Oh goody, the ‘first known AI-powered ransomware’ has been discovered and it ‘may exfiltrate data, encrypt it, or potentially destroy it’
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/oh-goody-the-first-known-ai-powered-ransomware-has-been-discovered-and-it-may-exfiltrate-data-encrypt-it-or-potentially-destroy-it/
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“Like a cut episode of Black Mirror, a ransomware has been spotted that prompts AI to cause havoc in machines. Naturally, it’s called PromptLock, and it reportedly uses OpenAI’s gpt-oss-20b, which means it doesn’t need a constant connection to the internet to operate.
According to Eset Research, this new ransomware uses “the Ollama API to generate malicious Lua scripts on the fly, which it then executes.”
AI-powered is an operative term here. Promptlock isn’t just ransomware that is created by a hacker generating code and then executing that code on a PC; it is instead said to be a series of prompts that are generated on your devices with scripts. According to Eset, these prompts suggest “the malware may exfiltrate data, encrypt it, or potentially destroy it. Although the destruction functionality appears to be not yet implemented.” Phew.
Still, the fact this ransomware runs locally also means that it can avoid detection more easily, as it doesn’t use any online resources.”
Oh i wrote a paper about something like this in uni. Neat.
But for FUCKS sake can AI PLEASE stop getting turned into SHIT
Ransomware existed before generative AI was a thing.
>Ah sweet, robot-made horror beyond my comprehension.
If the author is aware that he’s unable to comprehend how ransomware works, then maybe he shouldn’t be writing articles about ransomware?
Also, unpopular opinion: ransomware (which encrypts data and let’s it be decrypted for a payment) is actually a good thing. It works like a vaccine, because it allows fully recovering the data, but forces the affected parties to improve their security. An actually dangerous and harmful computer virus would simply destroy the data with no possibility to recover it.
I wrote a short story once, about an electronic – digital meltdown and network crash, as machine-learning AI malware, eternally self-replicating overload the internet and servers across the world..
It’s only a matter of time before some scammers get held for ransom by their own AI