How cyber criminals have increased the speed and scale of attacks

Technology
30 Mar 2026 • 6:55 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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  • AI-powered cyber attacks, including deepfakes and advanced social engineering, are leading to record levels of online crime and financial losses in 2026.
  • Hackers are utilising AI tools like Google's Gemini to develop sophisticated traps, conduct reconnaissance, and create hyper-realistic impersonations for scams.
  • Generative AI has transformed social engineering, enabling criminals to craft highly personalised phishing attacks, synthetic voice calls, and deepfake video personas, making them alarmingly effective.
  • New forms of AI-driven malware, such as Promptflux, use large language models to mutate their code in real-time, making them nearly undetectable by traditional antivirus software.
  • Experts warn that AI has industrialised cybercrime, dramatically increasing the speed, scale, and sophistication of attacks, with projected losses from AI-driven fraud potentially reaching $40 billion by 2027.

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