Weaponized AI is making hackers faster, more aggressive, and more successful

Date:
Mon, 04 Aug 2025 14:13:00 +0000

Description:
Hackers are using generative AI to improve the speed and quality of their attacks, while simultaneously attacking enterprise AI.

FULL STORY

New research from CrowdStrike confirms that hackers are exploiting AI to help them deliver more aggressive attacks in less time, with the tech also democratizing lesser-skilled hackers to more advanced code.

However, besides this, they're also exploiting the same AI systems that are being used by enterprises according to CrowdStrike, hackers are targeting
the tools used to build AI agents, allowing them to gain access, steal credentials, and deploy malware.

CrowdStrike is most worried about agentic AI systems, suggesting that they've now become a "core part of the enterprise attack surface."

Attackers are honing in on enterprise AI

The security company says it observed "multiple" hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in the tools used to build AI agents, which marks a major
shift from patterns of old. Until now, humans have almost always been the primary entry point into a company, but now, CrowdStrike is worried that "autonomous workflows and non-human identities [are] the next frontier of adversary exploitation."

"Were seeing threat actors use GenAI to scale social engineering, accelerate operations, and lower the barrier to entry for hands-on-keyboard intrusions," Head of Counter Adversary Operations Adam Meyers explained.

Funklocker and SparkCat are two examples of GenAI-built malware in the real world, while DPRK-nexus Famous Chollima has also been observed using
generative AI to automate its insider attack program across all phases. Scattered Spider, a group believed to consist of UK and US nationals, even managed to deploy ransomware within 24 hours of accessing systems.

"Adversaries are treating these agents like infrastructure, attacking them
the same way they target SaaS platforms, cloud consoles, and privileged accounts," Meyers added.

Still, even though technologies like AI are playing an increasing role in speeding up attacks, CrowdStrike found that four in five (81%) interactive intrusions were malware-free relying on human hands on keyboards to stay undetected.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/weaponized-ai-is-making-hackers-faster- more-aggressive-and-more-successful

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