Next year, it has been analyzed that cases of cyber attacks abusing artificial intelligence (AI) technology will become prominent.
The Ministry of Science and ICT released a report on the analysis of this year's cyber threats and next year's outlook, prepared with domestic and international information security experts on the 18th. According to the outlook for next year's cyber threats, the usage of AI services will become commonplace, and propaganda and phishing attacks using verified models such as ChatGPT are expected to increase.
According to OpenAI, there have been cases of using ChatGPT for internet opinion manipulation and political propaganda in some countries, including Russia and China. The report noted, “Content cleverly written using AI is hard to distinguish from real, and it spreads rapidly through fake news and social media,” adding that “There is a high possibility of increased social conflicts and chaos due to opinion manipulation by specific groups.”
The report advised that “When generative AI is linked with internal systems of corporations, the risk of exposure and misuse of sensitive data increases,” and emphasized that “Corporations should internalize security during the AI model introduction phase and establish a continuous monitoring system.” It is also anticipated that malicious AI models such as FraudGPT, which has illegal purposes, and WormGPT, which generates malware, will spread in the dark web.
The report indicated that as digital convergence technologies such as autonomous vehicles and smart buildings and traffic systems spread, the potential for cyber threats targeting them may also increase. Additionally, it presented the likelihood of increased cyber attacks on government agencies and social infrastructure due to the prolonged Ukraine-Russia war and worsening global conflicts.
The report highlighted significant patterns of cyber threats that occurred this year, such as increased spam and phishing damages to the public, complex attack tactics like software supply chain attacks, and advancements in ransomware attack techniques.