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:
- SantaStealer is Coming to Town: A New, Ambitious Infostealer Advertised on Underground Forums
December 15, 2025
Rapid7 Labs has identified a new malware-as-a-service information stealer being actively promoted through Telegram channels and on underground hacker forums. The stealer is advertised under the name “SantaStealer” and is planned to be released before the end of 2025. Open source intelligence suggests that it recently underwent a rebranding from the name “BluelineStealer.” The malware collects ...
- PayPal closes loophole that let scammers send real emails with fake purchase notices
December 15, 2025
After an investigation by BleepingComputer, PayPal closed a loophole that allowed scammers to send emails from the legitimate [email protected] email address. Following reports from people who received emails claiming an automatic payment had been cancelled, BleepingComputer found that cybercriminals were abusing a PayPal feature that allows merchants to pause a customer’s subscription. Read more… Source: Malwarebytes Labs Sign up ...
- LastPass 2022 Data Breach — 1.6 Million Users Exposed By Security Failure
December 14, 2025
Any data breach affecting 1.6 million people is big news, especially when it involves one of the most prominent password managers out there: LastPass. The U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office has just fined LastPass £1.2 million ($1.6 million) for failing to “implement sufficiently robust technical and security measures, which ultimately enabled a hacker to gain unauthorised access ...
- German Government Summons Russian Ambassador Over Major Cyberattack
December 12, 2025
The German government has formally summoned the Russian ambassador following the attribution of a significant cyberattack and coordinated disinformation campaign to Russian actors. This development comes amid heightened concerns regarding interference in Germany’s political processes and critical infrastructure. According to official statements, the cyberattack in question targeted the German Air Traffic Control (Deutsche Flugsicherung, DFS) in ...
- Lazarus, Kimsuky Conduct 58 Attacks Targeting South Korea
December 12, 2025
The North Korean hacking group Lazarus, affiliated with the Reconnaissance General Bureau, is strongly suspected to be behind a 4.45 billion Korean won hacking incident at the virtual asset exchange Upbit. It has been confirmed that Lazarus carried out at least 31 hacking attacks over the past year. According to AhnLab’s “2025 Cyber Threat Trends & ...
- Data breach at credit check giant 700Credit affects at least 5.6 million
December 12, 2025
At least 5.6 million people had their names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers stolen in a data breach at 700Credit, a company that runs credit checks and identity verification services for auto dealerships across the United States. In a statement on its website, the Michigan-based company blamed the October data breach on an ...