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CrowdStrike Report Reveals a Surge in AI-Driven Threats and Malware-Free Attacks

 

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. released a new report earlier this month that illustrates how cyber threats evolved significantly in 2024, with attackers pivoting towards malware-free incursions, AI-assisted social engineering, and cloud-focused vulnerabilities. 

The 11th annual CrowdStrike Global Threat Report for 2025 details an increase in claimed Chinese-backed cyber activities, an explosion in "vishing," or voice phishing, and identity-based assaults, and the expanding use of generative AI in cybercrime. 

In 2024, CrowdStrike discovered that 79% of cyber incursions were malware-free, up from 40% in 2019. Attackers were found to be increasingly using genuine remote management and monitoring tools to circumvent standard security measures. 

And the breakout time — the time it takes a perpetrator to move laterally within a compromised network after gaining initial access — plummeted to 48 minutes in 2024, with some attacks spreading in less than a minute. Identity-based assaults and social engineering had significant increases until 2024. 

Vishing attacks increased more than fivefold, displacing traditional phishing as the dominant form of initial entry. Help desk impersonation attempts grew throughout the year, with adversaries convincing IT professionals to reset passwords or bypass multifactor authentication. Access broker adverts, in which attackers sell stolen credentials, increased by 50% through 2024, as more credentials were stolen and made available on both the clear and dark web. .

Alleged China-linked actors were also active throughout the year. CrowdStrike's researchers claim a 150% rise in activity, with some industries experiencing a 200% to 300% spike. The same groups are mentioned in the report as adopting strong OPSEC measures, making their attacks more difficult to track. CrowdStrike's annual report, like past year's, emphasises the growing use of AI in cybercrime.

Generative AI is now commonly used for social engineering, phishing, deepfake frauds, and automated disinformation campaigns. Notable AI initiatives include the North Korean-linked group FAMOUS CHOLLIMA, which used AI-powered fake job interviews to penetrate tech companies. 

Mitigation tips 

To combat rising security risks, CrowdStrike experts advocate improving identity security through phishing-resistant MFA, continuous monitoring of privileged accounts, and proactive threat hunting to discover malware-free incursions before attackers gain a foothold. Organisations should also incorporate real-time AI-driven threat detection, which ensures rapid response capabilities to mitigate fast-moving attacks, such as those with breakout periods of less than one minute. 

In addition to identity protection, companies can strengthen cloud security by requiring least privilege access, monitoring API keys for unauthorised use, and safeguarding software-as-a-service apps from credential misuse. As attackers increasingly use automation and AI capabilities, defenders should implement advanced behavioural analytics and cross-domain visibility solutions to detect stealthy breaches and halt adversary operations before they escalate.

Sophisticated Vishing Campaigns are Rising Exponentially Worldwide

 

Voice phishing, also known as vishing, is popular right now, with multiple active campaigns throughout the world ensnaring even savvy victims who appear to know better, defrauding them of millions of dollars. 

South Korea is one of the global regions hardest hit by the attack vector; in fact, a fraud in August 2022 resulted in the largest amount ever stolen in a single phishing case in the country. This transpired when a doctor sent 4.1 billion won, or $3 million, in cash, insurance, stocks, and cryptocurrency to criminals, showing how much financial harm one vishing scam can inflict.

According to Sojun Ryu, lead of the Threat Analysis Team at South Korean cybersecurity firm S2W Inc., sophisticated social engineering strategies used in recent frauds involve imitating region law enforcement officers, giving individuals a false sense of authority. Ryu will present a session on the topic, "Voice Phishing Syndicates Unmasked: An In-Depth Investigation and Exposure," at the upcoming Black Hat Asia 2024 conference in Singapore. 

Vishing attempts in South Korea, in particular, take advantage of cultural differences that allow even those who do not appear to be susceptible to such scams to be victimised, he claims. For example, in recent frauds, cybercriminals have posed as the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office, which "can significantly intimidate people," Ryu adds. 

By doing so and acquiring people's private data ahead of time, they are successfully intimidating victims into completing money transfers — sometimes in the millions of dollars — by convincing them that if they do not, they will suffer serious legal penalties. 

Vishing engineering: A blend of psychology and technology 

Ryu and his companion speaker at Black Hat Asia, YeongJae Shin, a threat analysis researcher who previously served at S2W, will focus their talk on vishing in their own nation. However, vishing scams identical to those seen in Korea appear to be sweeping the globe recently, leaving unfortunate victims in their wake.

Even savvy Internet users appear to fall for the law-enforcement frauds; one such reporter from the New York Times, who explained in a published story how she lost $50,000 to a vishing scam in February, is one of these people. A few weeks later, when fraudsters working in Portugal pretended to be both national and international law enforcement agencies, the author of this piece almost lost 5,000 euros to a sophisticated vishing operation. 

Ryu explains that the combination of social engineering and technology enables these modern vishing scams to exploit even individuals who are aware of the risks of vishing and how their operators function. 

"These groups utilize a blend of coercion and persuasion over the phone to deceive their victims effectively," he stated. "Moreover, malicious applications are designed to manipulate human psychology. These apps not only facilitate financial theft through remote control after installation but also exploit the call-forwarding feature.” 

This suggests that there are several vishing groups active throughout the world, emphasising the need to be cautious even when dealing with the most convincing schemes, according to Ryu. To prevent compromise, it's also essential to train staff members on the telltale signs of frauds and the strategies attackers typically implement to trick victims.