A fundamental challenge with large language models (LLMs) in a security context is that their greatest strengths as defensive tools are precisely what enable their offensive power.
This issue is known as the dual-use dilemma, a concept typically applied to technologies like nuclear physics or biotechnology, but now also central to AI. Any tool powerful enough to build a complex system can also be repurposed to break one. This dilemma manifests in several critical ways related to cybersecurity. While defenders can employ LLMs to speed up and improve responses, attackers can also take advantage of them for their workflows. For example:
Read more…
Source: Palo Alto Unit 42
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- DOJ says ransomware gang tapped into Russian government databases
May 6, 2026
A U.S. court has sentenced Latvian hacker Deniss Zolotarjovs to more than eight years in prison following his conviction for carrying out ransomware attacks. The Justice Department accused the hacker of working for a notorious Russian ransomware gang called Karakurt, which was led by former leaders of the Akira and Conti ransomware gangs, who were sanctioned ...
- Critical Buffer Overflow in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS User-ID Authentication Portal (CVE-2026-0300)
May 6, 2026
On May 6, 2026, Palo Alto Networks published a security advisory for CVE-2026-0300, a critical unauthenticated buffer overflow vulnerability affecting PAN-OS PA-Series and VM-Series firewall appliances. Prisma Access, Cloud NGFW, and Panorama appliances are not affected by this vulnerability. The vulnerability carries a CVSSv4 score of 9.3 and has been confirmed as exploited in the wild ...
- Update WhatsApp now: Two new flaws could expose you to malicious files
May 5, 2026
Meta has published a new security advisory for messaging app WhatsApp, announcing patches for two vulnerabilities. WhatsApp has fixed two security flaws that could be abused to interfere with how media and attachments are handled on your device. There is no evidence that either bug has been exploited in the wild. These bugs don’t automatically infect ...
- DAEMON Tools software compromised with a malicious payload
May 5, 2026
In early May 2026, Kaspersky researchers identified installers of the DAEMON Tools software, used for mounting disk images, to be compromised with a malicious payload. These installers are distributed from the legitimate website of DAEMON Tools and are signed with digital certificates belonging to DAEMON Tools developers. Kaspersky analysis revealed that the software installers have been ...
- Trellix confirms data breach after hack of ‘a portion’ of its source code
May 5, 2026
Cybersecurity giant Trellix has confirmed suffering a cyberattack in which threat actors accessed parts of its source code. In a brief announcement published on its website, Trellix said it had identified “unauthorized access to a portion of source code repository”. As soon as it spotted the intrusion, the company brought in third-party security experts to ...
- Quasar Linux (QLNX) – Inside a Full-Featured Linux RAT
May 4, 2026
In previous research, Trend Micro have demonstrated how AI can be used to improve detection accuracy when new malware families emerge, particularly those that reuse or share code from open-source repositories. In this blog entry, Trends Micro researchers present another compelling finding from the same approach. Trend Micro platform recently flagged an unusual Linux implant with ...