The sensitive information of about 5,000 Vietnamese users of artificial intelligent (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, may have been leaked and utilized by cybercriminals, Vu Ngoc Son, tech director at Vietnam National Cybersecurity Technology Corporation, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday.

The 4,711 affected users were among the over 100,000 ChatGPT accounts sold on the black market that were discovered and disclosed by Singapore-headquartered cybersecurity firm Group-IB on its blog.

The amount put Vietnam in the fourth position among the countries with the highest number of compromised ChatGPT accounts as listed by Group-IB.

ChatGPT has become a popular virtual assistant utilized by numerous users in various aspects of their lives, including work, business, investment, and personal matters, Son said.

He emphasized that the conversations users have with ChatGPT contain valuable information, revealing details about their work, interests, and personal challenges. 

Hackers can exploit this information to create phishing schemes and target businesses and their employees.

The method employed by hackers involves using malicious code to extract data from the user’s browser, including chat logs with other AI systems similar to ChatGPT.

Consequently, there may be additional instances of leaked chat information beyond what is reported by Group-IB.

To mitigate the risk of information leakage, Son advised that users avoid clicking on unfamiliar links of unknown origin and refrain from opening files from anonymous senders, including text files, to prevent malware infection.

“For accounts utilizing ChatGPT or similar services, it is advisable to limit the retention of chat history and, if possible, enable the option to regularly delete chat records,” Son said. 

“Configuring two-factor authentication is also recommended to safeguard accounts against unauthorized access and exploitation."

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