Hackers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to detect software vulnerabilities, reducing the time organisations have to respond to cyber threats, Verizon said in its annual data breach report.
The company said exploitation of software flaws has overtaken stolen credentials as the most common starting point for breaches for the first time. In a review of more than 31,000 incidents, Verizon found that 31 per cent of breaches began with vulnerability exploitation. The report said “AI is fundamentally reshaping the cybersecurity industry.”
According to Verizon, intruders are using generative AI across several stages of attacks, including targeting, initial access, and the development of malware and other tools. The report said AI is being used by threat actors “to accelerate the time to exploit known vulnerabilities, shrinking the window for defence from months to mere hours.”
The findings add to a series of recent warnings about the role of AI in cyber incidents. CrowdStrike said in its annual global threat report earlier this year that in 2025, “AI-enabled adversaries increased attacks by 89 per cent year-over-year.” It said the technology had strengthened less sophisticated threat actors while amplifying the capabilities of more advanced groups.
Verizon also said the use of shadow AI, or unauthorised AI tools, has become the third most common non-malicious insider action linked to data loss incidents. The report said employees are submitting source code, images and other structured data into such systems, creating new risks for organisations already facing faster external attacks.
Verizon said AI’s main impact is currently operational, automating and scaling techniques that defenders already know how to detect, rather than creating entirely new attack methods. However, the company warned that this assessment could quickly become outdated as AI advances.
The report does not include data from Mythos, a new AI model that has raised cybersecurity concerns. Mythos was announced on 7 April and is being deployed through Anthropic’s “Project Glasswing”, a controlled initiative allowing selected organisations, including Verizon, to use the unreleased Claude Mythos Preview model for defensive cybersecurity purposes.
Experts say Mythos’ advanced coding capabilities could give it an unprecedented ability to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities and develop ways to exploit them.
Verizon chief information security officer Nasrin Rezai told Reuters that addressing the growing threat is critical. “We need to fight AI with AI. We need to incorporate them into our practices,” Rezai said. “We need to bring them into our software development life cycle, in our testing processes, in our cyber defence processes at a scale that we have never done before.”
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The U.S. and Iran have agreed to 'stand down' and resume technical talks, allowing vessels allowed to move freely under the interim peace deal, a U.S. official said.
Residents of Caracas woke on Monday (29 June) to a magnitude 4.6 aftershock as rescue teams entered a fourth day of intensive search operations following last week's powerful earthquakes in Venezuela.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz held a phone call on Monday to discuss bilateral relations, regional developments and wider global issues, according to Türkiye’s Communications Directorate.
The Czech government has agreed, under pressure from the country's Constitutional Court, to allow President Petr Pavel to attend next week's NATO summit in Türkiye, but has insisted he will not lead the national delegation.
A tanker reported being struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, Britain's maritime security agency said, after the United States and Iran each launched strikes in the worst escalation since they signed their interim peace deal.
Fourteen people were killed on Sunday after a helicopter belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco crashed in Ras Tanura, according to Saudi state media.
Rescue teams raced on Sunday to find more survivors of the two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela this week, with signs of life bringing occasional relief to a grim quest to whittle down a list of tens of thousands missing.
Eleven people were killed when a small plane carrying skydivers crashed near Nancy in eastern France on Sunday, local officials said.
The United States and Iran have agreed to halt strikes against each other, in a potential breakthrough after weeks of escalating tensions. The two sides are expected to meet in Doha on Tuesday to address their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz.
American technology company Snap has launched its first augmented-reality (AR) glasses for consumers, marking a major push into wearable computing as tech firms race to redefine personal devices in the AI era.
The Canadian government has introduced a digital safety bill that would ban children under the age of 16 from using social media, unless platforms meet specific safety standards.
NASA has named three American astronauts and one Italian astronaut to fly on its Artemis III mission, a major orbital test planned for late next year that will evaluate lunar landing vehicles developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
China will send an astronaut to its space station on Sunday for a one-year mission, the longest duration for the country so far. The mission will help study long-duration human physiology in space as China works toward a crewed Moon landing by 2030.
Anxiety over artificial intelligence is hardening among young workers as executives promote faster adoption and companies point to automation in fresh job cuts.
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