A major new global cybersecurity analysis indicates that artificial intelligence (AI) is heavily implicated in modern ransomware attacks. According to the report, cybercriminals successfully exploited AI in attacks that affected 84% of the surveyed victims, while nearly half of the organizations surveyed—44%—reported that attackers leveraged the victim’s own AI systems.
Scope and Statistics of Cyber Threats
The 2026 Ransomware Risk Report, published by cybersecurity firm Semperis, surveyed 1,200 IT and security professionals across nine countries and eight diverse industry sectors. The findings illustrate an evolution in cybercriminal operations, highlighting an increasing reliance on AI to amplify technical capabilities and intensify pressure on targeted organizations.
Beyond the technical breach, the report emphasized the profound human cost of ransomware. More than one-third of the surveyed victims faced personal threats, either physical or psychological, directed at their employees. Furthermore, 14% of surveyed organizations reported that sustained ransomware threats forced employees or family members to change their jobs, office locations, or residences.
Overall, the statistics paint a grim picture of increased threat exposure. Sixty-nine percent of ransomware victims reported suffering multiple successful attacks within the preceding year. Of these victims, 59% confirmed paying a ransom at least once, and 87% experienced attacks specifically targeting their identity systems or the core digital infrastructure governing network access.
The Impact of AI on Cybercrime
Former White House National Cyber Director Chris Inglis noted that AI represents a monumental turning point that cybercriminals can exploit. He issued a warning about the imminent danger of “autonomous ransomware attacks.”
AI actually increases the capacity, scope, scale of attackers in understanding what perhaps might be the weaknesses in your system or perhaps increase the sophistication of their approach to you if they’re trying to get you to do something you shouldn’t do, that gives them an advantage, lets them in,”
Inglis further stated that AI marks a critical turning point in the resources available to threat actors:
AI is an inflection point in their capacities to hold the same things at risk,
He added, “I think we’re already seeing autonomous attacks. Autonomous ransomware attacks are included in the mix.”
According to the expert, AI allows individuals lacking high technical expertise to write necessary code, effectively enabling them to instruct an AI system to hold a company’s data hostage without needing a sophisticated grasp of digital infrastructure. Inglis remarked on the accessibility of the technology:
We have democratized AI to the point where even low level models can allow that to happen,
This technology, he explained, multiplies the number of criminals capable of launching advanced attacks, while also enabling experienced cybercriminals to penetrate networks more efficiently and on a much larger scale.
Advanced Attack Tactics and Vulnerabilities
Historically, cybercriminals followed a predictable pattern: exploiting vulnerabilities, infiltrating corporate systems, encrypting data, and demanding payment for restoration or access to sensitive information. Now, AI has become integrated into over eight out of every ten attacks, according to the report.
Inglis explained that AI helps attackers quickly pinpoint weaknesses, customize social engineering tactics for specific employees, automate intrusions, and even adjust their methods as defenders attempt to react. He cautioned that the core motivation remains unchanged:
What’s not changed is the things that people or organizations had that is of value that they would pay money or time or energy to protect,”
Tomer Bar, Semperis’s associate vice president of security research, warned that AI could allow ransomware developers to create more advanced malicious code, reduce development time, and complicate investigations. Bar stated in the report, “We’re starting to see more attacks with more rapid development, and attribution of these attacks will be more difficult for law enforcement.” He also noted that attackers will be less likely to make errors in encryption algorithms because they can test their code using large language models.
Risks Posed by Internal AI Agents
A particularly alarming finding is the 44% rate of victims who suffered attacks exploiting their own AI agents or systems. This finding raises serious concerns for both government and private sectors that are rapidly integrating AI technology. Courtney Guss, Semperis’s associate vice president of crisis management, cautioned that autonomous AI agents create security risks when they seek elevated permissions or interact with sensitive corporate systems.
Guss warned:
If your company is adopting AI agents, you should consider that at some point, those agents will try to compromise your identity systems — even if that action isn’t meant to be malicious,
That’s just how they operate. AI agents typically try to accomplish their assigned tasks by any means they can.
Guss explained that AI agents often attempt to complete assigned tasks by any means available, and the fastest way for them to gain greater operational ability is by compromising identity systems. This effectively places the agent in a highly privileged state, or “god mode,” allowing it to grant itself any necessary permissions, thereby becoming a potential threat.
The Path Forward: Defense Through AI
Despite the risks, Inglis advised against the assumption that AI automatically increases vulnerability to outside parties. He reminded readers that attackers often employ techniques known as “living off the land,” meaning they use existing tools and data within the network to avoid detection. He argued that the fundamental weakness usually lies in an organization’s failure to adequately control access to its digital infrastructure.
Rather than advocating for the abandonment of AI due to fear, Inglis urged organizations to embrace its defensive potential. He concluded with a call to action:
I would turn that around. Flip the script,”
He advised, “You must use AI in order to counter that threat, and you must use AI for affirmative purposes.”
