AI tapped by Russian hackers to counter Ukrainian defenses

More Russian state-backed threat actors were noted by Ukraine's Computer Emergency Response Team to be deploying artificial intelligence-powered cyberattacks to infiltrate the country's increasingly robust cybersecurity defenses, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

AI has been harnessed by Russian hackers not only to craft more convincing phishing messages but also to develop malware, with the Wrecksteel backdoor associated with the UAC-0219 cyberespionage operation that included AI-based PowerShell scripts, reported CERT-UA. Russian hackers have also shifted to shorter attacks involving information-stealing tools, as well as the exploitation of zero-click flaws, instead of ensuring network persistence. Such intrusions were continuously synchronized with missile and drone strikes for maximum disruption.

"After more than three years of full-scale war, the enemy has still not achieved the goals of its so-called special military operation. Every day it increases the number of its attacks both drones and missiles, and cyberattacks," said CERT-UA.