Artificial intelligence is speeding up timelines for cyber attacks, a new report has found, creating what the authors call a widening “cybersecurity speed gap” between bad actors and defense efforts.
The report from Booz Allen Hamilton, published this month, shows that cyber criminals are now moving from initial access to broader system compromise in less than 30 minutes on average — and sometimes in seconds. And attackers are using AI as a collaborator in their speedier attacks. For example, AI is helping cyber criminals quickly create realistic phishing emails, research multiple targets in minutes and write malicious code even if they lack coding skills.
Read more…
Source: Government Technology News
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Nichirei getting back online after cyberattack hit KFC supplies
July 16, 2026
Nichirei, the food distributor hit by a cyberattack that disrupted supplies to Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan and other outlets, said its systems are getting back online as it takes steps to remedy the disruption. The Tokyo-based provider of frozen food, ice and meat products said in a statement Thursday that it worked with an external cybersecurity specialist to ...
- Tech support scam caused massive data breach at Australian airline Qantas
July 16, 2026
Australia’s Privacy Commissioner has revealed a tech support scam was the cause of the massive 2025 data breach at Australian airline Qantas and found the carrier didn’t breach its privacy obligations despite leaking personally identifiable information for 5.7 million customers. The Commissioner reached that conclusion, and a decision not to open a formal privacy probe, in ...
- Hackers who gained access to heart of London transport network jailed
July 16, 2026
The data of millions of commuters was stolen, Londoners were left out of pocket and 27,000 Transport for London staff were forced to reset their passwords. Over four days in 2024 a pair of teenage hackers had London’s transport network at their mercy. The hackers had burrowed into the heart of Transport for London’s IT systems and held ...
- This fake Apple app can unlock your Mac’s password vault
July 15, 2026
CrashStealer is a new macOS infostealer that masquerades as Apple’s CrashReporter component, uses an Apple‑notarized installer to slip past Gatekeeper, tricks users into handing over their password, and then systematically loots browsers, password managers, crypto wallets, and Keychain secrets before exfiltrating them in AES‑encrypted bundles. Researchers have been following the development of CrashStealer since May 2026. It ...
- New phishing campaign hits LastPass, Bitwarden users
July 15, 2026
Criminals have been found impersonating popular password managers LastPass and Bitwarden online in an attempt to trick users into sharing their login credentials, and thus access to a treasure trove of passwords and other secrets. LastPass recently issued a warning to its customers, raising awareness of the ongoing phishing campaign. However the scam also now seems to ...
- Top AI tools such as OpenClaw and Github Copilot can be hijacked to create new massive botnets
July 15, 2026
Your favorite AI service could be subverted to deploy code that turns your phone or PC into a botnet, according to researchers at Intuit, Technion, and Tel Aviv University. The technique has been given the name HalluSquatting, a portmanteau of adversarial hallucination squatting, and is similar to typosquatting in that it relies on a mistake in ...