Criminal AI-as-a-Service in 2026: How the Underground Market Is Operationalizing Cybercrime


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:

  • MoneyTaker Cybercriminal Group Steals $10 Million from Financial Institutions

    December 12, 2017

    Security researchers shed light on the Russian-speaking cybercriminal group MoneyTaker, which was reported to have perpetrated cyberattacks against financial organizations in the U.S. and Russia. The group reportedly stole as much as $10 million from at least 20 card payment and inter-bank transfer systems. What is MoneyTaker? MoneyTaker is a cybercriminal group named after the custom malware they use ...

  • Collection of 1.4 Billion Plain-Text Leaked Passwords Found Circulating Online

    December 11, 2017

    Hackers always first go for the weakest link to quickly gain access to your online accounts. Online users habit of reusing the same password across multiple services gives hackers opportunity to use the credentials gathered from a data breach to break into their other online accounts. Researchers from security firm 4iQ have now discovered a new collective database on ...

  • ‘Significant amount’ of sensitive security data stolen in Perth Airport hacking

    December 10, 2017

    A skilled hacker in Vietnam stole sensitive security details and building plans from Perth Airport after breaking into its computer systems. The West Australian can reveal Vietnamese man Le Duc Hoang Hai used the credentials of a third-party contractor to get access to the airport’s computer systems in March last year. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s cybersecurity adviser Alastair ...

  • Pre-Installed Keylogger Found On Over 460 HP Laptop Models

    December 8, 2017

    HP has an awful history of ‘accidentally’ leaving keyloggers onto its customers’ laptops. At least two times this year, HP laptops were caught with pre-installed keylogger or spyware applications. I was following a tweet made by a security researcher claiming to have found a built-in keylogger in several HP laptops, and now he went public with his findings. A security researcher who goes ...

  • Banking Apps Found Vulnerable to MITM Attacks

    December 7, 2017

    Leading US and UK-based banks have patched a flaw found in their Android and iOS mobile apps that allowed adversaries to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks to steal customer credentials and view and manipulate network traffic. According to researchers at the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham that found the flaw, the vulnerability impacted nine apps belonging ...

  • International team takes down virus-spewing Andromeda botnet

    December 5, 2017

    Police and private companies have taken down a massive botnet used to move malware onto compromised PCs. The Andromeda botnet, also known as Gamarue, is thought to have spanned over two million PCs and distributed over 80 types of malware onto infected PCs. It was shut down on November 29 in a combined operation by Europol, ...