Youngsters these days don’t know how easy they have it. Gone is the diligence, the hard work and, yes, the collaborative spirit of my generation.
Now, any Tom, Dick, or Vladimir can create complex malware in just a few hours. No coding experience necessary.
Thank you, ChatGPT.
In my day, a nasty computer virus took skilled hackers weeks to produce. Traditional malware required teams of malefactors, not to mention substantial resources, to create. Codes were shared, modified, and improved. Cooperation was key. Hacking was hard work. It took time and dedication to be the best.
Today? Not so much.
As Aaron Mulgrew, a security researcher and self-described novice coder at Forcepoint recently demonstrated, ChapGPT allows even the most inexperienced of coders to create undetectable malware. The popular AI system’s (so-called) safeguards proved ineffective; they were all too easily bypassed.
The result? I, too, am being bypassed.
Much has been written about the professions most at risk of ChatGPT-related job disruption. Teachers, Market Researchers, Technical Writers, Financial Analysts, Legal Assistants, and Computer Programmers, to name a few. Yet, no one ever mentions Malware Developers! Hackers.
I will soon be upstaged by some headset-wearing, Mountain Dew swigging teenager playing in his/her parents’ basement. A third-rate punk who dabbles in malicious code only when there’s a break between gaming sessions. These lone wolves are taking over. No need for collaboration. They hack alone.
I guess Albert Camus was right when he said: “The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong alone.”
Think about it.
Peter has spent the past twenty-plus years as an acting/consulting CFO for a number of small businesses in a wide range of industries. Peter’s prior experience is that of a serial entrepreneur, managing various start-up and turnaround projects. He is a co-founder of Keurig.
