Tag: world | Page 4

According to Researchers, Google’s Bard Presents a Ransomware Threat / Digital Information World

July 15, 2023/in Internet Security

The introduction of AI is revolutionary in and of itself. But with such a rapidly evolving technology accessible to common folks, the chances of users exploiting it for unethical and fraudulent purposes are high. Google’s AI chatbot, Bard, is reported to willingly produce harmful phishing emails when given prompts. By tweaking the wording of those prompts in a specific manner, Bard even can generate basic ransomware code. Check Point, a cybersecurity firm, stated that Bard has gone beyond its competitor, ChatGPT when it comes to cybersecurity.

In light of recent worries regarding the potential misuse of OpenAI’s large-language model in generating harmful programs and threats, Check Point conducted a research proceeding with absolute caution. ChatGPT has enhanced security measures in comparison to Google’s Bard, which has yet to reach that level of security.

Check Point’s researchers gave both ChatGPT and Bard identical prompts. Upon querying for phishing emails were refused by both AI programs. But the findings showcased the difference between both AI programs — ChatGPT explicitly stated that engaging in such activities was considered fraudulent, Bard, on the other hand, claimed that it could not fulfill the request. Furthermore, results showed that ChatGPT continued to decline their request when prompted for a particular type of phishing email, while Bard began providing a well-written response.

However, both Bard and ChatGPT firmly refused when Check Point prompted them both to write a harmful ransomware code. They both declined no matter what, despite their attempts at tweaking the wording a bit by telling the AI programs that it was just for security purposes. But it didn’t take the researchers that long to get around Bard’s security measures. They instructed the AI model to describe common behaviours performed by ransomware, and results showed that Bard had spurted out an entire array of malicious activities in response.

Subsequently, the team went further to append the list of ransomware functions generated by the AI model. They asked it to provide a code to do certain tasks, but Bard’s security was foolproof and claimed it could not proceed with such a…

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The bored teenagers who can disrupt the world

June 24, 2023/in Internet Security

Most of us live a strange double life when it comes to hacking. We read headlines saying that our toaster might spy on us, that Russia is trying to hack into our social media, and that society as a whole could be under threat. At the same time, we install smart speakers in every room of our house, post more than ever to social media, and the worst we see of hacking attempts is the occasional email from a Nigerian ‘prince’. Trying to calibrate whether we should be terrified or unconcerned is a difficult task, so it’s refreshing when Scott Shapiro – a Yale law professor who also serves as the director of the university’s cybersecurity lab – says early in his book that neither is the correct approach.

The Mirai botnet wasn’t the work of a nation state but of three young men hoping to make a few quick bucks

If Fancy Bear Goes Phishing – the title a reference to the ‘Fancy Bear’ codename given to a Russian military hacking team – has any one message, it’s that hacking is not really about code, databases or infrastructure. It’s much more a story at the human level, about bored teenagers, under-employed twentysomethings, badly-drafted liability law and even social norms. As if to emphasise this, it sets out its case by describing five major hacks at different stages of the internet’s development.

The first was largely accidental, the work of the graduate student son of a senior National Security Agency official in the late 1980s.The second carried a tribute to a woman whom the hacker was trying to impress – the respected security researcher Sarah Gordon, who had jokingly asked for a virus to be dedicated to her, and who came to deeply regret that attempt at humour. The third hack, of Paris Hilton’s phone, was by a disaffected American teenager just looking for an outlet. Fancy Bear comes fourth, with Shapiro detailing how Hillary Clinton’s close adviser, John Podesta, and the Democratic National Committee were compromised by Russian state hackers. But it’s the fifth that is perhaps most striking: the creation of the Mirai botnet (named after an anime character) in 2016. This was a force that could have ‘taken down the internet’, which…

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How safe are your passwords? Make yours harder to hack on May 4, World Password Day

May 4, 2023/in Computer Security

World Password Day is Thursday, May 4, and although it’s not cause for celebration, you might want to mark the occasion by taking a look to see if you’re the target demographic.

Internet safety is a must, especially when it comes to keeping the safety of your personal accounts uncompromised or avoiding a company data breach.

Making sure your backup accounts are up to date and enabling multi-step security measures are all worthwhile efforts, but the most important step is to make sure you have a strong password. Many people don’t.

How safe is your password?

Are your online passwords safe? Celebrate World Password Day on May 4 by checking their strength.

Compared to data from 2021, 73% of the 200 most common passwords in 2022 remain the same. Eighty-three percent of the most common passwords used in 2022 can be cracked in less than a second, according to a study by NordPass, a password manager for businesses and consumers, that analyzed password data.

What are the most popular passwords?

In 2022, “guest” was the most common password in the United States, followed by “123456.”

The rest of the top 20 are as follows:

password
12345
a1b2c3
123456789
Password1
1234
abc123
12345678
qwerty
baseball
football
unknown
soccer
jordan23
iloveyou
monkey
shadow
g_czechout

If you don’t see any of your passwords used on this list, congratulations! But you’re not out of the woods just yet.

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What do I need to know about creating a safer password?

NordPass found that pop culture heavily influences the passwords people choose around the world, and the most common categories people pull from include fashion brands, swear words, sports, movies, foods, video games, artists and cars.