For as long as Facebook has been a popular platform, the spread of malware has been a problem. However, according to a report from Facebook’s own security researchers, there are “aggressive and persistent” new threats on the platform that are targeting businesses in order to run fraudulent ad campaigns.

According to the social media giant, its engineers have uncovered 10 new strains of malware on the platform just this year. Of those, several have posed as ChatGPT AI browser extensions or tools. That led Meta Chief Information Security Officer Guy Rosen to describe ChatGPT as “the new crypto” for scammers looking to trick users with a buzzy topic in the news.

After business account owners download the malware and their accounts are compromised, Facebook says that these bad actors often use their money or their account to post scam ads that further spread the attack.

“Because these malicious groups are financially motivated, we expect them to continue probing defenses by diversifying their operations to spread across the internet so they can withstand disruptions by any one company — ours included,” several Facebook engineers wrote in a blog post.

While it’s disheartening to hear Facebook admit that these attacks will just keep going, at least the company is more transparent than they used to be about the scale and scope of the problem.

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