TOKYO – A 25-year-old man has been served a fresh arrest warrant for allegedly creating a computer virus using generative artificial intelligence (AI), the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)'s cybercrime control division announced on May 28, in what is believed to be the first such case in Japan.
Ryuki Hayashi, an unemployed resident of the Kanagawa Prefecture city of Kawasaki, was served the warrant on suspicion of making electronic or magnetic records containing unauthorized commands.
Hayashi is accused of creating a virus similar to ransomware, which destroys computer data and demands ransom in cryptocurrency, using his home computer and smartphone on March 31, 2023. He has reportedly admitted to the allegations, telling police, “I thought I could do anything by asking AI. I wanted to make easy money.”
Computer virus. Okay. Phew.
Though a computer virus could someday be just as deadly as a regular virus.
Even now, deaths can be attributed to hospitals getting ransomware.
Even now, deaths can be attributed to hospitals profiting off completely insecure systems.
What freaked me out were the IV drug dispensers that dialed into wifi for app control (and yes, they’re less secure than your roomba).
It’d make a great fictional assassination story if one was commandeered to kill a VIP by morphene or insulin overdose. No such incident has occured yet IRL. But I’m sure it’s worth like 20 cyberpunk dystopia points when it does.
That’s a bit of victim blaming. Yes, everyone can take steps to be more secure, but don’t blame them for getting hacked.
That’s true, I agree with this sentiment. But I’m a bit confused when trying to apply the same logic to credit bureaus and other companies which get hacked and expose our personal information without facing any real consequences. In those situations I feel that those companies should be held liable for the breaches.
Should have asked AI how to avoid getting caught
Nice try, FBI
– GPT4
There is no way the virus functioned. Seriously. The guy had no tech background.
Apparently the warrant was served only after an discovering evidence from an unrelated (or semi-related?) arrest? The article didn’t specify if his ransomware worked, but I doubt it did if it was mostly GPT-generated. I guess the intention and confession is enough to make charges stick though. Wouldn’t be surprised if whatever GPT service he used also flagged him as suspicious and led authorities to him.
Japan has a suspiciously high conviction rate though (>99%). They either don’t even go for criminals they are not sure about or there’s some form of tampering going on. Hard to say.
They have (or had) a suspiciously high confession rate too.
