JAKARTA (IndoTelko) PT ITSEC Asia Tbk (ITSEC Asia) (IDX: CYBR), an artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity company operating in Indonesia and the Asia-Pacific region, has warned of the growing threat of AI-powered cyberattacks as autonomous AI agents make cybercrime easier, faster and less costly to execute.
The warning follows the release of ITSEC Asia’s latest threat intelligence whitepaper, titled AI-Powered Cyberattacks in the Global Threat Landscape, which examines how artificial intelligence is transforming global cyberattack operations.
The company’s Threat Intelligence Team found that cybercriminals are increasingly using AI to automate various stages of attacks, including reconnaissance, vulnerability exploitation, credential theft, and the extraction or destruction of sensitive data.
With these technologies becoming more affordable and widely accessible, sophisticated cyberattacks can now be conducted with fewer technical resources and less human involvement. This also reduces the time available for organizations to detect and respond to potential threats.
A Reuters report in October 2026 highlighted an incident in which a hacker used AI agents and a budget of several thousand US dollars to compromise dozens of websites. Other research cited in ITSEC Asia’s whitepaper identified automated attacks against online retailers costing an estimated US$25 per targeted company.
ITSEC Asia President Director Patrick Dannacher said AI is fundamentally changing the economics of cybercrime, enabling attackers to conduct operations that previously required significant technical expertise, time and resources at substantially lower costs.
“AI is changing the economics of cybercrime. Attackers can now carry out activities that previously required considerable technical expertise, time and resources at a much lower cost,” Patrick said.
He added that businesses must recognize the growing speed and scale of cyberattacks and reassess their strategies for protecting infrastructure, digital identities and sensitive data.
Five Cases Highlight the Growing AI Cyber Threat
ITSEC Asia’s whitepaper identifies five cases illustrating how AI and automation are being deployed in different cyberattack operations.
One of the most concerning cases is JadePuffer, also associated with Microsoft’s Storm-3168 activity. The campaign demonstrates how AI agents can adapt their actions during cyber intrusions, targeting databases, cloud environments and enterprise AI assets. Reported attacks include database deletion and attempts to compromise AI models and training data.
Another case, Scarlet Loop, involves automated account takeovers and financial theft. Its infrastructure reportedly scanned 84,660 URLs across 107 countries and 47 industry sectors, identifying 6,171 high-value domains.
The operation targeted accounts with financial value, including digital wallets, loyalty programs and employee reward platforms.
The report also examines ARTEX, a framework coordinating multiple AI agents to perform reconnaissance, vulnerability scanning and exploitation.
Meanwhile, CAIRN is described as an autonomous platform linked to attacks against more than 1,200 websites and the reported theft of over 600,000 active payment card details.
The fifth case covers cyber incidents involving Japanese organizations between September and October 2026. Approximately 36.55 million customer accounts and records were potentially affected across several organizations.
These incidents highlight weaknesses in shared cloud infrastructure, third-party access and interconnected digital services. However, the research does not establish that AI was involved in every incident.
Collectively, the five cases show that cyber threats are expanding beyond conventional endpoint attacks, increasingly targeting cloud environments, customer accounts, financial transactions, databases and enterprise AI systems.
Four Security Priorities for Businesses
ITSEC Asia identifies compromised cloud identities as one of the most significant security risks facing businesses.
Stolen credentials and excessive access permissions can allow attackers to penetrate cloud resources and move between systems without necessarily deploying conventional malware.
Enterprise AI infrastructure is also emerging as an attractive target. As companies increasingly depend on AI models, training datasets and machine learning pipelines, these assets face growing risks of theft, extortion and destruction.
To address these threats, ITSEC Asia recommends strengthening cybersecurity across four key areas.
First, organizations should improve behavioral threat detection by adopting technologies such as Extended Detection and Response (XDR) and User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA).
Second, businesses need to implement Zero Trust security principles to strengthen identity verification, control access privileges and prevent unauthorized movement across systems.
Third, organizations should expand automated incident response capabilities through Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR), enabling security teams to identify and contain threats more quickly.
Finally, companies should implement Machine Learning Security Operations (MLSecOps) to protect AI models, training datasets and supporting infrastructure.
The research predicts that agentic ransomware, cloud identity abuse, AI-enabled fraud and attacks targeting enterprise AI infrastructure will become increasingly prominent over the next six to 12 months.
Patrick emphasized that cybersecurity must be treated as a fundamental business responsibility, particularly as AI adoption accelerates across industries.
“As organizations adopt AI across their operations, security considerations need to be part of every strategic decision, from technology investments to how data is managed and who has access to critical systems,” he said.
He added that companies prioritizing cybersecurity today would be better positioned to protect customers, maintain trust and ensure long-term business sustainability.
The whitepaper, AI-Powered Cyberattacks in the Global Threat Landscape, was prepared by ITSEC Asia’s Threat Intelligence Team and published in November 2026. It provides an overview of global AI-related cyber operations, emerging attack techniques, potential business impacts and recommended security measures. (mas)