The AI Model Can More Easily Filter Malicious Activity in XDR Telemetry, Improve Spam Filters, and Simplify the Analysis of Living Off the Land Binaries

OXFORD, U.K. — 三月 16, 2023 —

Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, today released new research on how the cybersecurity industry can leverage GPT-3, the language model behind the now well-known ChatGPT framework, as a co-pilot to help defeat attackers. The latest report, “GPT for You and Me: Applying AI Language Processing to Cyber Defenses,” details projects developed by Sophos X-Ops using GPT-3's large language models to simplify the search for malicious activity in datasets from security software, more accurately filter spam, and speed up analysis of “living off the land” binary (LOLBin) attacks.

“Since OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT back in November, the security community has largely focused on the potential risks this new technology could bring. Can the AI help wannabee attackers write malware or help cybercriminals write much more convincing phishing emails? Perhaps, but, at Sophos, we’ve long seen AI as an ally rather than an enemy for defenders, making it a cornerstone technology for Sophos, and GPT-3 is no different. The security community should be paying attention not just to the potential risks, but the potential opportunities GPT-3 brings,” said Sean Gallagher, principal threat researcher, Sophos.

Sophos X-Ops researchers, including SophosAI Principal Data Scientist Younghoo Lee, have been working on three prototype projects that demonstrate the potential of GPT-3 as an assistant to cybersecurity defenders. All three use a technique called “few-shot learning” to train the AI model with just a few data samples, reducing the need to collect a large volume of pre-classified data.

The first application Sophos tested with the few-shot learning method was a natural language query interface for sifting through malicious activity in security software telemetry; specifically, Sophos tested the model against its endpoint detection and response product. With this interface, defenders can filter through the telemetry with basic English commands, removing the need for defenders to understand SQL or a database’s underlying structure.

Next, Sophos tested a new spam filter using ChatGPT and found that, when compared to other machine learning models for spam filtering, the filter using GPT-3 was significantly more accurate. Finally, Sophos researchers were able to create a program to simplify the process for reverse-engineering the command lines of LOLBins. Such reverse-engineering is notoriously difficult, but also critical for understanding LOLBins’ behavior—and putting a stop to those types of attacks in the future.

“One of the growing concerns within security operation centers is the sheer amount of ‘noise’ coming in. There are just too many notifications and detections to sort through, and many companies are dealing with limited resources. We’ve proved that, with something like GPT-3, we can simplify certain labor-intensive processes and give back valuable time to defenders. We are already working on incorporating some of the prototypes above into our products, and we’ve made the results of our efforts available on our GitHub for those interested in testing GPT-3 in their own analysis environments. In the future, we believe that GPT-3 may very well become a standard co-pilot for security experts,” said Gallagher.

Learn more about how GPT-3 can be used to assist defenders in “GPT for You and Me: Applying AI Language Processing to Cyber Defenses” on Sophos.com.

关于 Sophos

Sophos 是先进网络安全解决方案的全球领导者和创新者,包括托管式侦测与响应 (MDR) 和事件响应服务,各种端点、网络、电子邮件和云安全技术,帮助企业防御网络攻击。作为最大的纯网络安全供应商之一,Sophos 帮助全球超过 500,000 家企业和超过 1 亿用户抵御主动攻击对手、勒索软件、网络钓鱼、恶意软件等。Sophos 的服务和产品通过 Sophos Central 云管理控制台连接,并得到内部跨领域威胁情报部门 Sophos X-Ops 的支持。Sophos X-Ops 情报优化整个 Sophos Adaptive Cybersecurity Ecosystem 自适应网络安全生态体系,包括一个中央数据湖,为客户、合作伙伴、开发人员和其他网络安全与信息技术供应商提供一组丰富的开放 API。Sophos 为需要全托管并即使可用的安全解决方案的企业提供网络安全即服务,客户还可以直接利用 Sophos 的安全运行平台管理其网络安全,或者采用混合方法,为内部团队补充 Sophos 服务(包括威胁追踪与修复)。Sophos 通过世界各地的经销商合作伙伴和托管服务供应商 (MSP) 销售。Sophos 总部位于英国牛津。如欲了解更多信息,请访问 www.sophos.com.