Is ChatGPT boon or bane for cyber risk management?

Chat GPT is widely debated today for potential benefits for society through the use cases that can be used across industries; however, at the same time, it is perceived as Evil Eye or Dark AI which could be weaponized against humans.

Today, cyber crime is the world’s third-largest economy after the United States and China. It has significant implications from Chat GPT.  For Cyber Criminals, Chat GPT can be “ Brahmastra” when developing new cybercrime techniques, weaponizing AI to target individuals through spear phishing techniques. 

However, when it comes to Cyber Security Risk Management, it can help businesses, government and public sector improve their Cyber Risk Management practices and tackle, detect and respond to new cyber threat vectors. For organizations like Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), National Crime Coordination Centre (NCCC), MHA’s I4C in Cyber incident response, vulnerability management, and threat intelligence and coordinate as Central , State Law enforcement and industry partners, to share information and coordinate responses to cyber threats. It could also help generating reports, analyzing data on Cyber Threats.

For Cyber Security capacity building programs ChatGPT can work with Cyber R&D division, NEGD to  provide information, resources on various cybersecurity topics such as threat intelligence, incident response,  risk management and creating  cyber security training content

Chat GPT, a large language model developed by Open AI, has the potential to significantly aid businesses in tackling cyber security risks. One of the primary ways Chat GPT can help businesses is by automating specific tasks related to cyber security. For example, Chat GPT can generate security reports, monitor network activity for suspicious behaviour, and alert IT teams to potential threats. This can save businesses significant time and resources while providing a more thorough and efficient level of security.

Chat GPT can also assist businesses in identifying and mitigating risks related to sensitive data. With its ability to process and analyse large amounts of data, Chat GPT can help companies to identify patterns and trends in data usage, helping them to identify and mitigate risks related to data breaches and other security threats. Additionally, Chat GPT can assist with compliance with various regulations, cyber regulatory norms such as compliance with GDPR, Indian Cyber Laws, and standards such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001.

Another potential use for Chat GPT in the field of cyber security is in the area of employee training and awareness. With its ability to understand and respond to natural language, Chat GPT can create engaging and interactive training materials, helping to educate employees about cyber security risks and best practices. Hence training employees on Cyber Safety best practices to tackle and respond to phishing, social engineering, vishing, and cyberbullying could be made much easier using Chat GPT.

In addition, Chat GPT's natural language processing capabilities can be used to improve incident response, threat hunting, and user behaviour analytics. This can help businesses quickly and effectively respond to cyber threats, minimize the damage they cause, and learn from the incident to improve their future security posture. Cyber Security specialists could also use Chat GPT to write exploits for conducting Cyber Red Team Exercises and War Gaming simulations.

The hindsight remains that Chat GPT is also vulnerable to potential misuse, as it can be used for developing new Cyber Crime techniques to dupe businesses and citizens. AI-Powered Cyber Crime will be hard to detect and quicker to evolve; hence defensive technology processes would require quicker enrichment and evolvement. Thus, Chat GPT will put tough questions for Cyber Security companies developing products, solution be it software giants, system integrators, cyber security auditors, or ethical hackers. 

Generative AI Frameworks for Cyber offensive operations can be continuously evolved using Chat GPT. Similarly, it can be used for generating new NFT, Cryptocurrency promotion techniques which could also be Scams if misused by cyber criminals hence developing ethical standards within.

In conclusion, Chat GPT has the potential to significantly aid businesses in tackling cyber security risks by automating specific tasks, identifying and mitigating risks related to sensitive data, providing compliance, and training employees on best practices. As the field of cyber security continues to evolve and become increasingly complex, the use of advanced technologies like Chat GPT will play an essential role in helping businesses stay secure and protect their data.

However, building ethics and standards of AI with Chat GPT to prevent misuse will be crucial for petty crimes like email spoofing, Give away scams, replicating intellectual property, synthetic voice generation, or video cloning. (See: ChatGPT: CIOs Are Yet To Figure Out Its Enterprise Usage and ChatGPT Reignites Web-Search Wars)

 - Kanishk Gaur is a renowned Cyber Security, Public Policy, Government Affairs Specialist, and Digital Technology Expert based out of New Delhi.