Alex Stamos says AI is pushing cybersecurity toward a “dark age”

In an interview with The Verge, Alex Stamos, Cognition’s chief security officer and a cybersecurity expert, said private and state actors, including Russia and North Korea, are using AI to find and exploit vulnerabilities at the same time. He said the multibillion-dollar cybersecurity industry is facing a succession of breaches and may enter a “dark age” while it adapts to the new reality.

Stamos cited an attack chain involving Fireworks and Cursor: as described in the interview, API keys stolen from Fireworks enabled an intrusion into Cursor, which then distributed a malicious plugin to other companies. The plugin reportedly reached 5,000 companies, creating 5,000 potential breaches. He described the situation as a continuous sequence of breaches across the technology sector, with attackers chaining compromises to expand their reach.