Generative AI | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Microsoft on Thursday unmasked four of the individuals that it said were behind an Azure Abuse Enterprise scheme that involves leveraging unauthorized access to generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) services in order to produce offensive and harmful content. The campaign, called LLMjacking, has targeted various AI offerings, including Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service. The tech giant is tracking the cybercrime network as Storm-2139. The individuals named are - Arian Yadegarnia aka "Fiz" of Iran, Alan Krysiak aka "Drago" of United Kingdom, Ricky Yuen aka "cg-dot" of Hong Kong, China, and Phát Phùng Tấn aka "Asakuri" of Vietnam "Members of Storm-2139 exploited exposed customer credentials scraped from public sources to unlawfully access accounts with certain generative AI services," Steven Masada, assistant general counsel for Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit (DCU), said . "They then altered the capabilities of ...

What do identity risks, data security risks and third-party risks all have in common? They are all made much worse by SaaS sprawl. Every new SaaS account adds a new identity to secure, a new place where sensitive data can end up, and a new source of third party risk. Learn how you can protect this sprawling attack surface in 2025. What do identity risks, data security risks and third-party risks all have in common? They are all made much worse by SaaS sprawl. Every new SaaS account adds a new identity to secure, a new place where sensitive data can end up, and a new source of third-party risk. And, this growing attack surface, much of which is unknown or unmanaged in most orgs, has become an attractive target for attackers. So, why should you prioritize securing your SaaS attack surface in 2025? Here are 4 reasons. ‍ 1. Modern work runs on SaaS. When's the last time you used something other than a cloud-based app to do your work? Can't remember? You're not alone.  Outside of ...

Are you tired of dealing with outdated security tools that never seem to give you the full picture? You're not alone. Many organizations struggle with piecing together scattered information, leaving your apps vulnerable to modern threats. That's why we're excited to introduce a smarter, unified approach: Application Security Posture Management (ASPM). ASPM brings together the best of both worlds by connecting your code insights with real-time runtime data. This means you get a clear, holistic view of your application's security. Instead of reacting to threats, ASPM helps you prevent them. Imagine reducing costly retrofits and emergency patches with a proactive, shift-left strategy—saving you time, money, and stress. Join Amir Kaushansky, Director of Product Management at Palo Alto Networks, as he walks you through how ASPM is changing the game. In this free webinar , you'll learn to: Close the Security Gaps: Understand why traditional AppSec tools fall short and how ASPM fills ...

Microsoft has revealed that it's pursuing legal action against a "foreign-based threat–actor group" for operating a hacking-as-a-service infrastructure to intentionally get around the safety controls of its generative artificial intelligence (AI) services and produce offensive and harmful content. The tech giant's Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) said it has observed the threat actors "develop sophisticated software that exploited exposed customer credentials scraped from public websites," and "sought to identify and unlawfully access accounts with certain generative AI services and purposely alter the capabilities of those services." The adversaries then used these services, such as Azure OpenAI Service, and monetized the access by selling them to other malicious actors, providing them with detailed instructions as to how to use these custom tools to generate harmful content. Microsoft said it discovered the activity in July 2024. The Windows maker...

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday leveled sanctions against two entities in Iran and Russia for their attempts to interfere with the November 2024 presidential election. The federal agency said the entities – a subordinate organization of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a Moscow-based affiliate of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) – sought to influence the electoral outcome and divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns. "As affiliates of the IRGC and GRU, these actors aimed to stoke socio-political tensions and influence the U.S. electorate during the 2024 U.S. election," it noted in a press release. In August 2024, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) jointly accused Iran of attempting to undermine democratic processes, including b...

Cybersecurity researchers have found that it's possible to use large language models (LLMs) to generate new variants of malicious JavaScript code at scale in a manner that can better evade detection. "Although LLMs struggle to create malware from scratch, criminals can easily use them to rewrite or obfuscate existing malware, making it harder to detect," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researchers said in a new analysis. "Criminals can prompt LLMs to perform transformations that are much more natural-looking, which makes detecting this malware more challenging." With enough transformations over time, the approach could have the advantage of degrading the performance of malware classification systems, tricking them into believing that a piece of nefarious code is actually benign. While LLM providers have increasingly enforced security guardrails to prevent them from going off the rails and producing unintended output, bad actors have advertised tools like WormGPT...

Sometimes, it turns out that the answers we struggled so hard to find were sitting right in front of us for so long that we somehow overlooked them. When the Department of Homeland Security, through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in coordination with the FBI, issues a cybersecurity warning and prescribes specific action, it's a pretty good idea to at least read the joint advisory. In their advisory AA24-242A, DHS/CISA and the FBI told the entire cybercriminal-stopping world that to stop ransomware attacks, organizations needed to implement phishing-resistant MFA and ditch SMS-based OTP MFA.  The Best Advice I Never Followed  This year, we have experienced an astonishing surge in ransomware payments, with the average payment increasing by a staggering 500%. Per the "State of Ransomware 2024" report from cybersecurity leader Sophos, the average ransom has jumped by 5X reaching $2 million from $400,000 last year. Even more troubling, RISK &...

Since its emergence, Generative AI has revolutionized enterprise productivity. GenAI tools enable faster and more effective software development, financial analysis, business planning, and customer engagement. However, this business agility comes with significant risks, particularly the potential for sensitive data leakage. As organizations attempt to balance productivity gains with security concerns, many have been forced to choose between unrestricted GenAI usage to banning it altogether. A new e-guide by LayerX titled 5 Actionable Measures to Prevent Data Leakage Through Generative AI Tools is designed to help organizations navigate the challenges of GenAI usage in the workplace. The guide offers practical steps for security managers to protect sensitive corporate data while still reaping the productivity benefits of GenAI tools like ChatGPT. This approach is intended to allow companies to strike the right balance between innovation and security. Why Worry About ChatGPT? The e...

After a good year of sustained exuberance, the hangover is finally here. It's a gentle one (for now), as the market corrects the share price of the major players (like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Google), while other players reassess the market and adjust priorities. Gartner calls it the trough of disillusionment , when interest wanes and implementations fail to deliver the promised breakthroughs. Producers of the technology shake out or fail. Investment continues only if the surviving providers improve their products to the satisfaction of early adopters.  Let's be clear, this was always going to be the case: the post-human revolution promised by the AI cheerleaders was never a realistic goal, and the incredible excitement triggered by the early LLMs was not based on market success.  AI is here to stay  What's next for AI then? Well, if it follows the Gartner hype cycle, the deep crash is followed by the slope of enlightenment where the maturing technology regains its foo...

"Peace is the virtue of civilization. War is its crime. Yet it is often in the furnace of war that the sharpest tools of peace are forged." - Victor Hugo. In 1971, an unsettling message started appearing on several computers that comprised ARPANET, the precursor to what we now know as the Internet. The message, which read "I'm the Creeper: catch me if you can." was the output of a program named Creeper, which was developed by the famous programmer Bob Thomas while he worked at BBN Technologies. While Thomas's intentions were not malicious, the Creeper program represents the advent of what we now call a computer virus. The appearance of Creeper on ARPANET set the stage for the emergence of the first Antivirus software. While unconfirmed, it is believed that Ray Thomlinson, famously known for inventing email, developed Reaper, a program designed to remove Creeper from Infected Machines. The development of this tool used to defensively chase down and remove ...

Event Overview The " AI Leaders Spill Their Secrets " webinar, hosted by Sigma Computing, featured prominent AI experts sharing their experiences and strategies for success in the AI industry. The panel included Michael Ward from Sardine, Damon Bryan from Hyperfinity, and Stephen Hillian from Astronomer, moderated by Zalak Trivedi, Sigma Computing's Product Manager. Key Speakers and Their Backgrounds 1. Michael Ward Senior Risk Data Analyst at Sardine. Over 25 years of experience in software engineering. Focuses on data science, analytics, and machine learning to prevent fraud and money laundering. 2. Damon Bryan Co-founder and CTO at Hyperfinity. Specializes in decision intelligence software for retailers and brands. Background in data science, AI, and analytics, transitioning from consultancy to a full-fledged software company. 3. Stephen Hillion SVP of Data and AI at Astronomer. Manages data science teams and focuses on the development and scaling of...

The cybersecurity threat landscape has witnessed a dramatic and alarming rise in the average ransomware payment, an increase exceeding 500%. Sophos, a global leader in cybersecurity, revealed in its annual "State of Ransomware 2024" report that the average ransom payment has increased 500% in the last year with organizations that paid a ransom reporting an average payment of $2 million, up from $400,000 in 2023. Separately, RISK & INSURANCE, a leading media source for the insurance industry reported recently that in 2023 the median ransom demand soared to $20 million in 2023 from $1.4 million in 2022, and payment skyrocketed to $6.5 million in 2023 from $335,000 in 2022, much more than 500%. This shocking surge is a testament to the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks and the significant vulnerabilities inherent in outdated security methods. The most significant factor contributing to this trend is a broad reliance on twenty-year-old, legacy Multi-Factor Authentic...

Apple has announced the launch of a "groundbreaking cloud intelligence system" called Private Cloud Compute (PCC) that's designed for processing artificial intelligence (AI) tasks in a privacy-preserving manner in the cloud. The tech giant described PCC as the "most advanced security architecture ever deployed for cloud AI compute at scale." PCC coincides with the arrival of new generative AI (GenAI) features – collectively dubbed Apple Intelligence , or AI for short – that the iPhone maker unveiled in its next generation of software, including iOS 18 , iPadOS 18 , and macOS Sequoia . All of the Apple Intelligence features, both the ones that run on-device and those that rely on PCC, leverage in-house generative models trained on "licensed data, including data selected to enhance specific features, as well as publicly available data collected by our web-crawler, AppleBot." With PCC, the idea is to essentially offload complex requests that requir...