AI is supercharging old-school tactics with new scale: Elastic 2025 Global Threat Report

AI isn’t just transforming how we work. It’s reshaping how cybercriminals attack, with threat actors exploiting AI to mass produce malicious code loaders, steal browser credentials and accelerate cloud attacks, according to a new report from Elastic.

The 2025 Global Threat Report, based on more than 1 billion data points derived from real production environments, finds that generic threats — typically loaders built using AI — jumped 15.5% in the past year, while malicious code execution on Windows nearly doubled to 32.5%.

AI-created malware and easy access to stolen browser credentials are fuelling a new class of bad actors who are less reliant on stealth attacks and are leaning into continuous, steady probes for entry into corporate networks.

“Attackers are shifting from stealth to speed, launching waves of opportunistic attacks with minimal effort,” said Devon Kerr, head of Elastic Security Labs and director of Threat Research. “This evolution ...