Could hackers use AI agents to spam your WhatsApp contacts? Here’s what researchers found

For many Indians getting WhatsApp messages from unknown numbers has become a normal part of daily life. These messages may be ads, sales offers, or promotions. WhatsApp has added several features to reduce spam. However, researchers warn that future spam messages could be sent automatically by misusing AI agents from companies like OpenAI. Researchers from the cybersecurity company Zenity found that OpenAI’s Atlas browser which has a built in AI agent can be misused to send spam messages to many WhatsApp contacts. They shared these findings in a research paper on August 5 at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

The experiment managed to get around several security protections added by OpenAI. However, the researchers did not find or use any weakness in WhatsApp and its end-to-end encryption was not affected. Researchers found more than 20 security problems in AI powered web browsers and browser extensions from companies like OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, and Perplexity. These problems could let attackers take control of AI agents, access computers, download private files, control password managers, and make purchases on Amazon without permission.

The research supports earlier warnings that AI agents built into web browsers and extensions could create new security risks. It also shows that new safety measures are needed for AI browser agents. According to the researchers basic web security rules, such as the same origin policy that stops websites from interacting with each other. Michael Bargury who is the co founder and CTO of Zenity said that, “They have nerfed the security control of browsers we are now back to seeing the kinds of attacks that you saw on browsers 20 years ago.” Bargury also added, “You are putting yourself in a situation where the browser can completely get hijacked and your accounts can get compromised, your data can leak. We shoul   d be very mindful about planning out what level of access the agents need to get to the browsers and what level of agency they need to use those browsers. ”

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