The rise of agentic AI tools will transform the cybercrime landscape, according to a new report from Malwarebytes.
Agentic AI—which is still under development—is a step above the generative AI tools that are currently available to the public, and will likely be widely released in 2025. While these tools will have many legitimate uses, they’ll also enable cybercriminals to scale their attacks.
“Emerging agentic AI models—which can reason, plan, and act autonomously—will further revolutionize cybercriminal tactics, making attacks more scalable and efficient in 2025,” the researchers write. “Just as businesses are beginning to explore AI for productivity and security, cybercriminals are leveraging it to improve phishing campaigns, evade detection, and fine-tune attacks.
This marks a turning point: the arms race between AI-powered attackers and AI-enhanced cybersecurity tools is rapidly escalating, forcing businesses to rethink traditional defense strategies.”
Notably, agentic AI could enable attackers to automate big-game ransomware attacks, which currently require a great deal of effort.
“Agentic AI could be used to scale up the number and speed of attacks,” Malwarebytes says. “Big game ransomware requires a lot of human labor. With the expected near-term advances in AI, we could soon live in a world where well-funded ransomware gangs use AI agents to attack multiple targets at the same time. Malicious AI agents might also be tasked with searching out and compromising vulnerable targets, running and fine-tuning malvertising campaigns, or determining the best method for breaching victims.”
The researchers add that 2024 was “the worst year ever for big game ransomware,” with a 13% increase in these attacks compared to 2023.
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