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Date Trend snippet:
12 May 2021
Relevance date:
2020
Type of Treath or Oppertunity
Domain of application
Source of threat
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- Trend snippet: AI-supported ransomware attacks
Trends in Security
Trends in Security Information
The HSD Trendmonitor is designed to provide access to relevant content on various subjects in the safety and security domain, to identify relevant developments and to connect knowledge and organisations. The safety and security domain encompasses a vast number of subjects. Four relevant taxonomies (type of threat or opportunity, victim, source of threat and domain of application) have been constructed in order to visualize all of these subjects. The taxonomies and related category descriptions have been carefully composed according to other taxonomies, European and international standards and our own expertise.
In order to identify safety and security related trends, relevant reports and HSD news articles are continuously scanned, analysed and classified by hand according to the four taxonomies. This results in a wide array of observations, which we call ‘Trend Snippets’. Multiple Trend Snippets combined can provide insights into safety and security trends. The size of the circles shows the relative weight of the topic, the filters can be used to further select the most relevant content for you. If you have an addition, question or remark, drop us a line at info@securitydelta.nl.
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AI-supported ransomware attacks
Cybercriminals are increasingly using ransomware to target city-wide services and municipalities. Consequently, the combination of AI and ransomware could potentially have even more damaging effects to such targets. Other targets, such as critical infrastructure and essential services are also highly vulnerable for AI-supported ransomware attacks. Damage to before mentioned targets can have serious consequences for a large geographical area.
More source info
AI-Supported Ransomware
The 2017 WannaCry and NotPetya cyberattacks spread worldwide with an unprecedented speed due to
self-replicating functionalities.96, 97 In light of the proliferation of ransomware attacks and the continuous
efforts of cybercriminals to optimize their effectiveness, AI-supported ransomware attacks might emerge
with self-propagation features. In the future, deep neural networks can be abused to enhance the target
selection based on predefined attributes or used to disable security measures of the target system98
that will facilitate lateral movement. Additionally, AI could exacerbate ransomware attacks by intelligent
targeting and intelligent evasion.99, 100 Intelligent targeting would allow for finding new vulnerabilities by
using a combination of attack techniques and leveraging the most effective ones in terms of infiltration.101
The impact of such an AI-supported ransomware attack on international private companies could be
devastating, as their global affiliates could be rapidly infected. Recent experience102, 103, 104, 105 indicates
that cybercriminals progressively use ransomware to target entire municipalities or city-wide services,
which could make potential AI-supported ransomware attacks even more damaging. The same possibility
applies to critical infrastructure and essential services that are also highly vulnerable to such attacks and
could result in serious real-life consequences with a large geographical reach.
