ESET’s H1 2026 Threat Report finds cybercriminals increasingly adapting established attack techniques to AI, cloud, mobile, and changing user behaviors. ESET identified more than 3,000 malicious AI-agent skills among 900,000 analyzed, while detecting the first Android malware to actively use generative AI at runtime. ClickFix social-engineering attacks more than doubled, and QR-code phishing reached record levels. Ransomware also continued to grow, with attackers increasingly using EDR-killer tools to disable security defenses before deploying payloads. While AI-enabled threats remain relatively early-stage, the report shows attackers using AI and automation to make established tactics more scalable, adaptable, and difficult to detect.

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