Iranian hackers are weaponising ChatGPT and Gemini for cyberattacks on the US and Israel: Report

Iranian hackers are using Western AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini in order to turbocharge the country's cyber operations against the US and Israel, according to a new report by the Financial Times. Reportedly, the hackers are turning to AI to develop malware, craft phishing messages in perfect Hebrew and Arabic, and build fake online personas capable of targeting victims at a much larger scale than before.

Reportedly, cybersecurity analysts have observed signs that Iranian threat actors are using AI tools throughout various stages of their operations.

"We are seeing signs that they are using AI prompts the entire way," a cybersecurity analyst told the publication. "It has absolutely helped them raise their game."

How is Iran using ChatGPT and Gemini?

Reportedly, Iran's use of AI tools has helped keep up the pressure on the US and Israel during the ceasefire by scanning the internet for enemy vulnerabilities while safeguarding Iran's own weaknesses

The UAE has also previously said it was facing more than half a billion cyberattacks every day, abetted by ChatGPT. Meanwhile, Israeli citizens have also reported being spammed with relentless waves of phishing texts and emails, with some messages even explicitly inviting targets to collaborate with Iranian intelligence.

The report notes that while Iranian hackers have experimented with AI for years, the increasingly powerful generative AI models have made them more threatening.

“This is all being done automatically,” Gil Messing at Israeli cyber security firm Check Point told FT, “They are using every tool they can in order to expedite their efforts through AI.”

The attackers reportedly rely on convincing unwitting targets to click on dodgy links. However, the process is said to take weeks of chatting with targets under a fake identity in order to buidl trust and coax them in to making a mistake..

“If you are from Tehran and trying to pretend to be the HR person at a defence contractor, it is a heavy lift to talk to someone for a month and come off as a person living in California,” Check Point told the publication.

Shortly before the conflict began in late February, Google spotted state-backed group APT42 using the tech giant’s Gemini model to do just that.

Western companies have tried their best to keep the Iranians out, but spotting new accounts quickly becomes a game of whack-a-mole.

In a statement to FT, OpenAI said, “Where we identify harmful activity, we take enforcement action, including disabling accounts, terminating access, or limiting capabilities being abused.”

The report further added that the Iranian efforts to use AI into its military are not just limited to cyber operations. An analysis of around 300 Iranian military journal articles published over the past five years reportedly found research into using artificial intelligence for drone guidance, battlefield decision-making, electromagnetic warfare and underwater targeting.

Experts cited by the publication said Iran views AI as a strategic technology that could help offset some of the limitations imposed by international sanctions.

The report also added that US' use AI in its attack against Iran also helped the country go through targets at a much higher pace than before. US is said to have relied on Palantir's Maven Smart System and Anthropic's Claude model to assist with intelligence analysis and military planning.