Adversaries Leverage AI for Vulnerability Exploitation, Augmented Operations, and Initial Access


Since our February 2026 report on AI-related threat activity, Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has continued to track a maturing transition from nascent AI-enabled operations to the industrial-scale application of generative models within adversarial workflows. This report, based on insights derived from Mandiant incident response engagements, Gemini, and GTIG’s proactive research, highlights the dual nature of the current threat environment where AI serves as both a sophisticated engine for adversary operations and a high-value target for attacks. We explore the following developments: Vulnerability Discovery and Exploit Generation; AI-Augmented Development for Defense Evasion; Autonomous Malware Operations; AI-Augmented Research and IO: Obfuscated LLM Access; Supply Chain Attacks.

Read more…
Source: Google Threat Intelligence Group


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Palo Alto Networks fixes critical flaw in PAN-OS firewall software

    September 11, 2020

    Palo Alto Networks has fixed a new critical vulnerability affecting multiple versions of PAN-OS, the operating system affecting its next-generation firewalls. The issue received the identification number CVE-2020-2040 and has a severity score of 9.8 out of 10 and requires no user interaction. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit it by sending a malicious request to specific ...

  • APT28 Mounts Rapid, Large-Scale Theft of Office 365 Logins

    September 11, 2020

    The Russia-linked threat group known as APT28 has changed up its tactics to include Office 365 password-cracking and credential-harvesting. Microsoft researchers have tied APT28 (a.k.a. Strontium, Sofacy or Fancy Bear) to this newly uncovered pattern of O365 activity, which began in April and is ongoing. The attacks have been aimed mainly at U.S. and U.K. organizations ...

  • Microsoft confirms Chinese, Iranian, and Russian cyber-attacks on Biden and Trump campaigns

    September 10, 2020

    Microsoft said today that Chinese, Iranian, and Russian state-sponsored hackers had tried to breach email accounts belonging to people associated with the Biden and Trump election campaigns. The “majority of these attacks” were detected and blocked, according to Tom Burt, Corporate Vice President for Customer Security & Trust at Microsoft. Burt disclosed the incidents in a blog ...

  • An overview of targeted attacks and APTs on Linux

    September 10, 2020

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot has been written about targeted attacks on Windows systems. Windows is, due to its popularity, the platform for which we discover most APT attack tools. At the same time, there’s a widely held opinion that Linux is a secure-by-default operating system that isn’t susceptible to malicious code. It’s certainly true that ...

  • Ransomware: Huge rise in attacks this year as cyber criminals hunt bigger pay days

    September 9, 2020

    There’s been a huge increase in the number of ransomware attacks over the course of 2020, with a seven-fold rise in campaigns compared with just last year alone, according to newly released data from cybersecurity researchers. Ransomware attacks have been on the rise and getting more dangerous in recent years, with cyber criminals aiming to encrypt ...

  • Strategic investment to secure smart factories

    September 9, 2020

    Security is undergoing a digital transformation in the manufacturing industry. As the fusion of the cyber world and the physical world progresses, various security issues are mounting. Manufacturing executives must view security as a management issue, not as a system issue. Is cyber security a cost or an investment? Trend Micro has published an ebook that focuses ...