Gemini Could Be Used by Russia and China for Hacker Attacks, Reveals Google

According to Google, its artificial intelligence tool Gemini may be used by Russia and China for hacker attacks against other countries.

While a number of cybercriminal groups are not a secret, the company has now added 20 other malicious groups to this list, bringing the total to 57, all of which are linked to countries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

The Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) report also revealed that these hacker groups continue to use artificial intelligence tools, such as Gemini, to carry out their attacks.

“Threat actors are testing Gemini to power their operations, gaining productivity benefits but not yet developing new features. Currently, they mainly use AI for research, code troubleshooting, and content creation and localization,” said GTIG.

The APT groups (Advanced Persistent Threat), state-sponsored criminal organizations, target attacks against organizations and cryptocurrency wallets for financial gain, but they can also damage infrastructures, disable companies, and steal engineering secrets.

“In cybersecurity, AI is set to transform digital defense, empowering defenders and improving our collective security. Large language models (LLMs) open new possibilities for defenders, from analyzing complex telemetry to secure coding, vulnerability discovery, and streamlining operations,” the report further states.

“However, some of these same AI capabilities are also available to attackers, raising concerns about the potential misuse of AI for malicious purposes.”

The report revealed that the Iran-funded group was the main one using Gemini for its attacks, but Russia and China were not far behind. GTIG also mentioned North Korea’s use of the AI tool, which allegedly attempted to infiltrate its agents as IT staff in large foreign tech companies.

“A North Korea-backed group used Gemini to draft cover letters and proposals for job descriptions, researched average salaries for specific jobs, and inquired about job opportunities on LinkedIn.”

“The group also used Gemini to obtain information on employee exchange abroad. Many of the topics would be common for anyone researching and applying for jobs,” the report continues.

Google also boasted about its security measures, which allowed some of the attacks executed by these groups to fail, particularly involving new phishing techniques in Gmail, data theft, and bypassing Google authentication codes.

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