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:
- BeatBanker: A dual‑mode Android Trojan
March 10, 2026
Recently, Kaspersky researchers uncovered BeatBanker, an Android‑based malware campaign targeting Brazil. It spreads primarily through phishing attacks via a website disguised as the Google Play Store. To achieve their goals, the malicious APKs carry multiple components, including a cryptocurrency miner and a banking Trojan capable of completely hijacking the device and spoofing screens, among other ...
- Ericsson US reveals employee and customer data breach after third-party hack
March 10, 2026
The US arm of Ericsson has confirmed suffering a third-party data breach which saw it lose sensitive data on an undisclosed number of its customers. In a data breach notification letter sent out to affected individuals, Ericsson US said it spotted “a suspicious event” and potential unauthorized access to its systems on April 28, 2025. The ...
- DOGE employee stole Social Security data and put it on a thumb drive
March 10, 2026
A former employee of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency reportedly stole Americans’ personal data from the U.S. Social Security Administration and stored it on a thumb drive, according to a whistleblower complaint reported by The Washington Post. The former DOGE software engineer told co-workers at his new job that he “possessed two tightly restricted databases ...
- Critical Microsoft Excel bug weaponizes Copilot Agent for zero-click information disclosure attack
March 10, 2026
After a whopper of a Patch Tuesday last month, with six Microsoft flaws exploited as zero-days, March didn’t exactly roar in like a lion. Just two of the 83 Microsoft CVEs released on Tuesday are listed as publicly known, and none is under active exploitation, which we’re sure is a welcome change to sysadmins. Another eight ...
- Polish cops bust alleged teen DDoS kit sellers – youngest just 12
March 10, 2026
Polish police have referred seven suspected juvenile cybercriminals to family court over an alleged scheme to flog DDoS kits online. The youths, aged between 12 and 16 at the time of the alleged offenses, all face charges related to selling DDoS tools in what police described as a purely profit-driven scheme. Poland’s Central Bureau for Combating ...
- ShinyHunters claims more high-profile victims in latest Salesforce customers data heist
March 9, 2026
ShinyHunters told The Register that it has stolen data from about 100 high-profile companies in its latest Salesforce customer data heist, including Salesforce itself. “Have stolen data from almost 400 websites and about 100 essential high profile companies Snowflake, Okta, Lastpass, Salesforce itself, Sony, AMD, and a lot more,” a ShinyHunters spokesperson told us, adding ...