Ransomware takes a back seat to AI on IT administrator worry lists

AI-powered threats are now the most commonly cited worry among network administrators and IT professionals, according to research from Arctic Wolf.

The security vendor's 2025 Threat Report survey released Tuesday found that attacks fueled by artificial intelligence tops the list of 29% of respondents of what kept them up at night, followed by ransomware at 21%.

“The past year was a busy one for IT and security leaders,” wrote Arctic Wolf senior vice president of security services Lisa Tetrault.

“On top of the usual responsibilities and everyday threats, security teams grappled with the continued emergence and adoption of transformative AI technologies, an evolving and uncertain regulatory climate, rising global tensions, as well as arguably the largest IT outage in history.”

The survey, based on a selection of 1,200 IT decision makers (directors, owners, and C-level executives,) found that ransomware was not the biggest headache at their companies for the first time in years.

There is a growing concern that AI and large language models will become a tool for threat actors to perform social-engineering attacks and large-volume spam and spear-phishing campaigns.

The findings echo a growing trend in the cybersecurity industry around the employment of AI among threat actors. The worry is that sophisticated AI could prove a useful tool for threat actors, particularly with targeted attacks and those seeking to lift specific identity information.

“It’s encouraging that security leaders take the threats associated with AI very seriously,” Arctic Wolf said in the report.

“However, it is important to remember that while AI has the ability to automate, accelerate, and enhance attacks, whether that’s crafting more convincing phishing emails or more easily identifying system vulnerabilities, AI is the tool by which threats are being delivered and enhanced but, AI is not the threat itself.”

Part of the reason for the reduction is a drop in ransomware attack volumes. Nearly a quarter of respondents, 23%, reported they were targeted with a ransomware attack — a steep decline from the 45% who fell victim to ransomware attacks in last year’s edition of the report.

While it is believed that the best counter to emerging AI threats is to pump money into AI-based defense tools, that might not be happening at the ground level for many organizations.

The report noted specific regional quirks amongst respondents. In the U.S., for example, there is a lingering sense of skepticism over the way companies are managing their budgets and whether funds are being put to good use.

“When asked about cybersecurity budgets, 18% of respondents from the United States felt their organization was incorrectly investing their budgets and creating an imbalance,” Arctic Wolf noted, “either by overspending on technology that was being underutilized, or by overspending on expertise to the detriment of technology investments.”