ChatGPT-aided ransomware in China results in four arrests as AI raises cybersecurity concerns

  • The case is the first of its kind in China, where OpenAI’s popular chatbot is not officially available and Beijing has been cracking down on foreign AI
  • Generative AI has raised a number of concerns around cybersecurity and intellectual property this year, forcing regulators to consider ways to respond

Coco Fengin Beijing
A programmer shows an example of decrypting source code in Taipei on May 13, 2017. Photo: EPA
Four cyber attackers in China have been arrested for developing ransomware with the help of ChatGPT, the first such case in the country involving the popular chatbot that is not officially available locally.

The attack was first reported by an unidentified company in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, which had its systems blocked by ransomware, according to a Thursday report by state-run Xinhua News Agency. The hackers demanded 20,000 Tether, a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged one-to-one to the US dollar, to restore access.

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