The cybersecurity landscape in 2024 witnessed a significant escalation in AI-related threats, with malicious actors increasingly targeting and exploiting large language models (LLMs).
According to KELA’s annual “State of Cybercrime” report, discussions about exploiting popular LLMs such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini surged by 94% compared to the previous year.
Jailbreaking Techniques Proliferate on Underground Forums
Cybercriminals have been actively sharing and developing new jailbreaking techniques on underground forums, with dedicated sections emerging on platforms like HackForums and XSS.
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These techniques aim to bypass the built-in safety limitations of LLMs, enabling the creation of malicious content such as phishing emails and malware code.
One of the most effective jailbreaking methods identified by KELA was word transformation, which successfully bypassed 27% of safety tests.
This technique involves replacing sensitive words with synonyms or splitting them into substrings to evade detection.
Massive Increase in Compromised LLM Accounts
The report revealed a staggering rise in the number of compromised accounts for popular LLM platforms.
ChatGPT saw an alarming increase from 154,000 compromised accounts in 2023 to 3 million in 2024, representing a growth of nearly 1,850%.
Similarly, Gemini (formerly Bard) experienced a surge from 12,000 to 174,000 compromised accounts, a 1,350% increase.
These compromised credentials, obtained through infostealer malware, pose a significant risk as they can be leveraged for further abuse of LLMs and associated services.
As LLM technologies continue to gain popularity and integration across various platforms, KELA anticipates the emergence of new attack surfaces in 2025.
Prompt injection is identified as one of the most critical threats against generative AI applications, while agentic AI, capable of autonomous actions and decision-making, presents a novel attack vector.
The report emphasizes the need for organizations to implement robust security measures, including secure LLM integrations, advanced deepfake detection technologies, and comprehensive user education on AI-related threats.
As the line between cybercrime and state-sponsored activities continues to blur, proactive threat intelligence and adaptive defense strategies will be crucial in mitigating the evolving risks posed by AI-powered cyber threats.
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