The emergence of ChatGPT may have a negative impact on the cybersecurity industry

Since its launch in November 2022, the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT has caused quite a stir due to its amazing performance.

Only two months after this automatic generation system was launched, monthly active users exceeded 100 million, a record. However, while its popularity continues to grow, the current discussion within the cybersecurity industry is whether this technology can help strengthen network security or whether it can be abused by those seeking to sow chaos.

Artificial intelligence software has a variety of cybersecurity use cases, including advanced data analysis, automating repetitive tasks and helping calculate risk scores. However, shortly after its debut, it quickly became apparent that the easy-to-use, freely available chatbot could also help hackers penetrate software and develop sophisticated phishing tools.

So, is ChatGPT a gift to the field of cybersecurity, or a "Pandora's box" of disaster? To find the answer, we must examine the pros, cons, and future.

What are the current dangers of ChatGPT?

Like any new technological advancement, there will always be some negative impacts, and ChatGPT is no exception.

Currently, the most concerning concern about chatbots is how easy it is to create very convincing phishing texts that could potentially be used in malicious emails. The lack of security measures makes it easy for threat actors to exploit the ChatGPT mechanism. For example, a malicious actor whose native language is not English can create a realistic, enticing message in seconds with near-perfect syntax.

Considering that Americans lost $40 billion to these scams in 2022, it’s easy to see why criminals would use ChatGPT to get a piece of this lucrative pie.

AI chatbots also raise questions about job security. Of course, current systems cannot replace trained professionals, but this technology can significantly reduce the number of logs and reports that employees need to review. This could impact the number of analysts a security operations center (SOC) needs to hire.

While the software does offer some advantages to cybersecurity businesses, many companies will adopt the technology simply because of its current popularity and try to use it to attract new customers. However, using this technology simply because of its popularity can lead to misuse. The company may not have adequate security measures in place, hindering progress in establishing an effective security program.

ChatGPT’s Cybersecurity Advantages

As with any new technology, disruption is an inevitable part, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Cybersecurity companies can add an extra layer of intelligence on top of manually sifting through audit logs or inspecting network packets to distinguish threats from false alerts.

Since ChatGPT is able to detect patterns and search within specific parameters, it can also be used for repetitive tasks and report generation. By using ChatGPT as a super research assistant, cybersecurity companies can more intelligently calculate risk scores for threats affecting their enterprises.

For example, Israel-based cybersecurity company Orca Security has begun leveraging ChatGPT’s superior analytical quality to mine its massive data and assist in issuing security alerts. By realizing early on how chatbots can improve their day-to-day operations, the company can also learn from the technology, which gives it a unique advantage in adapting their models to optimize how ChatGPT works for their business.

Additionally, the chatbot’s natural language processing capabilities make it very good at writing phishing emails, which means it is also ideal for creating complex security policies. These clear texts can be used on cybersecurity websites and training documents, saving valuable team members valuable time.

The future of ChatGPT

ChatGPT’s artificial intelligence technology is easily accessible in most parts of the world. So, like any other war, it will be a race to see which side can make better use of the technology.

Cybersecurity companies need to constantly combat malicious users who will find ways to use ChatGPT to cause harm that cybersecurity companies are not yet aware of. However, this fact has not deterred investors and the future of ChatGPT looks very bright. With Microsoft investing $10 billion in Open AI, it's clear that ChatGPT's knowledge and capabilities will continue to expand.

For future versions of this technology, software developers need to be aware of its lack of security measures, and the devil is in the details.

ChatGPT may not solve this problem to a great extent. But it could have mechanisms in place to assess user habits and focus on those who use obvious prompts—such as “write me a phishing email thinking I’m someone’s boss”—or attempt to verify an individual’s identity.

Open AI can even work with researchers, training their datasets, to assess when their text has been used in attacks elsewhere.

However, all these ideas come with their own set of problems, including rising costs and data protection concerns.

To address the current phishing epidemic, more people need to be educated and develop security awareness to recognize these attacks. The industry needs more investment from mobile phone operators and email providers to avoid attacks.

Conclusion

Many products and services will originate from ChatGPT, bringing huge value and helping to protect companies that are changing the world. But on the other hand, hackers will also create a host of new tools that will allow them to attack more targets in new ways and in less time.

Artificial intelligence chatbots are here to stay, and ChatGPT is also facing fierce competition. Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing both hope to compete with Open AI’s products. The bottom line, though, is that cybersecurity companies should view ChatGPT as both an offensive and defensive strategy, rather than just as an opportunity to generate more revenue.

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