'The total industrialization of cyber threats': Cloudflare report outlines how hackers are 'weaponizing the Internet'

• Cloudflare warns GenAI is reshaping cyberattacks
• Report highlights AI-driven supply chain and espionage threats
• DDoS and social engineering form critical attack trio

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is the driving force behind a “fundamental rewiring of the modern cyberattack”, experts have said, urging companies to up their protection immediately.

The inaugural 2026 Cloudflare Threat Report, based on data from 230 billion threats the company blocks on average each day, claims we’re witnessing a complete industrialization of cybercrime, and says it is being adopted by both profit-driven and state-sponsored actors.

In the paper, the company details the “first-ever AI-based attack” recorded, in which a threat actor used AI to identify the location of high-value data, compromising hundreds of corporate tenants. It was “one of the most impactful supply chain attacks seen,” Cloudflare said.