AI significantly empowers cyberattack chain: top political advisor

AI's extensive and deep empowerment in all industries and social fields is an inevitable trend in history, Xiao Xinguang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chief software architect from Chinese cybersecurity company Antiy, told the Global Times.

Xiao made the comment as, with the emergence of ChatGPT and Sora, the development of the AI industry is accelerating, and human society is speeding into the AI era. At the same time, the potential problems and uncertainties related to it may bring negative impacts on and challenges to humanity, while security issues arising from the field of AI have also been put on the agenda.

Embracing AI requires a more open and collaborative mind-set, said Xiao, noting that different departments have different focuses.

The field of cybersecurity should focus on three major risks: the risks from AI technologies such as algorithms and data; application risks of platforms such as data leakage; and the risks of upgrading network attack capabilities under AI empowerment, Xiao said.

As a member of the national cybersecurity agency, Xiao described how he and his colleagues encounter cases of "AI-enhanced network attacks" in their daily work. "The graphic and textual content of phishing emails from some overseas attack organizations in the past two years are clearly generated by large model platforms. In cybercrime cases, deepfake technology has been frequently used."

According to Xiao, AI significantly empowers the entire attack chain. "We must pay attention to the challenges of content generation and deepfake for cognitive confrontation, and we must also conduct in-depth analysis and research on the deep empowerment of AI throughout the network attack process," Xiao said.

The US has been the first to associate AI technology with the so-called Chinese hackers launching attacks on the US.

In response, Xiao said the US continues to conduct network intrusions and intelligence activities in cyberspace to support its global hegemony system. By using its own behavior to judge others, the US was trying to shift its attack activities onto China in order to muddy the waters in international diplomacy and public opinion.