The underground market for criminally oriented generative AI has moved beyond the early hype surrounding ‘malicious chatbots.’ The gradual integration of AI as a productivity layer within cybercrime operations has become the dominant story, indicating that while the potential for fully autonomous AI hacking systems is possible, attackers are not embracing them as expected. Instead, threat actors are increasingly using AI to accelerate routine, but operationally significant, tasks to scale their operations. Drafting phishing lures, profiling targets, debugging code, generating forged documents, modifying malware, translating victim communications, and processing stolen data at scale were once time-consuming activities that AI has made significantly easier. AI does not replace cybercriminals; it lowers friction, increases speed, and expands the range of actors able to perform tasks that previously required more time, skill, or external support.
Read more…
Source: Rapid7 News
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- UK: Derbyshire police officer investigated over alleged use of AI to ‘create evidence’
June 13, 2026
A Derbyshire police officer is being investigated over claims they used artificial intelligence (AI) to create evidence in criminal cases. The investigation is the first known case of its kind in UK criminal justice and has seen the cop removed from frontline duties. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it was “engaging with” defence lawyers and the courts over ...
- Novo Nordisk reports cyberattack as UK gives Wegovy pill the nod
June 12, 2026
Pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk says data related to clinical trial participants was stolen as part of a cyberattack. The affected patient data was pseudonymized and not directly linked to names or other direct identifiers, the company said. The maker of the Wegovy weight-loss drug said the affected data types include patient ID, information on trial participation, gender, ...
- More than 12,000 servers supported a coordinated phishing infrastructure worldwide
June 11, 2026
When a suspicious email lands in your inbox promising financial rewards or urgent payment requests, the infrastructure behind that email is rarely what it appears to be. An investigation by Comparitech revealed a coordinated spam and phishing network spanning 12,704 servers in 55 countries. These phishing emails are tied to fake financial rewards and similar scams, using tactics designed ...
- Criminal AI-as-a-Service in 2026: How the Underground Market Is Operationalizing Cybercrime
June 11, 2026
The underground market for criminally oriented generative AI has moved beyond the early hype surrounding ‘malicious chatbots.’ The gradual integration of AI as a productivity layer within cybercrime operations has become the dominant story, indicating that while the potential for fully autonomous AI hacking systems is possible, attackers are not embracing them as expected. Instead, ...
- Data of 2.4 million VRChat users stolen
June 11, 2026
VRChat, Inc. has filed a data breach notice revealing that the information of more than 2.4 million users was involved in a data breach. According to the notice, VRChat experienced unauthorized access to some account data between May 10 and May 12, 2026. The access happened in VRChat’s cloud environment and involved user profile and login-related data. Read more… Source: ...
- Free Spotify Premium hacks on social media are spreading infostealers
June 10, 2026
Short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels have become the latest way cybercriminals spread malware. We’ve already seen attackers move away from traditional phishing emails and toward tactics that trick people into installing malware themselves. Now they’re being lured with slick social media videos that promise free Spotify Premium, free Windows activation, or free Microsoft Office, but ...