ChatGPTaided ransomware in China results in four arrests as AI raises cybersecurity concerns South China Morning Post

pThe attack was first reported by an unidentified company in Hangzhou capital of eastern Zhejiang province which had its systems blocked by ransomware according to a Thursday report by staterun Xinhua News Agency The hackers demanded 20000 Tether a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged onetoone to the US dollar to restore accessppThe police in late November arrested two suspects in Beijing and two others in Inner Mongolia who admitted to writing versions of ransomware optimising the program with the help of ChatGPT conducting vulnerability scans gaining access through infiltration implanting ransomware and carrying out extortion the report saidppAfter OpenAI introduced its chatbot at the end of 2022 igniting an arms race in the field among tech giants ChatGPT and similar products gained interest among Chinese users However OpenAI has blocked internet protocol addresses in China Hong Kong and sanctioned markets like North Korea and Iran Some users get around restrictions using virtual private networks VPNs and a phone number from a supported regionppOn the commercial side there are compliance risks for domestic companies that build or rent VPNs to access OpenAIs services including ChatGPT and texttoimage generator DallE according to a report by law firm King Wood Mallesonspp0503ppHow does Chinas AI stack up against ChatGPTp