‘ChatGPT is the new crypto’: Meta warns hackers are exploiting interest in the AI chatbot

Hackers have seized on worldwide interest in the artificial intelligence-powered tool ChatGPT in an effort to break into people’s devices, Facebook owner Meta revealed in a security report Wednesday, equating the phenomenon to the surge in cryptocurrency scams.

Meta’s security team said it found hackers software that claimed to offer ChatGPT-based tools via browser extensions and online app stores that contained malware designed to give hackers access to people’s devices.

“From a bad actor’s perspective, ChatGPT is the new crypto,” Guy Rosen, Meta’s chief information security officer, told reporters, meaning scammers have quickly moved to exploit interest in the technology.

Since March alone, the company said it had blocked the sharing of more than 1,000 malicious web addresses that claimed to be linked to ChatGPT or related tools.

Some of the tools include working ChatGPT features but also contain malicious code to infect users’ devices.

Meta said it had “investigated and taken action against malware strains taking advantage of people’s interest in OpenAI’s ChatGPT to trick them into installing malware pretending to provide AI functionality.”

“Our research and that of security researchers has shown time and again that malware operators, just like spammers, try to latch onto hot-button issues and popular topics to get people’s attention,” it said.

“With an ultimate goal to trick people into clicking on malicious links or downloading malicious software, the latest wave of malware campaigns have taken notice of generative AI tools becoming popular.”