AI allows hackers to identify anonymous social media accounts, study finds

"In most test scenarios, large language models (LLMs) the technology behind platforms such as ChatGPT successfully matched anonymous online users with their actual identities on other platforms, based on the information they posted. The AI researchers Simon Lermen and Daniel Paleka said LLMs make it cost effective to perform sophisticated privacy attacks, forcing a fundamental reassessment of what can be considered private online."

"With the expertise requirement to perform more developed attacks now much lower, hackers only need access to publicly available language models and an internet connection. Information about members of the public that is readily available online can already be misused straightforwardly for scams, said Lermen, including spear-phishing, where a hacker poses as a trusted friend to get victims to follow a malicious link."

"AI surveillance is a rapidly developing field that is causing alarm among computer scientists and privacy experts. It uses LLMs to synthesise information about an individual online which would be impractical for most people to do manually."

Large language models have significantly lowered the barrier for hackers to de-anonymize social media users by matching anonymous accounts to real identities. Researchers Simon Lermen and Daniel Paleka demonstrated that LLMs can scrape information from anonymous accounts and cross-reference it across platforms to identify users with high confidence. This technology makes sophisticated privacy attacks cost-effective and accessible to actors with minimal expertise who only need access to public language models and internet connectivity. The implications include government surveillance of dissidents and activists, highly personalized scams, and spear-phishing attacks. Privacy experts warn this represents a fundamental shift in what can be considered private online.

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