Be careful where you click ChatGPT joins Microsoft, Google in most-impersonated brands online

Date:
Fri, 24 Jul 2026 10:25:00 +0000

Description:
OpenAI debuts in the top 10 most impersonated companies, seeing nearly as
many attacks as PayPal, WhatsApp, Facebook.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter OpenAI now accounts for 1.1% of all tracked brand impersonations, ranking top 10 Microsoft and LinkedIn still account for a joint 34.2% of all impersonations Basic cybersecurity hygiene can prevent many attacks New research from Check Point has revealed ChatGPT
is becoming increasingly targeted in brand phishing attempts, with the
company now appearing in the top-10 list alongside heavy hitters like Microsoft , Google and Apple .

Though ChatGPT only accounted for 1.1% of all tracked brand phishing
attempts, this marks the first time it's appeared in the top-10 and reflects continued growth for attackers. It sees a similar number of attacks to PayPal (1.3%), WhatsApp (1.4%) and Facebook (1.9%), but at present, it's far behind Microsoft, which when combined with its LinkedIn subsidiary, accounts for
more than a third (34.2%) of all tracked brand impersonations. Latest Videos From Watch full video here: ChatGPT is growing as an impersonated brand One example from the second quarter of this year saw fake ChatGPT Plus payment failure emails copying OpenAI's branding, but directing victims to a fraudulent payment page to maliciously collect their payment information.

As for Microsoft, fake support pages warned customers that they needed to update Office for security fixes, but the download actually installed malware on victim devices. You may like The vast majority of phishing attacks are now generated by AI, experts warn From typos to deepfakes: the new AI cybersecurity battleground AI-generated threats are hitting businesses harder than ever - do you know what to look out for?

Attacks on OpenAI are fairly ironic, because it's likely to company's own AI tools (among plenty of others) that actually helped attackers to write many
of the attacks at lightning pace.

Overall, tech companies were targeted most, followed by social media
platforms in a similar vein, and then banking apps. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Despite fluctuations in terms of which brands are targeted and how campaigns look, the general attack vector remains unchanged, with cybercriminals targeting vulnerable users and emphasizing urgency to trick people out of sharing information, credentials and payment details.

Security experts warn potential victims to be weary of clicking on unknown URLs and opening unexpected communications, as well as to protect their accounts with passkeys and secure multi-factor authentication (MFA). Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/be-careful-where-you-click-chatgpt-join s-microsoft-google-in-most-impersonated-brands-online


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