NCSC Discovers What Anyone with Half a Brain Already Knew: Chatbots are Vulnerable

So, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), in an attempt to justify their existence, has issued a warning about something we all already knew. Apparently, they’ve discovered that chatbots can be manipulated by hackers through “prompt injection” attacks. For those who need a little more hand-holding, that’s where people deliberately create input or prompts intended to manipulate the bot’s behavior. Took them long enough, eh?

Implications of an Ugly Open Secret

The real-world implications of this pathetically late realization could be ugly. Hackers could manipulate chatbots used in different fields, from customer service to healthcare, causing misinformation, fraud, confusion, and downright chaos. If a hacker manipulates a healthcare bot, for instance, it could lead to patients receiving harmful advice. Congrats UK’s NCSC, your brilliant revelation might have made a difference if you weren’t so bloody late to the party.

Conclusion: NCSC’s Clichéd Fear-mongering

In conclusion, while the NCSC is busy patting themselves on the back for ‘uncovering’ this ground-breaking fact, chatbots are still susceptible to manipulation and nobody in these esteemed cybersecurity organizations seemed to give it much thought until now. It’s like they just don’t want to admit that chatbots are about as safe and reliable as a chocolate teapot. After all, why solve a problem when they can instead alert us about it years after we all already knew? Bravo, NCSC, truly magnificent problem-solving skills there.

Original article:https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/2023/08/30/ncsc-chatbot-prompt-injection-attacks-growing-security-risk/