Day 71: The Cyber Economy — Monetizing Data and Weaponizing AI

🚀 Another day, another dive into the deep end of cyber activity. Lately, it feels like we’re witnessing a rapid convergence of two massive trends: the rise of AI in both offense and defense, and the increasing sophistication of cybercrime as a business model. Today’s updates underscore how these trends are colliding — and the implications for both individual security and enterprise resilience. Let’s dig in:

🌐 Over 400 IPs Exploiting SSRF Vulnerabilities

A new wave of Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks has been detected, with over 400 IP addresses actively exploiting multiple SSRF vulnerabilities. This type of attack allows threat actors to manipulate server requests, leading to data exfiltration, internal network scanning, and even service disruptions. The volume of activity highlights how automated exploitation is evolving.

➡️ https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/over-400-ips-exploiting-multiple-ssrf.html

🍎 Apple Drops Another WebKit Zero-Day Patch

Apple has patched yet another WebKit zero-day vulnerability — the second in less than a month. WebKit is the core engine for Safari and other Apple apps, making it a prime target for exploitation. The nature of this flaw suggests that attackers are focusing heavily on browser-based attack vectors.

➡️ https://www.darkreading.com/mobile-security/apple-drops-another-webkit-zero-day-bug

💰 The Dark Web Economy — Monetizing Stolen Data

A fascinating deep dive into the dark web reveals how hackers are transforming stolen data into profit. Everything from financial details and personal identities to corporate intellectual property is being auctioned and traded in specialized forums. This underscores the growing need for data minimization and robust encryption strategies.

➡️ https://medium.com/@KKGCConcept/the-dark-web-economy-how-hackers-are-making-money-off-your-data-and-how-to-stop-them-e633d01ca871

🤖 AI and Cybercrime — The Double-Edged Sword

AI is being weaponized in creative ways — from automating phishing campaigns to enhancing deepfake social engineering tactics. A Reddit thread highlighted growing concerns that AI will tilt the advantage toward attackers unless defensive AI solutions evolve at an equal pace.

➡️ https://www.reddit.com/r/InfoSecNews/comments/1j8rs62/the_impact_of_ai_on_cybercrime_navigating_the/

🔎 Web-Check — All-in-One OSINT Tool for Website Analysis

A new OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) tool called Web-Check has been released, capable of analyzing websites for potential vulnerabilities, metadata exposure, and security misconfigurations. This type of tooling enhances red-team capabilities while also giving defenders insights into their own threat surface.

➡️ https://meterpreter.org/web-check-all-in-one-osint-tool-for-analysing-any-website/

🧠 Callisto — AI-Powered Vulnerability Analysis

Callisto is an AI-powered tool designed to automate binary vulnerability analysis. It’s capable of identifying code flaws, buffer overflows, and memory corruption issues with high accuracy — potentially reducing the manual workload for security researchers and penetration testers.

➡️ https://meterpreter.org/callisto-an-intelligent-binary-vulnerability-analysis-tool/

🏢 Fortinet Expands OT Network Security Platform

Fortinet has rolled out updates to its Operational Technology (OT) network security platform, reinforcing defenses against lateral movement and real-time threat detection. Given the rise of state-sponsored attacks on critical infrastructure, this is a timely move.

➡️ https://www.networkworld.com/article/3843209/fortinet-reinforces-ot-network-security-platform.html

🦠 AI-Powered Deception — Fake GitHub Repos Used for Malware Distribution

Attackers are now using AI-generated content to create realistic-looking GitHub repositories that deliver SmartLoader and Lumma Stealer malware. This highlights how AI-generated content can be weaponized to increase credibility and trick even seasoned developers.

➡️ https://securityonline.info/ai-powered-deception-fake-github-repositories-spread-smartloader-and-lumma-stealer/

🧠 Takeaway:

Today’s roundup is a reminder that AI is becoming both a weapon and a shield. While it’s helping defenders automate threat detection and incident response, it’s also giving attackers new ways to scale their efforts. The monetization of stolen data on the dark web shows that cybercrime is becoming more organized — and more profitable — than ever. Staying ahead means leaning into AI-driven defenses and strengthening data hygiene practices.

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