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# Emerging state-affiliated threats in the age of AI
- URL: https://www.karlsnotes.com/emerging-state-affiliated-threats-in-the-age-of-ai/
- Published: 2024-02-17T11:30:02.000Z
- Updated: 2024-02-17T11:30:02.000Z
- Author: Karl
- Tags: Tech, Geopolitics

This week, [OpenAI](https://openai.com/blog/disrupting-malicious-uses-of-ai-by-state-affiliated-threat-actors?ref=karlsnotes.com) and [Microsoft](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/02/14/staying-ahead-of-threat-actors-in-the-age-of-ai/?ref=karlsnotes.com) stopped five "state-affiliated" actors with fancy names such as 'Salmon Typhoon' and 'Emerald Sleet', from abusing AI services offered by [OpenAI](https://www.karlsnotes.com/chatgpt-the-new-better-google/).

'Microsoft Threat Intelligence', a global network of security experts, "tracks more than 300 unique threat actors, including 160 nation-state actors, 50 ransomware groups, and many others", and based on information from this network, OpenAI disrupted services linked to:

- Two China-affiliated threat actors known as Charcoal Typhoon and Salmon Typhoon;
- The Iran-affiliated threat actor known as Crimson Sandstorm;
- The North Korea-affiliated actor known as Emerald Sleet;
- The Russia-affiliated actor known as Forest Blizzard.

Microsoft says that its technology "has not identified significant attacks employing the LLMs (Large Language Models) \[they\] monitor closely". Despite this, they believe that it is important to "expose early-stage, incremental moves that \[they\] observe well-known threat actors attempting, and share information on how \[they\] are blocking and countering them with the defender community".

If you're wondering on where the fancy names came from, Microsoft assigns a family name to a country/region of origin tied to attribution - Typhoon indicates origin or attribution to China, for nation-state actors. For other actors, the name represents a motivation. For example, Tempest indicates financially motivated actors, as highlighted in the table below.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/c1/a9c1efd2-da6f-45fb-8f22-c82eb72a046a/content/images/2024/02/threat-actor-categories-lg.png)