Understanding the motives of cyber criminals is becoming increasingly important to strong cyber defence, a report from one of the world's largest cybersecurity companies has found.
US-based CrowdStrike said cyber criminals are becoming more agile, innovative and evasive. As a result, the company says it considers understanding their motives and “anticipating their actions" as critical for organisations, governments and businesses to protect digital security.
The CrowdStrike report, released on Tuesday, echoed warnings from experts about artificial intelligence, saying cyber criminals are using AI to sharpen the effectiveness of their attacks.
“Threat actors of all skill levels will continue adopting AI for social engineering, IO [influence operations] and technical activity," the analysis reads.
Adam Meyers, senior vice president of counter-adversary operations for CrowdStrike, said the use of AI by cyber criminals and hackers shows no sign of slowing down.
"AI is being used as a weapon and at the same time, it's also expanding the attack surface," Mr Meyers said. "The situation is not going to improve and it's probably going to get worse as more models come out."
Based on data from 2025, CrowdStrike said cyber crime originating from and supported by countries such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea look set to increase with those nations seeking “to achieve their geopolitical and strategic objectives".
The report highlighted the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine as an example of establishing the motives behind stealth cyber crime.
“Russia-nexus adversaries are expected to continue conducting aggressive operations, primarily to collect intelligence from Ukrainian targets and Nato member states," it said.
Zero-day attacks – in which cyber criminals take advantage of mostly unknown security vulnerabilities in software, giving targets almost no time to take preventive action – are also expected to become more of a problem.
“CrowdStrike observed a 42 per cent year-over-year increase in the number of zero-day vulnerabilities exploited before public disclosure, continuing a multiyear trend of rising zero-day abuse," the company wrote.
It said prioritising intelligence, closely monitoring software updates and creating rigid measures and procedures for employees using AI were recommended to battle cyber attacks, based on current trends.
Mr Meyers also said CrowdStrike's data shows a trend that was once thought to be nearly impossible – that cyber criminals are quickening the speed at which they compromise systems.
"The breakout numbers were one of the more alarming things we saw," he said, referring to the time it takes for a cyber breach to expand to other parts of networks.
"Think of it as the difference between stopping them near the front door versus allowing them into the building and they take the elevator, then you need to figure out exactly where they are."
CrowdStrike's report echoes the fears voiced by organisations, businesses and governments in recent months.
Cyber security was among the top 10 concerns in the short and long term, the World Economic Forum's 2026 Global Risks report found.
On Sunday the UAE's Cyber Security Council said that it had managed to foil a series of attacks on vital infrastructure.
The authority said they were “organised cyber attacks of a terrorist nature”, but did not release other details, including the precise targets.
