At Gen, we are dedicated to building critical insights to help stay a step ahead of future cyberthreats and developing new ways to help protect people across their digital lives. Explore how we drive innovation.

Threat Intelligence Team

Innovation

Large language models (LLMs) and generative AI are significantly increasing their abilities and global utilization. While these tools offer undeniable utility to the general public, they also present potential risks of misuse. Furthermore, bad actors are also actively investigating tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT.&nbsp;

This document describes the following aspects of an AI-based cyber threat landscape:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>
	How ChatGPT brand is misused for lures, scams, or other social engineering-related threats&nbsp;
	</li>
	<li>
	How generative AI can be used to generate malware&nbsp;
	</li>
	<li>
	The potential pitfalls and changes it brings for security researchers and attackers&nbsp;
	</li>
	<li>
	How ChatGPT and generative AI can help security researchers in their daily struggles, providing insights, and bringing AI-based assistants to their toolset&nbsp;
	</li>
</ul>

Generative AI and other forms of AI are going to play a key role in the cyber threat landscape. We expect that highly believable and multilingual texts misused for phishing and scams will be leveraged at scale, providing better opportunities for more advanced social engineering.&nbsp;

On the other hand, we believe that generative AI as it stands now is unlikely to drastically alter the landscape of malware generation. Although many proofs of the concept exist—mainly from security firms and nefarious actors testing the technology—it's still a complex approach, especially when compared to existing, simpler methods.&nbsp;

Despite the risks, it is important to recognize the value that generative AI brings to the table when used for legitimate purposes. We already see security and AI-based assistant tools with various levels of maturity and specialization emerging on the market.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Given the rapid development of these tools and the widespread availability of open-source versions, we can reasonably anticipate a substantial improvement in their capabilities in the near future.&nbsp;

<h3><a href="https://cmsb.nortonlifelock.com/sites/default/files/2023-09/LLM%20malware%20090523.pdf">Read the full whitepaper here.</a></h3>

With the rapid development of AI and the widespread availability of open-source versions, we can anticipate improvements in their capabilities.

Insights Into the AI-Based Cyberthreat Landscape 

Chief Technology Officer

As a company dedicated to helping people protect their personal devices and private information from today’s ever-evolving cyber threats, we work to provide best-in-class protection solutions for devices across our brands. Today, we are honored to announce the win of two <a href="https://selabs.uk/">SE Labs</a> awards, which recognize our commitment at Gen™ to deliver dependable online protection to consumers. &nbsp;

This year, SE Labs awarded Norton 360 as the Best Home Anti-Malware Solution. Norton 360 provides world-class protection without requiring people to become security experts. SE Labs tests replicate automated attacks,, phishing and other social engineering attacks that appear in our inboxes daily to assess a product’s ability to protect devices and people from significant threats. &nbsp;

In addition, Avast Free Antivirus earned the award for Best Free Anti-Malware Solution. SE Labs requires that the winning free solution stands up to threats without compromising on protection. Avast Free Antivirus recognizes the need to make free security options available to anyone, making consumers’ digital lives safer without the fee. &nbsp;

The SE Labs Annual Security Awards highlight security solutions that both perform well in tests and in the real world, with real customers. This way, they serve as an independent benchmark for people to better understand which products in the market are the strongest to help keep their digital lives safe.&nbsp;

To read more about the SE Labs Annual Report 2023, visit <a href="https://selabs.uk/reports/annual-report-2023/">https://selabs.uk/reports/annual-report-2023/</a>.&nbsp;

Gen brands receive awards for excellent performance in real world tests.

Norton and Avast Recognized by SE Labs for Top Notch Safety Solutions  

As a company dedicated to creating security solutions that allow people to take full advantage of the digital world, we work to provide people with best-in-class protection for their computer and smartphone across our brand and platforms. Today we are proud to announce the win of 10 AV-TEST Institute awards. These awards recognize the reliable protection across a variety of operating systems, fast performance speeds and user-friendly experiences that Norton, Avast, AVG, and Avira provide.&nbsp;

This year, Gen brands awarded includes the following: &nbsp;

<ul>
	<li lang="EN-US">Norton: Best Protection (Windows), Best MacOS Security Product, and the Best Android Security Product&nbsp;</li>
	<li lang="EN-US">Avast: Best Protection (Windows),&nbsp;Best MacOS Security Product,&nbsp;and Best Android Security Product&nbsp;</li>
	<li lang="EN-US">AVG: Best Protection (Windows),&nbsp;&nbsp;Best MacOS Security Product,&nbsp;and Best Android Security Product&nbsp;</li>
	<li lang="EN-US">Avira: Best Protection (Windows)&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

Throughout the year, AV-TEST, an independent cybersecurity testing institution, evaluates the effectiveness of endpoint security solution defenses against advanced attacks. Each product evaluated at the AV-TEST Institute is required to undergo demanding and realistic tests to consistently excel in categories of protection, performance and usability.&nbsp;

To learn more information about these award wins, visit <a href="http://www.av-test.org/">AV-Test.org</a>.&nbsp;

Innovation

Insights Into the AI-Based Cyberthreat Landscape

Norton and Avast Recognized by SE Labs for Top Notch Safety Solutions

Gen Earns 10 AV-TEST Institute Product Awards Across Norton, Avast, AVG and Avira