A group of researchers have discovered an active malware operation that takes advantage of the rising popularity of the ChatGPT AI chatbot, according to a recent report released on Thursday.
Security company Kaspersky claims that hackers are disseminating the malware through Facebook groups by promoting a phoney desktop version of ChatGPT.
“This campaign targeting ChatGPT is a prime example of how attackers are leveraging social engineering techniques to exploit the trust that users place on popular brands and services. It is important for users to understand that, just because a service appears to be legitimate, it doesn’t mean that it is,” said Darya Ivanova, a Kaspersky security analyst.
Other than the bot, users are infected with the Fobo Trojan, which steals sensitive information like Facebook, TikTok, and Google account credentials as well as private and business financial data.
According to the investigation, people who click on the post’s link are taken to a beautifully created website that resembles the ChatGPT website almost exactly.
The website then invites viewers to download what appears to be a Windows version of ChatGPT, but is actually an archive with an executable file.
When the programme couldn’t be installed, an error message appears and the installation procedure terminates abruptly.
According to the research, a new stealer Trojan called Trojan-PSW.Win64.Fobo is actually installed on the user’s machine as the programme is being installed without their knowledge.
This Trojan’s primary goal is to steal saved account information from popular browsers including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Brave.
The Trojan attempts to gather additional information, such as the amount of advertising money and the current balance of the business accounts, as part of the assault, in addition to stealing login credentials.
The target of the terrorists’ attacks is the world market. The phoney “desktop client” for ChatGPT has been targeting users in Africa, Asia, Europe, and America, the research stated.
