With generative artificial intelligence (AI) becoming all the rage, it's not surprising that malicious actors have repurposed the technology to accelerate cybercrime.

OpenAI's ChatGPT has opened a new BEC attack vector. ChatGPT, a sophisticated AI model, generates human-like text from input. Such technology allows cybercriminals to automate the creation of highly convincing, personalised fake emails, increasing attack success.

SlashNext found that underground forums advertise WormGPT, a new generative AI cybercrime tool, as a way for adversaries to launch sophisticated phishing and business email compromise (BEC) attacks.

“Our team recently gained access to a tool known as “WormGPT” through a prominent online forum that’s often associated with cybercrime. This tool presents itself as a blackhat alternative to GPT models, designed specifically for malicious activities”, Security Researcher Daniel Kelley said.

He said, WormGPT, developed in 2021, is an AI module based on the GPTJ language model. It supports unlimited characters, chat memory, and code formatting.

Kelly said, WormGPT was reportedly trained on a variety of data sources, including malware-related data. The tool's author keeps the training datasets private.

“We conducted tests focusing on BEC attacks to comprehensively assess the potential dangers associated with WormGPT. In one experiment, we instructed WormGPT to generate an email intended to pressure an unsuspecting account manager into paying a fraudulent invoice,” Kelly said.

Kelly said Unsettling results. WormGPT's persuasive and cunning email demonstrated its potential for sophisticated phishing and BEC attacks.

He disclosed it's like ChatGPT but without ethics. This experiment shows that even novice cybercriminals are at risk from generative AI technologies like WormGPT.

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