CrowdStrike: Adversaries are weaponising and targeting AI at scale

CrowdStrike has released its 2025 Threat Hunting Report, highlighting a new phase in modern cyberattacks: adversaries are operationalising generative AI (gen AI) to scale operations and accelerate attacks – and increasingly targeting the autonomous AI agents reshaping enterprise operations.

Based on frontline intelligence from CrowdStrike’s elite threat hunters and intelligence analysts tracking more than 265 named adversaries, the report reveals how threat actors are targeting tools used to build AI agents. According to CrowdStrike, these threat actors are gaining access, stealing credentials, and deploying malware – a clear sign that autonomous systems and machine identities have become a core part of the enterprise attack surface.

Source: CrowdStrike. 2025 Threat Hunting Report cover and pages.

Report highlights include:

AI weaponised at scale

Some 320+ organisations were infiltrated by DPRK-nexus adversaries using gen AI accelerated attacks. DPRK-nexus adversary FAMOUS CHOLLIMA used gen AI to automate every phase of its insider attack programme. From building fake resumes and conducting deepfake interviews to completing technical tasks under false identities – AI-powered adversary tradecraft is transforming traditional insider threats into scalable, persistent operations.

Agentic AI is the new attack surface

CrowdStrike observed multiple threat actors exploiting vulnerabilities in tools used to build AI agents, gaining unauthenticated access, establishing persistence, harvesting credentials, and deploying malware and ransomware. These attacks demonstrate how the agentic AI revolution is reshaping the enterprise attack surface – turning autonomous workflows and non-human identities into the next frontier of adversary exploitation.  

Gen AI-built malware

Lower-tier e-crime and hacktivist actors are abusing AI to generate scripts, solve technical problems, and build malware – automating tasks that once required advanced expertise. Funklocker and SparkCat are early proof points that gen AI-built malware is no longer theoretical, it’s already operational, CrowdStrike said.

SCATTERED SPIDER attacks

The group resurged in 2025 with faster and more aggressive tradecraft – leveraging vishing and help desk impersonation to reset credentials, bypass multifactor authentication (MFA), and move laterally across software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud environments. In one incident, the group moved from initial access to encryption by deploying ransomware in under 24 hours.  

China-nexus adversaries drive surge in cloud attacks

Cloud intrusions rose 136%, with China-linked adversaries responsible for 40% of increased activity, as GENESIS PANDA and MURKY PANDA evaded detection through cloud misconfigurations and trusted access.

“The AI era has redefined how businesses operate, and how adversaries attack. We’re seeing threat actors use gen AI to scale social engineering, accelerate operations, and lower the barrier to entry for hands-on-keyboard intrusions,” said Adam Meyers, head of counter adversary operations at CrowdStrike. Eight in 10 (81%) hands-on-keyboard intrusions were malware-free in the last 12 months, the report found.

“At the same time, adversaries are targeting the very AI systems organisations are deploying. Every AI agent is a superhuman identity: autonomous, fast, and deeply integrated, making them high-value targets. Adversaries are treating these agents like infrastructure, attacking them the same way they target SaaS platforms, cloud consoles, and privileged accounts. Securing the AI that powers business is where the cyber battleground is evolving,” Meyers added.

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Download the CrowdStrike 2025 Threat Hunting Report at https://www.crowdstrike.com/en-us/resources/reports/threat-hunting-report/