GoKawiilProofpoint: AI Is Making Some Cybercrime Groups Sloppier, Not Stronger
Proofpoint researcher Selena Larson told Dark Reading that threat actors like TA4903 and TA2725, once sophisticated operations, have grown less effective after adopting AI tools in their attack chains. She contrasted this with widely cited survey data claiming 84% of ransomware attacks now involve AI, arguing that such headline figures overstate AI's actual impact on attacker capability.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The findings push back against a common cybersecurity industry narrative that AI is uniformly sharpening attackers' skills, suggesting instead that automation can introduce errors and reduce craftsmanship in some campaigns. This could mean defenders should weigh AI-hype statistics more skeptically, since Proofpoint's observations imply sophistication and AI use don't always move together.
- Proofpoint says AI use has degraded the sophistication of groups like TA4903 and TA2725.
- Researcher Selena Larson disputes the narrative that AI broadly makes threat actors more effective.
- A widely reported survey claiming 84% of ransomware attacks use AI is cited as an example of overstated AI-threat framing.
Source: darkreading.com — Nate Nelson, 2026-10-15
Published there as: “AI Slop Isn't Just for Social Media; It's Ruining Cyberattacks, Too”
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