Fortinet’s Santos on AI Identities, Exploit Windows and Credential Theft Markets
Fortinet’s 2026 Global Threat Landscape Report, derived exclusively from FortiGuard Labs telemetry shows cybercriminals are using artificial intelligence and automation to shrink the average time to exploit critical vulnerabilities to as little as 24 to 48 hours, dramatically increasing pressure on defenders to accelerate patching and response efforts.
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Doug Santos, senior director of advanced threat intelligence at Fortinet, said the company’s 2026 Global Threat Landscape Report found attackers increasingly leveraging AI-driven automation across the cyber kill chain, including reconnaissance, phishing and credential harvesting to increase or maintain lateral movement.
He said the widespread availability of offensive AI frameworks on the darkweb is lowering barriers to entry for cybercriminals while amplifying the scale and precision of attacks.
“As defenders, we need to rethink how we approach security. Attackers are becoming faster and more efficient—to combat and mitigate that, we need to be faster, more efficient, and smarter. Cybersecurity defenders and CISOs should prioritize adoption of Artificial Intelligence-powered technologies to stay ahead as the threat landscape worsens and evolves.”
In this video interview with ISMG, Santos also discussed:
- How AI-enabled cybercrime accelerates attack execution and reduces time-to-exploit windows;
- The growing underground market for stolen identities, credentials and infrastructure access;
- Why organizations must adopt AI-driven defenses and faster response strategies to keep pace with adversaries.
Santos has been working for two decades in networking and security and spent time designing, implementing and troubleshooting security and networking technologies through his career. In that capacity, he was at the forefront of the threat landscape and supporting a broad audience of organizations. Today, he is one of the leaders in his field, a security strategist who uses his experience and skills to understand how the current threat landscape is shifting and what it means for organizations and individuals alike.
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