Cybercriminals struggling to grasp AI

A new study has found that cybercriminals are finding it difficult to implement the technology to benefit their work.

Cybercriminals are struggling to use AI to benefit their work.

New research analysing approximately 100 million posts from underground and dark web communities suggests that most cybercriminals do not possess the skills or resources to use the technology in their criminal activity.

The team of experts from the universities of Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Cambridge analysed discussions from the CrimeBB database that contains over 100 million posts from dark web and underground cybercrime forums.

The researchers were looking for posts that discussed how the cybercriminals – often referred to as hackers – were experimenting with AI technology from November 2022 onwards, coinciding with the release of OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT.

Instead of reducing the skill level needed to commit cybercrimes, AI actually proved useful for those with expertise because skills and knowledge are required to use the tools effectively.

The experts were reassured by guardrails on the major chatbots that limit the harm that they can cause.

Dr Ben Collier, a senior lecturer in digital methods at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Cybercriminals are experimenting with these tools, but as far as we can tell it’s not delivering them real benefits in their own work.

“Our message to industry is: don’t panic yet.

“The immediate danger comes from companies and members of the public adopting poorly secured AI systems themselves, opening them up to catastrophic new attacks that can be performed by cybercriminals with little effort or skill.”

The experts also found that individuals in cybercrime were concerned about possibly losing their “day jobs” in IT due to AI’s impact in mainstream software industries – potentially driving them towards more cybercriminal activity.

The report authors stress that the main risks to the tech industry are likely to be from adopting poorly secured agentic AI systems, a form of the tech that can act autonomously, carrying out actions on specific tasks and making decisions.