AI is 'both the weapon and the target' in latest wave of cyberattacks

The latest wave of cyberattacks is seeing AI being utilized both as a weapon and a target, according to CrowdStrike's annual Threat Hunting Report. AI-enabled adversaries have seen a 89 percent increase in attacks on 2025, with criminal gangs and nation states employing AI throughout the attack chain. This includes using AI to target organizations' AI infrastructure and poisoning popular software packages, leading to compromised users.

CrowdStrike's senior VP, Adam Meyers, noted that AI is both an attack tool and a high-value target, and it is being used by more and more threat actors. The report highlighted the use of AI in LLMjacking, where criminals steal corporate credentials to access frontier-model APIs, and cost harvesting, which involves deliberately inflating a victim's AI usage to run up its bill.

Additionally, AI is being targeted through supply-chain compromises and CI/CD pipelines, with Lazarus Group offshoots being implicated in several high-profile attacks.

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