Malicious AI Tools Assist in Phishing and Ransomware Attacks
Researchers at Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 are tracking two new malicious AI tools, WormGPT 4 and KawaiiGPT, that allow threat actors to craft phishing lures and generate ransomware code.
Researchers at Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 are tracking two new malicious AI tools, WormGPT 4 and KawaiiGPT, that allow threat actors to craft phishing lures and generate ransomware code.
KnowBe4 is proud to announce that three of its leading security products — Security Awareness Training, PhishER/PhishER Plus and Compliance Plus — have been recognized as 2026 Buyer's Choice award winners by TrustRadius, a HG Insights company and buyer intelligence platform for business technology.
Since November 3, 2025, KnowBe4 Threat Labs has been monitoring a highly sophisticated, multi-stage phishing operation that is actively targeting organizations to steal employees’ Microsoft 365 credentials. The campaign has been engineered to bypass traditional email security defenses, such as secure email gateways (SEGs), and multi-factor authentication (MFA) tools.
Following its launch in 2024, Gartner® has now published the second Magic Quadrant™ for Email Security —and KnowBe4 is delighted to once again be named a Leader!
Users should be particularly wary of holiday-themed scams over the next few weeks, according to researchers at Malwarebytes.
“Mobile-first shopping has become second nature, and during the holidays, it’s faster and more frantic than ever,” Malwarebytes says. “Fifty-five percent of people get a scam text message weekly, while 27% are targeted daily.
Think about your digital spaces. You’ve got your corporate email, which we all treat a bit like a high-security bank vault. We approach it with caution, we're suspicious of unfamiliar senders, and we’re primed to spot a dodgy attachment. Then, you have WhatsApp. That’s the digital equivalent of your living room. It’s comfy, familiar, and filled with people you (mostly) trust. Our guard is down.
The finance and banking sector across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) faces extraordinary cybersecurity challenges, according to KnowBe4’s Cyber Risk in Finance and Banking Across EMEA report. While digital transformation has revolutionized operations and customer engagement, it has also created vulnerabilities that threaten the stability of the entire financial system.
In recent weeks, the UK government has announced the introduction of its new Cyber Security and Resilience Bill.
Lead analysts: Louis Tiley, Lucy Gee and James Dyer
Between 1:48pm ET on October 29 and 6:53pm ET on October 30, 2025, KnowBe4 threat analysts observed a high volume of phishing emails detected by KnowBe4 Defend that were sent from the legitimate domain of one of the world’s largest sportswear brands.
Users and organizations should be prepared for a surge in phishing attacks over the next several weeks, as attackers take advantage of the holiday shopping season, according to a new report from Zimperium.
Ransomware attacks spiked in October 2025, with more than 700 organizations sustaining attacks, according to a new report from Cyfirma.