Polymer

Download free DLP for AI whitepaper

Summary

  • Next-level phishing: AI-crafted emails mimic real colleagues, making phishing harder to detect.
  • AI-enhanced malware: Tools like FraudGPT create malware that adapts to avoid detection.
  • Prompt injection attacks: Manipulating AI models with harmful inputs, leading to data theft and system compromise.
  • Credentials compromise: Stolen login details give attackers access to sensitive info and fuel phishing schemes.

It turns out generative AI isn’t just a game changer for businesses—it’s also proving to be a powerful tool for cybercriminals. While companies are leveraging AI to drive innovation and improve efficiency, bad actors are using the same tech to launch increasingly sophisticated attacks.

From phishing emails that mimic trusted contacts almost perfectly to malware that adapts and avoids detection, we’re entering a new era of cyber threats that are not only harder to detect but also far more damaging.

In this post, we’ll explore four key types of generative AI-powered attacks that every organization should have on their radar. Whether it’s credential theft or complex prompt injections, understanding these evolving threats is crucial to staying one step ahead. Here’s what you need to watch out for.

Next-level phishing 

Generative AI is shaking up the cybersecurity landscape, and WormGPT is leading the charge. This advanced tool is taking phishing and business email compromise (BEC) attacks to a whole new worrying level.

To understand the impact, it’s important to know what phishing entails: cybercriminals impersonate legitimate entities to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers. BEC takes this a step further by directly targeting organizations. In these cases, attackers pose as trusted partners or executives, skillfully manipulating employees into transferring funds or sharing confidential data.

WormGPT utilizes cutting-edge natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to craft emails that eerily mirror the tone and style of real colleagues. This level of sophistication makes AI spoofing alarmingly easy. 

The tool can generate and send massive volumes of these convincing emails, casting a wide net with remarkable accuracy. As a result, employees may encounter phishing attempts that are not only persuasive but also tailored to their specific roles and responsibilities.

Despite efforts to educate employees through phishing training programs, many organizations find that traditional training methods struggle to keep pace with the advanced tactics employed by tools like WormGPT. 

While training can raise awareness of common signs of phishing, it often falls short when faced with the high level of craftsmanship exhibited in these AI-generated emails. Employees may be conditioned to look for obvious red flags, but WormGPT’s ability to produce messages that closely resemble legitimate communications makes it increasingly difficult for even the most vigilant individuals to spot the deception.

AI-enhanced malware 

A new and alarming threat has emerged on the cyber horizon: FraudGPT. This malicious AI tool is being marketed on the dark web, promising to empower cybercriminals by enabling them to instantly create phishing websites and sophisticated malware with minimal effort. 

The most troubling aspect of FraudGPT is its capacity to equip individuals lacking technical expertise with the tools needed to generate highly advanced polymorphic malware. This type of malware can alter its code and behavior dynamically, making it exceedingly challenging for traditional security measures to detect and neutralize.

The implications of FraudGPT’s capabilities are severe and far-reaching. Attackers can craft incredibly convincing phishing emails that are precisely tailored to exploit the vulnerabilities of their targets. 

These emails not only mimic legitimate correspondence but also include enticing links designed to lure unsuspecting recipients into traps that compromise their sensitive information or install harmful software on their devices. The ease with which FraudGPT allows for the creation of such sophisticated attacks dramatically lowers the barrier to entry for cybercriminals, increasing the overall volume of attacks in the wild.

Moreover, the advanced nature of the malware produced by FraudGPT poses significant risks even to organizations with robust security protocols. The evolving sophistication of these attacks means that businesses, regardless of how fortified their defenses may be, are at risk if even one employee falls prey to the deception. After all, a single successful phishing attempt can lead to catastrophic consequences,

Prompt injection attacks 

A prompt injection is a sneaky vulnerability that lets attackers mess with trusted AI models, like chatbots, using cleverly crafted inputs.

There are two main types:

  1. Direct prompt Injection: This happens when attackers send specific commands directly to the AI through the input chat function. For example, they might tell the AI to ignore its usual rules and do something harmful instead. While you’d hope that ChatGPT and the like would be immune to these kinds of attacks, it’s not the case. In fact, in the last year, numerous avenues for prompt injections have been discovered by security researchers in the last year—with new vulnerabilities being discovered weekly. 
  2. Indirect prompt Injection: This attack happens when attackers sneak harmful prompts into the data that the AI reads, such as hiding malicious instructions in a web page, PDF or other document. When the AI processes that info, it will follow the hidden and harmful commands without realizing it.

With either type of injection, the ramifications are serious. A successful prompt injection attack can lead to serious issues like data theft, unauthorized access to corporate systems, and even unsafe outputs that lead to misinformation. 

Credentials compromise 

Just like any other SaaS, generative AI tools rely on login credentials—usernames, passwords, and possibly multi-factor authentication—to secure access. But when those credentials fall into the wrong hands, the consequences can be significant.

  • Sensitive data access: If an attacker manages to steal login credentials, they gain unrestricted access to everything the user has input into the generative AI tool. This could include sensitive company data, intellectual property, confidential business strategies, personal information, or even private messages if you don’t have generative AI data protection in place. 
  • Leveraging data for phishing: The stolen data can serve as a goldmine for attackers looking to cause further damage. With detailed information at their disposal, they can craft highly convincing phishing emails, pretending to be someone within the organization or a trusted third-party. These emails might look legitimate enough to trick other employees into sharing even more sensitive information or unknowingly granting access to other systems. Attackers could also use the compromised data as the foundation for fraudulent schemes, impersonating individuals or businesses to siphon money, manipulate financial transactions, or spread disinformation.
  • Broader security risks: Credential theft doesn’t just stop at the AI tool. If users tend to reuse passwords across platforms (which is common), attackers may use these credentials to access other critical systems, multiplying the damage. In some cases, gaining access to a generative AI tool might also provide insights into an organization’s workflows, tools, or internal communications, allowing attackers to map out future attacks.

Safeguarding your organization 

All of these attacks have one thing in common. They rely on unwitting employees to fall for a phishing scam, click on a malicious link, or use simple passwords. 

But with attacks becoming more sophisticated, traditional security awareness training programs won’t cut it. You need to invest in a tool that brings human risk management directly into your employees workflows, backed up with smart data loss prevention (DLP) for good measure. 


Curious to learn more? Read our whitepaper to discover how to secure your organization whilst using LLMs.

Polymer is a human-centric data loss prevention (DLP) platform that holistically reduces the risk of data exposure in your SaaS apps and AI tools. In addition to automatically detecting and remediating violations, Polymer coaches your employees to become better data stewards. Try Polymer for free.

SHARE

Get Polymer blog posts delivered to your inbox.