt” is utilized by nearly all of these websites, since ChatGPT is among the most well-known generative AI instruments.
“Probably the most abused key phrase is gpt, whose suspicious price is 76%,” the researchers clarify. “This phrase, although not solely associated to the GenAI matter, demonstrates a big correlation with it. After filtering out domains unrelated to GenAI, this time period was not often used for area creation previous to 2023, whereas its recognition surged together with the GenAI pattern.”
The researchers additionally noticed many suspicious domains themed round tutorials for immediate engineering.
“As curiosity in GenAI grows and extra individuals search to grow to be consultants in its use, immediate engineering emerges as a sizzling matter,” Unit 42 says. “We additionally noticed that ‘immediate’ steadily coexists with ‘gpt’ and ‘engineering’ in domains. Our findings counsel that individuals should train warning when visiting web sites providing tutorials on immediate engineering, as a big proportion of them are shady.”
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Unit 42 has the story.