Google announced on Monday that it is taking legal action against cybercriminals who distributed malware through websites that told users they could download Bard, the tech giant’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based chat tool.
The company filed suit against what it described as “AI scammers.” Threat operators created social media pages and ran advertisements promoting sites where Bard could supposedly be downloaded. Bard is available online and does not need to be downloaded.
The malicious websites delivered malware that allowed cybercriminals to take control of victims’ social media accounts. “We are seeking a court order to stop scammers from setting up domains like these and allow us to deactivate them with US domain registrars. If this is successful, it will serve as a deterrent and provide a clear mechanism to prevent similar scams in the future,” Google said in a blog post.
The tech giant said it has carried out approximately 300 removals related to this scheme since April. In a separate process, Google targeted threat actors who infringed the DMCA (digital millennium copyright law that criminalizes not only the infringement itself, but also the production and distribution of technology that allows it to circumvent rights protection measures copyright) to harm competitors by sending thousands of fake copyright takedowns from dozens of Google accounts.
False DMCA requests have resulted in the removal of over 100,000 company-owned websites, causing them significant financial harm.
“We hope these efforts protect and preserve the unprecedented culture of innovation in the United States. Just as AI fraudsters and copyright scammers hope to fly under the radar, we believe that appropriate legal action and working with government officials puts scammers squarely in the crosshairs of justice, promoting a safer internet for everyone,” he said. Google in a statement.
See the original post at: CisoAdvisor
