Malware has always been a fight between white hat and black hat hackers. "White hats" are people with deep knowledge of hacking and malware who use their smarts to protect others from harm. The "black hats" are the people the white hats are defending the public against:malicious developers looking to create coercion that sneaks past security.
ContentsWhat is DeepLocker?How DeepLocker worksWhat it means for usersAntagonist AIIn the struggle between the two sides, the most recent weapon of choice has been the use of AI. White hats, for example, can use AI as a way to intelligently detect attacks. While a classic antivirus simply checks all incoming connections according to a predefined list of rules, an AI antivirus could, theoretically, stop an attack without first knowing about it. That's not to say the black hats have been totally eclipsed by this development - in fact, they're using AI in their own seats on the computing world!
This malware strain from IBM uses WannaCry ransomware as its main payload. DeepLocker's goal was to hit a specific person's computer through a video conferencing application. While regular malware should infect every possible PC and hope it will be lucky in infecting the intended target, DeepLocker took a more assassin approach that only targeted the victim, sparing anyone who didn't fit the criteria. .
The demo showed DeepLocker infecting every computer that used the video conferencing application with a dormant strain of WannaCry. Unlike the original WannaCry malware, this particular strain did not activate right away, but lay dormant on the hard drive. As soon as it receives a key to the main DeepLocker malware, it kicks in and locks the computer.
Once everyone's computer was infected with a dormant strain of WannaCry, DeepLocker then went to check which machine belonged to its target. To do this, it looked through the front cameras of each user's laptop and used facial recognition technology to find out who was who. When he found a match for the person he was targeting, he gave the key to the malware installed on that machine, which triggered the attack.
This is a particularly shocking evolution of malware and could easily be portrayed as something that once only existed in sci-fi movies. This personal attack, however, is the hacker's next step to ensure that he hits the right people with his malware, namely those who have the money and the desire to pay if their computer is locked down by ransomware. .
With this new development in malware technology, a question arises:what does this mean for us as users?
As you can see from the example above, traditional "carpet bomb" tactics could eventually morph into more specialized headhunting malware. As such, it could lead to fewer infections for the average user as hackers attempt to target the wealthy and wealthy to extract money from them.
Whether you are a potential target or not, AI-based malware is certainly a worrying prospect. Luckily, the tactics to avoid it are the same:keep antivirus updated and don't download anything from suspicious sources. DeepLocker needed an infected program to work, so don't let similar software install on your computers!
As hackers turn to profit-making ventures rather than wanton destruction, their malware is becoming increasingly finicky about the people they attack. Now you know about DeepLocker test malware and how AI can shape viruses in the future.
What are your thoughts on AI-based malware? Is this a very real threat or just a new idea without any practicality? Make your point below!
Image credit:IBM on Flickr
