The hacking version of Gemini deployed a new botnet control server in six minutes, corrected the error and helped bring the infected computers back to the network. At the same time, a person only set tasks in colloquial language and followed the hints of artificial intelligence.
The operation was discovered by TrendAI specialists, who studied more than 200 journals of Gemini CLI sessions. The materials cover the period from March 19 to April 21 and show the work of the attacker under the pseudonym bandcampro. According to the company, Gemini performed about 90% of all work, and the operator mainly led the process.
The attacker used artificial intelligence to steal accounts and cryptocurrency. Among the goals were supporters of Donald Trump and conspiracy theorists. Earlier, bandcampro with the help of Gemini impersonated an American veteran, managed a Telegram channel, stole the data of administrators and gained access to digital wallets.
Magazines show that Gemini installed programs, configured a home proxy server, checked passwords in several threads, processed data from information thieves, studied sites and wrote code to access third-party interfaces. The cameraman did not enter the commands. Instead, bandcampro described the necessary actions with ordinary phrases.
The old botnet infrastructure was connected to infected computers through the Cloudflare tunnel. After the protective programs and network filters began to block such connections, the attacker instructed Gemini to move the system to a new scheme.
On March 23, Gemini received an archive with a server code, malicious files and instructions from SKILL.md. Artificial intelligence read the manual, launched a control server on a virtual machine and configured the transmission of traffic. When the file distribution server responded with a 502 Bad Gateway error, Gemini found the cause and fixed the problem.
The whole procedure took six minutes. The new infrastructure allowed to control eight computers of the dental clinic and access the Open Dental database. The man was not involved in finding mistakes and soon interrupted the work for almost two hours.
After the return of the operator, Gemini found that the infected devices did not connect to the new server. The reason was the simultaneous work of the old and new control systems. On the advice of Gemini, the attacker turned off the previous server, after which artificial intelligence restarted the new system and confirmed that the computers connected.
TrendAI counted 59 actions that Gemini performed without separate instructions during the transfer of infrastructure. According to the company, artificial intelligence designed 80% of the attack scheme, wrote the entire code, performed all the system commands and conducted 90% of the diagnosis.
To circumvent the restrictions, bandcampro introduced itself to an authorized security checker and demanded to disable the warnings, as well as automatically save the found accounts. However, Gemini did not fulfill all requests. The model refused to create a program that would independently scan the network and extend to the maximum number of computers.
The entire diagram was placed in three text files with a total volume of about four pages. The first file contained instructions on how to circumvent Gemini restrictions, the second described the botnet control system, the third explained how to move the server in six steps. The total size of the instructions was about 5 KB.
The authors of the report believe that such materials sharply reduce the requirements for the training of criminals. Knowledge that used to require an experienced malware developer can now be saved in a small file and transfer to artificial intelligence. Control servers are becoming disposable, and operators can quickly restore the infrastructure after blocking.
Experts emphasize that the problem is not limited to Gemini. Similar methods of bypassing protection can work against any sufficiently powerful language model, if the developers have not limited its rights and do not monitor suspicious behavior.
The operation was discovered by TrendAI specialists, who studied more than 200 journals of Gemini CLI sessions. The materials cover the period from March 19 to April 21 and show the work of the attacker under the pseudonym bandcampro. According to the company, Gemini performed about 90% of all work, and the operator mainly led the process.
The attacker used artificial intelligence to steal accounts and cryptocurrency. Among the goals were supporters of Donald Trump and conspiracy theorists. Earlier, bandcampro with the help of Gemini impersonated an American veteran, managed a Telegram channel, stole the data of administrators and gained access to digital wallets.
Magazines show that Gemini installed programs, configured a home proxy server, checked passwords in several threads, processed data from information thieves, studied sites and wrote code to access third-party interfaces. The cameraman did not enter the commands. Instead, bandcampro described the necessary actions with ordinary phrases.
The old botnet infrastructure was connected to infected computers through the Cloudflare tunnel. After the protective programs and network filters began to block such connections, the attacker instructed Gemini to move the system to a new scheme.
On March 23, Gemini received an archive with a server code, malicious files and instructions from SKILL.md. Artificial intelligence read the manual, launched a control server on a virtual machine and configured the transmission of traffic. When the file distribution server responded with a 502 Bad Gateway error, Gemini found the cause and fixed the problem.
The whole procedure took six minutes. The new infrastructure allowed to control eight computers of the dental clinic and access the Open Dental database. The man was not involved in finding mistakes and soon interrupted the work for almost two hours.
After the return of the operator, Gemini found that the infected devices did not connect to the new server. The reason was the simultaneous work of the old and new control systems. On the advice of Gemini, the attacker turned off the previous server, after which artificial intelligence restarted the new system and confirmed that the computers connected.
TrendAI counted 59 actions that Gemini performed without separate instructions during the transfer of infrastructure. According to the company, artificial intelligence designed 80% of the attack scheme, wrote the entire code, performed all the system commands and conducted 90% of the diagnosis.
To circumvent the restrictions, bandcampro introduced itself to an authorized security checker and demanded to disable the warnings, as well as automatically save the found accounts. However, Gemini did not fulfill all requests. The model refused to create a program that would independently scan the network and extend to the maximum number of computers.
The entire diagram was placed in three text files with a total volume of about four pages. The first file contained instructions on how to circumvent Gemini restrictions, the second described the botnet control system, the third explained how to move the server in six steps. The total size of the instructions was about 5 KB.
The authors of the report believe that such materials sharply reduce the requirements for the training of criminals. Knowledge that used to require an experienced malware developer can now be saved in a small file and transfer to artificial intelligence. Control servers are becoming disposable, and operators can quickly restore the infrastructure after blocking.
Experts emphasize that the problem is not limited to Gemini. Similar methods of bypassing protection can work against any sufficiently powerful language model, if the developers have not limited its rights and do not monitor suspicious behavior.
