Google has sued a Chinese cybercrime network, alleging it used the company's Gemini AI models to create phishing software called "Outsider." This software allegedly helps hackers build fraudulent websites to steal personal and financial information, with victims losing millions of dollars.
The lawsuit highlights the growing threat of AI being weaponized by cybercriminals to conduct sophisticated phishing attacks, potentially leading to significant financial losses for individuals and increasing the burden on cybersecurity defenses.
Google has filed a lawsuit against a Chinese cybercrime network, alleging the group has been using the company's Gemini artificial intelligence models and tools to develop phishing software. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims the network created a phishing tool called "Outsider" that enables hackers to build fraudulent websites.
The "Outsider" software allegedly tricks victims into believing there are issues with their brokerage accounts or that they are eligible for rewards, leading them to fake websites where they are prompted to provide personal and financial information. According to Google, victims have been defrauded out of millions of dollars.
The suit states that the "Outsider" software includes over 290 prebuilt templates impersonating legitimate institutions such as financial service providers, government agencies, and retailers. The network also allegedly provided instructions on how to "weaponize AI-generated code" to transform these templates into convincing duplicates of legitimate websites, with the potential for creating limitless new phishing sites.
Google emphasized that AI is accelerating the speed at which hackers can operate and expressed hope that the lawsuit will disrupt the criminal enterprise. This development comes amid broader concerns about the use of AI in cybersecurity, highlighted by Anthropic's recent release of its advanced cybersecurity model, Mythos.