Microsoft says US rivals are beginning to use generative AI in offensive cyber ops

Microsoft said that U.S. adversaries — chiefly Iran and North Korea and to a lesser extent Russia and China — are beginning to use its generative artificial intelligence to mount or organize offensive cyber operations.

The technology giant and business partner OpenAI said they had jointly detected and disrupted the malicious cyber actors› use of their AI technologies — shutting down their accounts.

In a blog post yesterday [Macau time], Microsoft said the techniques employed were “early-stage” and neither “particularly novel or unique” but it was important to expose them publicly as U.S. adversaries leverage large-language models to expand their ability to breach networks and conduct influence operations.

Cybersecurity firms have long used machine-learning on defense, principally to detect anomalous behavior in networks. But criminals and offensive hackers use it as well, and the introduction of large-language models led by OpenAI’s ChatGPT upped that game of cat-and-mouse.

Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, and the announcement coincided with its release of a report noting that generative AI is expected to enhance malicious social engineering, leading to more sophisticated deepfakes and voice cloning .

A threat to democracy in a year where over 50 countries will conduct elections, magnifying disinformation and already occurring.