Four cybercriminals in China were arrested for developing and using ChatGPT ransomware, marking the first such case in the country. And this despite the fact that the popular chatbot from OpenAI is not officially available in China, and Beijing is tightening measures against foreign AI.
The attack was first reported by a little-known Hangzhou company whose systems were blocked by ransomware, according to state news agency Xinhua. The hackers demanded 20,000 Tether stablecoins, equivalent to $20,000, to restore access. This was probably not the only such case.
In late November, police arrested two suspects in Beijing and two more in Inner Mongolia. They admitted to “writing versions of ransomware, optimizing the program using ChatGPT, conducting vulnerability scans, gaining access through infiltration, deploying ransomware, and engaging in extortion,” the report said. The report does not say whether the use of ChatGPT was part of the allegations. It is in a legal gray area in China as Beijing seeks to restrict access to foreign generative artificial intelligence products.
After OpenAI unveiled its chatbot in late 2022, sparking an arms race among tech giants, ChatGPT and similar products caught the interest of Chinese users. At the same time, OpenAI blocked the chatbot in China, Hong Kong and a number of other countries, such as Russia, North Korea and Iran. However, by using VPNs and a phone number from a supported region, you can bypass the block.
Court cases related to generative AI have become more frequent given the popularity of the technology. Including in China. In February, Beijing police warned that ChatGPT could "commit crimes and spread rumors." In May, police in the northwestern province of Gansu detained a man who allegedly used ChatGPT to create a fake news story about a train crash and spread it online, receiving more than 15,000 clicks on the news link. In August, Hong Kong police arrested six people as part of a crackdown on a fraud syndicate that used deepfake to create fake images of identification documents used in loan scams targeting banks and lenders.
The attack was first reported by a little-known Hangzhou company whose systems were blocked by ransomware, according to state news agency Xinhua. The hackers demanded 20,000 Tether stablecoins, equivalent to $20,000, to restore access. This was probably not the only such case.
In late November, police arrested two suspects in Beijing and two more in Inner Mongolia. They admitted to “writing versions of ransomware, optimizing the program using ChatGPT, conducting vulnerability scans, gaining access through infiltration, deploying ransomware, and engaging in extortion,” the report said. The report does not say whether the use of ChatGPT was part of the allegations. It is in a legal gray area in China as Beijing seeks to restrict access to foreign generative artificial intelligence products.
After OpenAI unveiled its chatbot in late 2022, sparking an arms race among tech giants, ChatGPT and similar products caught the interest of Chinese users. At the same time, OpenAI blocked the chatbot in China, Hong Kong and a number of other countries, such as Russia, North Korea and Iran. However, by using VPNs and a phone number from a supported region, you can bypass the block.
Court cases related to generative AI have become more frequent given the popularity of the technology. Including in China. In February, Beijing police warned that ChatGPT could "commit crimes and spread rumors." In May, police in the northwestern province of Gansu detained a man who allegedly used ChatGPT to create a fake news story about a train crash and spread it online, receiving more than 15,000 clicks on the news link. In August, Hong Kong police arrested six people as part of a crackdown on a fraud syndicate that used deepfake to create fake images of identification documents used in loan scams targeting banks and lenders.
