Russia, China, and North Korea are widely using artificial intelligence to refine their cyberattacks against US interests, this according to the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2025 published on October 16.
The use of AI in cyberattacks targeting governments, corporations, and private citizens can take many forms: writing in fluent English, automating bots that spread disinformation, and even impersonating government officials.
The objectives of these attacks include stealing critical information, disrupting essential infrastructure, and extorting money in exchange for restoring access to important data.
In the first half of 2025, the world faced over eight million digital attacks, with Europe among the hardest hit regions, according to a recent report. Most disruptions, lasting five to 15 minutes, targeted telecommunications networks in Germany, France, Poland, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.
The United States cloud security firm NETSCOUT found that countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa experienced 3.2 million distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks: operations designed to overwhelm websites, networks, and systems. The growing vulnerability of critical digital infrastructure is concerning and underscores the need for coordinated international action to address these threats.As digital attacks escalate across continents, click through thos gallery to see how Europe and the world’s most vulnerable networks are bracing for impact.