Google Reports State-Backed Hackers Using Gemini AI for Recon and Attack Support
Source The Hacker News
Rated by Threat Radar
Data as of 18 Feb 2026, 15:28 UTC
What to do
AI-suggested
European organizations should implement advanced threat detection solutions capable of identifying AI-generated phishing attempts and fileless malware execution, including behavioral analytics and memory forensics. Enhancing email security with AI-driven phishing detection and multi-factor authentication can reduce the risk of credential compromise. Organizations should conduct regular threat hunting focused on AI-assisted attack techniques and monitor for unusual API usage patterns that may indicate model extraction attempts. Protecting proprietary AI models requires implementing strict API rate limiting, anomaly detection, and query response monitoring to detect and prevent model extraction. Employee training should emphasize awareness of sophisticated social engineering tactics that leverage AI-generated personas. Collaboration with intelligence-sharing groups and government agencies can provide timely threat intelligence on evolving AI-enabled threats. Finally, adopting a zero-trust security model and segmenting critical networks can limit lateral movement post-compromise.
Description
Google on Thursday said it observed the North Korea-linked threat actor known as UNC2970 using its generative artificial intelligence (AI) model Gemini to conduct reconnaissance on its targets, as various hacking groups continue to weaponize the tool for accelerating various phases of the cyber attack life cycle, enabling information operations, and even conducting model extraction attacks. "The