ARTICLE by
STEVE MBEGO & KEVIN Namunwa
How ChatGPT Will Influence Cybersecurity
The roll out of ChatGPT in the hands of the public could change the established rules of the cybersecurity world. The move comes a few months after OpenAI released ChatGPT3 – one of the most powerful AI models to date. ChatGPT-3 can explain complex scientific concepts better than many teachers, write music and generate almost any text based on the user’s request. ChatGPT-3 is primarily an AI language model that creates convincing texts which are difficult to distinguish from those written by humans. Hence, cybercriminals are already trying to apply this technology to spearphishing attacks. Previously, the main hurdle stopping them from mass spearphishing campaigns was that it is quite expensive to write each targeted email. ChatGPT is set to drastically alter the balance of power, because it might allow attackers
to generate persuasive and personalised phishing e-mails on an industrial scale. It can even stylise correspondence, creating convincing fake e-mails seemingly from one employee to another. Unfortunately, this means that the number of successful phishing attacks may grow. Many users have already found that ChatGPT can generate code, but unfortunately this includes the malicious type. Creating a simple infostealer will be possible without having any programming skills at all. However, straight-arrow users have nothing to fear. If code written by a bot is used, security solutions will detect and neutralise it as quickly as it does with all human-created malware. While some analysts voice concern that ChatGPT can even create unique malware for each particular victim, these samples would still
www.cioafrica.co | FEBRUARY 2023 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵
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