{"id":112041,"date":"2025-04-17T09:05:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T16:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=112041"},"modified":"2025-04-17T09:05:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T16:05:33","slug":"ai-101-how-ai-and-ransomware-are-reshaping-cybersecurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/ai-101-how-ai-and-ransomware-are-reshaping-cybersecurity\/","title":{"rendered":"AI 101: How AI and Ransomware Are Reshaping Cybersecurity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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AI is rewriting the rules of technology, for better or worse. Arguably one of the most \u201cfor better and <\/em>worse\u201d areas? Ransomware<\/a>. It\u2019s a full blown billion dollar business, and AI is supercharging both the offense and defense.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only are we seeing AI give bad actors more sophisticated tools and campaigns to target business and consumers alike, we\u2019re also seeing mitigation techniques and technologies deployed by good actors gain equally compelling AI-powered improvements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, welcome to the future\u2014where your data is the hostage and the bots are negotiating. Let\u2019s dig in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some stage-setting: How much is ransomware costing us?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite ransomware payments exceeding an eye-watering $1 billion in 2023<\/a>\u2014and despite some high profile attacks in 2024, one of which extracted $75 million from a single victim<\/a>\u2014ransomware attacks actually fell overall in 2024. High profile law enforcement activity, like those against LockBit<\/a> and BlackCat<\/a> contributed to a huge drop in the second half of 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t get too excited though: According to cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainanalysis, that still meant $814 million in 2024<\/a>. And, the true cost of ransomware<\/a> includes more than just payments extracted under threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economic ripple effects<\/a> of a ransomware attack can include losing C-level talent, having to lay off employees, and ongoing downtime or business closure. Industry-wide, cyber insurance is a growing industry, and 2024 saw a staggering 31% of claims<\/a> come from third-party risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reports show that cyber attackers are using ransomware data in new ways, including targeting critical backups<\/a> and using hostage data to damage organizational reputation<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps most concerningly, ransomware attackers are increasingly using exfiltration<\/a> as a tactic to double and triple extortion<\/a>, even using exfiltration data to launch targeted distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. According to a Check Point\u2019s 2025 Cyber Security Report<\/a>, some new actors have emerged as exclusively \u201cdata-selling platforms,\u201d hosting dedicated data leak sites (DLS) and negotiation platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news<\/h2>\n\n\n\n