ChatGPT has developed into an increasingly powerful tool for today's society. Its developers have created various security measures, data handling practices, and privacy policies to allow users to be protected while using it.
But it is powerful, and the danger lies with what can be done using the chatbot tool.
In the recent SecureWorld Financial Services virtual conference, Mike Britton and Dan Sheiber of Abnormal Security joined Adam Pendleton, CISO of LendingPoint, to discuss ChatGPT's impressive capabilities. Their opening keynote, "AI vs. AI: The Future of Cybersecurity in the ChatGPT World," is available to watch on demand.
If you hadn't heard already, ChatGPT, launched in November 2022 by OpenAI, is a chatbot that uses what's known as generative artificial intelligence (AI). It has the power to write and debug computer programs, mimic the style of celebrities, compose music and literature, translate and summarize text, and much more.
Sheiber, Head of Machine Learning for Abnormal, describes the tool as "a breakout example of AI" that "enables us to generate text that matches closely to the kind of text real people would generate." Sheiber also mentions how user-friendly the chatbot is, and how closely it matches the user's intent.
There's certainly truth in that. ChatGPT can increase the efficiency and productivity of many, aiding the processes of writing, task automation, training and onboarding, customer support, and even product research. Pendleton followed by mentioning that ChatGPT has "the ability to go and create really good, high-quality content based on a small amount of input."
The problem isn't that people may use this tool to make their lives easier, it's that people may use it to commit cybercrime, and do it way more efficiently and effectively. Users with bad intent are capable of developing and spreading malware, creating phishing emails, conducting social engineering attacks, and generating scams in seconds.
The bad guys getting better was not supposed to be on the agenda for 2023, and it's clear that there's some work to be done to try to mitigate the harm ChatGPT can allow users to cause. Some have raised the idea of getting rid of the tool altogether, while others have called for a moratorium on further development to allow for risks to be considered. Britton, CISO for Abnormal, disagrees, saying that the tactic of banning it isn't going to be helpful.
It's imperative that we keep up to date with these tools to ensure that we remain safe online. Be sure to register and tune in to SecureWorld's upcoming Remote Sessions webcasts to learn more on this and many other cybersecurity topics.
