Smarter, Faster, Harder to Catch: Ransomware in the Age of AI
AI is making ransomware faster, smarter, and harder to stop. Criminals now use AI tools to write malware that changes its code every time, create fake phishing emails, and automate attacks at scale. TRM Labs’ new research maps nine new ransomware groups like Arkana, Dire Wolf, and AiLock, showing how quickly the ecosystem is growing.
Some groups don’t even bother encrypting data anymore. Instead, they leak stolen files or pressure victims through regulators and reputational threats. On-chain, the money moves through cross-chain swaps, non-custodial exchanges, and mixers, but many groups still leave patterns that investigators can trace.
TRM also found overlaps between state-linked hackers and profit-driven criminals, such as APTLock, tied to Russian group Fancy Bear. AI isn’t just helping investigators; it’s now powering the attackers, too.
The ransomware wars of 2025 are no longer about encryption or bitcoin payments, they’re about automation, agility, and psychological warfare. And the next front will be fought as much on-chain as it is in code.
Another Look at the Venus Hack.
We don’t often feature the same hack twice: but when a $13 million exploit ends with every cent recovered, it deserves a postmortem spotlight. The Venus Protocol incident we first covered weeks ago remains one o
f the most remarkable reversals in DeFi history - a story of North Korean attackers, flash loans, and fast-acting governance that turned disaster into triumph.
Swift, coordinated action with support from Hyperactive, Chainalysis’ Hexgate, PeckShield, and SlowMist resulted in a full recovery within 12 hours, including nearly $3 million of the hackers’ own funds.
We’re revisiting this hack because it’s a case study in what the industry usually lacks: speed, transparency, and collaboration. It also raises crucial questions about “god-mode” admin powers - tools that can save a protocol or, in the wrong hands, destroy it.
The Hidden Engine of Crypto Compliance: Elliptic’s Data Graph
Elliptic’s engineering team just offered a rare look inside the machinery that powers one of the crypto world’s largest intelligence systems. Each month, the company processes billions of blockchain transactions across 50+ chains and 70+ cross-chain bridges, overlaying hundreds of millions of proprietary data points to track illicit activity in real time.
Their system, built on AWS DynamoDB, models crypto movement as a global fund-flow graph, connecting wallets, bridges, and exchanges into a living network of risk. This architecture enables millisecond-speed tracing across 10 billion wallets, letting investigators and compliance teams see how money moves through the crypto economy before it disappears. It’s a rare glimpse at the infrastructure behind the headlines where data architecture meets the front line of crypto crime prevention.
More weekly top stories:
Investigations in accounting for crypto
Balances Linked to Criminal Activity > $75 Billion
Chainalysis secures a finacing from Hercules Capital
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See you next week!
