Cybercrooks harness AI to good advantage Even Internet of Things not spared from cyberattacks

■ Criminals employing AI to avoid detection and for disinformation campaigns

Artificial Intelligence is getting good at doing bad things swiftly, evident from the alerts put out by leading cybersecurity companies that attackers won’t just target AI systems but will create AI techniques themselves to amplify their own criminal activities.

Although AI will help automate manual tasks, enhance decision-making and other human activities, it can attack many systems including AI.

Instead of hackers finding loopholes, AI itself can search for undiscovered vulnerabilities that it can exploit.

For instance it can be used to make phishing and other social engineering attacks even more sophisticated by creating extremely realistic video and audio or well-crafted emails designed to fool individuals. AI could also be used to launch disinformation campaigns.

Researchers have been rising increasingly concerned about the vulnerability of these artificially intelligent systems to malicious input that can corrupt their logic and affect their operations.

The World Economic Forum came out with a report, last week on Adversarial AI, cautioning governments: “Changes in the threat landscape are already apparent. Criminals are already harnessing automated reconnaissance, target exploitation and network penetration end-toend”. Experts noted that attackers will be employing AI to avoid detection by security software and will even automate target selection, and check infected

■ In 2017 the Cerber ransomware dropped legitimate files on systems to trick the engine that classifies files.

■ In 2018, PyLocky ransomware used InnoSetup to package the malware and avoid machine learning detection.

■ The single largest potential data leak, affecting marketing and data aggregation firm Exactis, involved the exposure of a database that contained nearly 340 million personal information records.

■ Cybercriminals are eyeing the smart cities implementation as many are failing to secure connected devices, sensors and communication infrastructure and importantly ascertain citizen privacy.

environments before deploying later stages and avoiding detection.

Chief technology officer, Symantec, Mr Hugh Thompson, said, “In some Cybercriminals are eying Internet of Things (IoT) specifically to get access to the Wi-Fi routers at home and identify credentials. This is attributed to increase in illegal apps on Android and increased smart home devices, malware is being pushed onto phones, tablets and other IOT devices.

Also, cybercriminals are eyeing the smart cities implementation as many are failing to secure connected devices, sensors, and communication infrastructure and importantly ascertain citizen privacy.

For instance a ransomware attack in 2018 crippled the city of Atlanta for days and cost taxpayers close to $17 million. One of the most high-profile attack in 2016 was by Mirai malware which successfully turned lakhs of Linuxbased IoT devices into a

ways, the emergence of critical AI systems as attack targets will start to mirror the sequence seen 20 years ago with the internet, which rapidly drew the attention of cybercriminals and hackers, especially following the explosion of internet-based eCommerce. The fragility of some AI technologies will become a growing concern in 2019.”

These toolkits are available for sale online, making it relatively easy for attackers botnet army. This army was then used to launch a series of highly disruptive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks around the world.

A Symantec spokesperson said, “We expect to see growing numbers of attacks against IoT devices that control critical infrastructure such as power distribution and communications networks. And as home-based IoT devices become more ubiquitous, there will likely be future attempts to weaponise them – say, by one nation

to generate new threats and give even petty criminals the ability to launch sophisticated targeted attacks.

Experts opine that the ease of “artificial intelligence-as-a-service” is enabling cybercriminals to develop cyberattacks with ever more sophisticated skirting techniques.

McAfee chief scientist Raj Samani said, “In 2018, we witnessed even greater collaboration among cybercriminals through underground shutting down home thermostats in an enemy state during a harsh winter.”

Symantec even noted that among the most troubling will be attacks against IoT devices which are kinetic, such as cars and other vehicles. New mobile malware is investigating smartphones, tablets, and routers to gain access to the digital assistants and home IoT devices.

A Mcafee Labs 2019 threat predictions report stated: “New mobile malware will likely investigate smartphones, tablets, and routers to gain access to the digital assistants and home IoT devices they control. Once infected, these devices can serve as a picklock to consumer homes while supplying botnets, which can launch DDoS attacks or grant cybercriminal access to personal data and the opportunity for other malicious activities such as opening doors and connecting to control servers.”

alliances. This collaborative mentality has allowed for efficiencies in underground technologies and tactics, and the evolution of bad actors into some of the most organized and agile adversaries in the world.

“However, while we expect the underground market collaboration to continue, the year 2019 will also see cybersecurity alliances of defenders continuing to mature and further fortify defences.”