OPENAI ANNOUNCES $1 MILLION CYBERSECURITY GRANT PROGRAM AMIDST RISING CRYPTO-FOCUSED CYBER THREATS

In its bid to stop over 1.5 million cyberattacks between March and May, the cybersecurity arm of BlackBerry has listed malware families that actively try to hijack computers to mine or steal cryptocurrencies

 

Top in the list are SmokeLoader, RaccoonStealer (also known as RecordBreaker) and Vidar.

 

SmokeLoader is one of the oldest malwares from 2011, which Russian-based threat actors have primarily used to load crypto miners, among other malware.

 

RaccoonStealer has been used to steal cryptocurrency wallet data and is reportedly being sold across the dark web.

 

Vidar also is being widely used to harvest cryptocurrency wallets.

 

Out of all operating systems, Linux is the biggest target in order to use computer resources for mining cryptocurrencies.

 

A new strain of infostealer called Atomic macOS targets macOS users, primarily used to collect credentials from keychains, browsers and crypto wallets, among others.

 

To enhance and measure the impact of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven cybersecurity technologies, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and Dall-e, recently announced a $1 million cybersecurity grant program.

 

The program aims to catalyze the advancement of AI-driven cybersecurity capabilities for defenders through grants and additional assistance.