AI-related data breaches surpass stolen credentials in cyber incidents, Verizon report says

Key points

• By David Shepardson WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - AI-detected vulnerabilities surpassed incidents of stolen credentials in data breaches last year, according to an annual report from Verizon relating to industry security incidents.
• Verizon said in a review of more than 31,000 incidents that 31% of all breaches started with vulnerability exploitation in an AI world.
• It warned that AI was being used by threat actors "to accelerate the time to exploit known vulnerabilities, shrinking the window for defense from months to mere hours." The annual report that reviews a wide range of industry data shows hackers are using generative AI to help at all stages of attacks "including targeting, initial access, and development of malware and other tools." The report said AI’s primary impact "is currently operational: automating and scaling techniques defenders already know how to detect, not yet unlocking these novel or rare attack surfaces." But it added that...