ChatGPT accounts hacked, data of over 1 lakh compromised; India tops list: Report

ChatGPT is turning out to be a revolutionary artificial intelligence tool that evoked conservations around the future of technology. But, time and again political and technology leaders of the world have cautioned against the potential misuse of generative AI technologies. The fears are turning out to be true as a report by Group-IB has revealed that the data of around 1,00,000 individuals was compromised after their ChatGPT accounts were hacked. Notably, India witnessed the highest number of compromises, the report said.

Group-IB is a Singapore-based cyber technology company that claimed to have identified more than 1,00,000 stealer-infected devices in which ChatGPT credentials were saved. The Threat Intelligence Unit of the Group-IB has revealed that India (12,632), Pakistan (9,217), and Brazil (6,531) were the top countries where users were impacted by the cyber attack.

Data traded on dark web

Moreover, these stolen credentials were traded on dark web marketplaces with the most number of accounts traded coming from the Asia-Pacific region.

Watch: ChatGPT accounts hacked, data of over 1 lakh compromised | Mint Primer | Mint

The revelations have substantiated the doubts of many technology experts including Elon Musk who called for the regulation of ChatGPT-like AI technology platforms. Recently, the European Union has also introduced the AI Act which calls for the regulation of artificial intelligence platforms.

Time Magazine made a revelation on the AI Act and reported that companies like ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google “lobbied” with the officials of the EU for a less stringent AI regulatory regime in the AI Act.

Globally, companies and individuals are using ChatGPT-like generative AI platforms to make themselves more productive. While giving prompts to the AI platform, people might share some sensitive data with ChatGPT and that makes it valuable. Several companies have barred their employees to use the ChatGPT, citing similar reasons.