How Microsoft is taking down AI hackers who create harmful images of celebrities and others
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Introduction:
The news topic “How Microsoft is taking down AI hackers who create harmful images of celebrities and others” has drawn international attention, with various media outlets providing diverse insights, historical context, political stances, and on-the-ground developments. Below is a curated overview of how different countries and media organizations have covered this topic recently.
Quick Summary:
- The modern notion of AI largely began when Alan Turing created the “ Turing test ” to determine if a computer is capable of “thinking.” advances in computer storage limits and speeds have opened new avenues for AI research and implementation. Now, artificial intelligence is used for a variety of everyday implementations including facial recognition software, online shopping algorithms, search engines, and digital assistants like Siri and Alexa. The “Father of Artificial Intelligence” John McCarthy coined the term “artificial intelligence” as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines�” He would go on to create the computer programming language LISP (which is still used in AI), host computer chess games against human Russian opponents, and develop the first computer with “hand-eye” capability.
- A lawsuit against criminal gang Storm-2139 has been updated. Four defendants have been named by Microsoft. The group is allegedly responsible for creating illegal deepfakes. The individuals were identified as; Arian Yadegarnia aka ‘Fiz’ of Iran, Alan Krysiak aka “Drago” of United Kingdom, Ricky Yuen aka ’cg-dot’ and Phát Phùng Tấn aka ”Asakuri’. The gang reportedly developed and used malicious tools that allowed threat actors to bypass generative AI guardrails to generate harmful and illegal content. The named defendants reportedly used customer credentials scraped from public sources (most likely involved in data leaks), and unlawfully accessed accounts with Generative AI services.
Country-by-Country Breakdown:
Pros, Cons, Debate, Arguments, Computer Science, & Technology
The modern notion of AI largely began when Alan Turing created the “ Turing test ” to determine if a computer is capable of “thinking.” advances in computer storage limits and speeds have opened new avenues for AI research and implementation. Now, artificial intelligence is used for a variety of everyday implementations including facial recognition software, online shopping algorithms, search engines, and digital assistants like Siri and Alexa. The “Father of Artificial Intelligence” John McCarthy coined the term “artificial intelligence” as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines�” He would go on to create the computer programming language LISP (which is still used in AI), host computer chess games against human Russian opponents, and develop the first computer with “hand-eye” capability. Read full article
Microsoft names cybercriminals who created explicit deepfakes
A lawsuit against criminal gang Storm-2139 has been updated. Four defendants have been named by Microsoft. The group is allegedly responsible for creating illegal deepfakes. The individuals were identified as; Arian Yadegarnia aka ‘Fiz’ of Iran, Alan Krysiak aka “Drago” of United Kingdom, Ricky Yuen aka ’cg-dot’ and Phát Phùng Tấn aka ”Asakuri’. The gang reportedly developed and used malicious tools that allowed threat actors to bypass generative AI guardrails to generate harmful and illegal content. The named defendants reportedly used customer credentials scraped from public sources (most likely involved in data leaks), and unlawfully accessed accounts with Generative AI services. Read full article
Microsoft names alleged ‘Azure Abuse Enterprise’ operators
Redmond filed a civil lawsuit in Virginia in December 2024 against the so-called “Azure Abuse Enterprise” crew. It is alleged the gang used API keys accidentally leaked from “multiple” Microsoft customers to improperly access the IT giant’s OpenAI service. The crew then allegedly resold access to this cloud service to other miscreants, and offered detailed instructions and tools to help their clients use Redmond’s generative AI to produce the aforementioned harmful and sexually explicit material. Microsoft on Thursday this week filed an amended legal complaint that names four of the ten accused: Arian Yadegarnia aka “Fiz” of Iran; Alan Krysiak aka “Drago” of the United Kingdom; Ricky Yuen aka “cg-dot” of Hong Kong; and Phát Phùng Tấn aka “Asakuri” of Vietnam. Read full article
Microsoft IDs developers behind alleged generative AI hacking-for-hire scheme
Four people have been identified as being involved in the scheme. They are from Iran, Vietnam and the U.S., according to a court filing. It is not clear if they are the same people who allegedly hacked into the company’s system. The company says it is working with authorities to find out who is behind the alleged hack and what happened to the data. It says the information was used to create “harmful content” that was then shared with the public. It did not say what the content was, or who was responsible for the sharing of the content, or how it was created. It also did not name the four people, or say if they were the same as those identified in the court filing, or if the information came from the same source. Read full article
Microsoft files suit against threat actors abusing AI services
Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against 10 foreign threat actors. The group is accused of stealing API keys for its Azure OpenAI service. Microsoft discovered the customer API keys were being used to generate illicit content in late July 2016. The company has revoked cyber criminal access, put in place countermeasures, and enhanced its safeguards to further block such malicious activity in the future, says Steven Masada, assistant general counsel at Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) He added that the group had bypassed internal guardrails to use the DALL-E AI image generation system to create thousands of harmful images. The DCU has seized a website that was instrumental to the group’s operation and will allow the DCU to collect further evidence on those responsible, and how these services are monetized. Read full article
Global Perspectives Summary:
Global media portray this story through varied cultural, economic, and political filters. While some focus on geopolitical ramifications, others highlight local impacts and human stories. Some nations frame the story around diplomatic tensions and international relations, while others examine domestic implications, public sentiment, or humanitarian concerns. This diversity of coverage reflects how national perspectives, media freedom, and journalistic priorities influence what the public learns about global events.
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Sources:
- Pros, Cons, Debate, Arguments, Computer Science, & Technology
- Microsoft names cybercriminals who created explicit deepfakes
- Microsoft names alleged ‘Azure Abuse Enterprise’ operators
- Microsoft IDs developers behind alleged generative AI hacking-for-hire scheme
- Microsoft files suit against threat actors abusing AI services
Source: https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/ai/how-microsoft-is-taking-down-ai-hackers-who-create-harmful-images-of-celebrities-and-others/