AI continues to make ransomware harder to detect, with 65% of those hit by a ransomware attack saying the emergent tech made the attack more effective.
According to research from Proofpoint, phishing attacks, identity campaigns, and credential theft are being enhanced by AI, making these attack vectors more compelling and effective.
The 2026 AI-Era Ransomware Report found that ransomware attacks commonly targeted humans as an initial entry point. Nearly half (47%) of the incidents Proofpoint studied involved malicious links, 46% utilised malicious attachments, and 36% used credential harvesting.
Humans could prove to be a high risk when facing an AI-driven threat: 40% said that an initial attack lure appeared legitimate when asked why a ransomware attack was able to bypass existing security controls – employees just did not suspect the lure.
AI has removed many of the tell-tale signs of traditional ransomware and social engineering attack vectors, drafting emails and texts without spelling errors or uncanny phrases, and creating landing pages that look more authentic.
Machines are falling for it too — technical controls and software protections often fail to detect suspicious or malicious activity as AI enhances traditional attack vectors.
Of workers who experienced a cyber-attack, a third said that existing email controls did not detect the attack, while a quarter said that attack progressed due to misconfigurations or security control gaps.
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“AI hasn’t fundamentally changed ransomware, but it has materially improved the attacks that lead to ransomware,” Proofpoint chief strategy officer, Ryan Kalember, said.
“Today’s attackers are using AI to create highly convincing phishing emails, malware components like scripts, and credential theft campaigns that exploit human trust at scale.
“Organisations that continue treating ransomware and data extortion as endpoint or recovery problems are missing what these attacks most frequently begin with: people, identities and trusted communications.”
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