Malware now asks an AI: how much is this victim worth?
An infostealer is malware that steals passwords, browser cookies and other logins from your computer. Cisco's Talos security team looked at one called Volta. Its report title says it all: "Appraisal by AI: model-driven victim prioritization."
In simple words, Volta uses a language model to rank its victims by how valuable they are. The criminals can then focus first on the people and companies worth the most. The story got 248 points and 131 comments on Hacker News.
We have only the report's headline and summary, not every technical detail. But the direction is clear: AI is helping criminals with the boring business part of crime, not only the hacking itself.
Sorting stolen data used to take time, and that slowness gave victims a little room. AI removes that delay. Use a password manager, turn on two-factor login, and do not keep important accounts logged in on shared computers.
