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AI powering a “dramatic surge” in cyberthreats as automated scans hit 36,000 per second

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  • AI is fueling a huge increase in cyberattacks
  • The US is the primary target for ransomware attacks
  • Threat actors are turning to vulnerable assets

It won’t come as a surprise to many cybersecurity professionals, but AI is behind a drastic rise in the number of cyberattacks, with new research from Fortinet revealing the apparenty scale of the problem.

The study found that year-on-year, automated scanning activity has seen a 16.7% increase, with 36,000 scans per second recorded globally - with the research describing threat actors as “shifting left” towards vulnerable digital assets “earlier in the attack lifecycle”, in particular, Remote Desktop Protocol, IoT systems, and Session Initiation Protocols.

Infostealers have been threatening organizations for a long time, but this research has unveiled a staggering 500% increase in available logs from compromised systems - meaning over 1.7 billion stolen credentials are circulating on the dark web, noting, “this flood of stolen data has led to a sharp increase in targeted cyberattacks against businesses and individuals."

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The report warns cybercriminals are taking advantage of these login details too, with a 42% increase in compromised credentials observed for sale.

Interestingly, zero-day attacks only account for a “small percentage” of threats, and cybercriminals are increasingly using “live of the land” vulnerabilities to remain undetected.

The Ransomware-as-a-Service landscape is expanding, with new groups emerging and old players solidifying their gains. Ransomhub was the most active group in 2024, claiming 13% of victims, with LockBit 3.0 (12%), Play (8%) and Medusa (4%) all following close behind.

Such ransomware attacks are targeting one country in particular, with the United States taking 61% of incidents, followed by the UK at 6%, and Canada at 5% - a strong indication of the trend against American organizations.

“Our 2025 Global Threat Landscape Report makes it clear: cybercriminals are scaling faster than ever, using AI and automation to gain the upper hand,” said Derek Manky, Chief Security Strategist and Global Vice President of Threat Intelligence at FortiGuard Labs.

“Defenders must abandon outdated security playbooks and transition to proactive, intelligence-driven strategies that incorporate AI, zero trust architectures, and continuous threat exposure management.”

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