Bardas well as ChatGPT and other new tools related to Artificial Intelligence, is capturing the attention of millions of people.
In this context, as might be expected, there are some cybercriminali who try to spread their own malicious agents, precisely by taking advantage of the enormous hype that characterizes AI.
Apparently, however, Google is working to intervene in order to combat anyone who abuses its platform. The Mountain View giant, in fact, sued some cybercriminals who exploited the Bard name to spread malware.
According to the company, the cybercriminal gang is believed to be based in Vietnam and, through pages and profiles created on social networks, they are pushing victims to download software allegedly linked to Bard. In reality, through this, they spread dangerous malware.
In the documentation relating to the case, it is clearly specified as “The defendants are not affiliated with Google in any way, even if they pretend to be. They used Google trademarks, including Google, Google AI, and Bard to trick unsuspecting victims into downloading malware onto their computers“. According to the data collected by the prosecution, the scammers promoted their work through advertising on Facebook.
Malware passed off as Bard: Google takes legal action
Even if those who know Bard and other chatbots at least know that they are not necessary client o software to interact with such tools, many people still have a partial perception of how they work.
Bard is not, in fact, an app and there is no need to download any type of executable to access it: to use it, in fact, just visit the site for free bard.google.com.
Through a post on official blogGoogle revealed how they have already been sent 300 removal requests of sites exploited to spread malware. Despite this, it is foreseeable that this type of fraud will recur with some regularity over the next few months. Despite this, the company’s move demonstrates how the IT giants want to mobilize to avoid, or at least limit, the phenomenon.
Google’s general counsel, Halimah DeLaine Pradostated how “Lawsuits are an effective tool to set legal precedent, disrupt the tools used by scammers, and increase consequences for bad actors“.
