OpenAI mentioned a gaggle with obvious ties to China tried to hold out a phishing assault on its workers, reigniting considerations that unhealthy actors in Beijing need to steal delicate info from high US synthetic intelligence corporations.
The AI startup mentioned Wednesday {that a} suspected China-based group referred to as SweetSpecter posed as a consumer of OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT earlier this yr and despatched buyer help emails to workers. The emails included malware attachments that, if opened, would have allowed SweetSpecter to take screenshots and exfiltrate knowledge, OpenAI mentioned, however the try was unsuccessful.
“OpenAI’s security team contacted employees who were believed to have been targeted in this spear phishing campaign and found that existing security controls prevented the emails from ever reaching their corporate emails,” OpenAI mentioned.
The disclosure highlights the potential cybersecurity dangers for main AI corporations because the US and China are locked in a high-stakes battle for synthetic intelligence supremacy. In March, for instance, a former Google engineer was charged with stealing AI commerce secrets and techniques for a Chinese language agency.
China’s authorities has repeatedly denied allegations by the US that organizations throughout the nation perpetrate cyberattacks, accusing exterior events of organizing smear campaigns.
OpenAI revealed the tried phishing assault as a part of its newest risk intelligence report, outlining its efforts to fight affect operations world wide. Within the report, OpenAI mentioned it took down accounts from teams with hyperlinks to Iran and China that used AI for coding help, conducting analysis and different duties.
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