Iran Gas Pipeline Sabotaged

Author

Global Recap
February 14, 2024 • Read in: 7 minutes

Hi Global Recap readers,

ChatGPT is an AI service, not a confidant.

NEVER spill your secrets to it.

But some hackers from shady countries didn't get the memo.

In fact, they got busted because of it.

More in the in-depth section.

🌐 Around the World

  • 🔥 Iran Gas Pipeline Sabotaged

  • 🧑🏻‍💻 North Korea Hacks President’s Aide

  • 🇮🇱 Netanyahu Declines Cairo Talks

  • 🇹🇷 Turkey Mine Disaster: Four Detained

  • 🤖 Microsoft Catches Hackers Using Its AI Tools

🔥 Iran Gas Pipeline Sabotaged

A series of explosions rocked a natural gas pipeline in Iran on Wednesday, disrupting the country’s energy supply.

  • Whodunit: An official blamed the blasts on a “sabotage and terrorist action” by unknown enemies.

  • Timing: Iran recently celebrated the 45th anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

🧑🏻‍💻 North Korea Hacks President’s Aide

The South Korean presidential office admitted that a personal email account of its presidential aide was hacked by North Korea last year, exposing sensitive information about the president’s trip to the UK and France.

  • When: The breach occurred before President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit in November.

  • Damage: The hackers reportedly accessed the president’s schedule and messages, raising security concerns for his overseas travel.

  • Issue: The aide violated security regulations by using a commercial email for official work.

  • Response: The incident was supposedly detected and addressed before the trip began.

🇮🇱 Netanyahu Declines Cairo Talks

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu nixed a proposed delegation to Cairo for hostage deal discussions. The proposed talks were to discuss aid to Gaza and potential Palestinian return to the northern Strip.

  • Sticking Point: The main hurdle is the number of prisoners Hamas wants released.

  • Rejection: Despite recommendations from Mossad director David Barnea and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, Netanyahu declined further talks until Hamas softens its prisoner release demands.

  • Tough Stance: Netanyahu reportedly believes a hardline Israeli position could lead to a deal.

🇹🇷 Turkey Mine Disaster: Four Detained

A massive landslide at a gold mine in eastern Turkey has left at least nine workers missing.

  • Context: The incident occurred on Tuesday at the Çöpler mine, operated by Anagold Madencilik, in Erzincan province.

  • Arrests: Four people were arrested in connection with the disaster.

  • Risks: The landslide could harm the environment by leaking cyanide, a chemical that is used to extract gold.

  • Safety: Turkey has a history of fatal mine accidents due to poor safety standards and inspections.

United States

Microsoft Catches Hackers Using Its AI Tools

Apparently, the cybercriminals from Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran missed the memo that says: DO NOT feed classified data to AI services like Microsoft Copilot or OpenAI. Especially when you are breaking the law.

Well, it’s too late now. Microsoft has recently uncovered that these rogue nations have been abusing its AI tools.

Here’s its blog post about it.

🤖 AI Tools: A Double-Edged Sword. These hackers have been using tools from OpenAI, a company that is financially backed by Microsoft, to refine their hacking techniques and deceive their targets. The AI tools they’re using are Large Language Models (LLMs) that generate human-like responses.

🌐 Who is behind the attacks? The hackers are linked to the military and government agencies of Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea.

🚫 How Microsoft is fighting back? Microsoft has decided to block any hacking groups that are supported by these countries from using its AI tools. Tom Burt, who is in charge of customer security at Microsoft, said:

"Independent of whether there’s any violation of the law or any violation of terms of service, we just don’t want those actors that we’ve identified – that we track and know are threat actors of various kinds – we don’t want them to have access to this technology."

🌍 International Reactions. The officials from Russia, North Korea, and Iran have not said anything about the claims. But China’s spokesperson in the US, Liu Pengyu, denied the “groundless smears and accusations against China” and advocated for the “safe, reliable and controllable” deployment of AI technology.

💡 Why It Matters. This shows the possible dangers of AI technology spreading too fast; but, this is the paradox of freedom, where it is exploited by those who deny it in their own countries.

  • Cybersecurity experts from the West have been alerting about the abuse of such tools by bad actors.

  • This is one of the first times that an AI company has openly talked about how hackers use AI technologies.