The new era of AI-powered cybercrime

August 3, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the 2015 heist film Ocean's Eight, the character played by Rihanna sends a Met Museum security guard an email with flashing posters of Wheaton Terriers—his favorite dog breed. He clicks, and the team gets into the system. Ryan Kalember, chief strategy officer at the cybersecurity company ProofPoint, calls that scene a perfect example of a modern cyberattack. "She understands what kind of content he would interact with and be likely to respond to, and she fishes him," he says. But what was a clever movie trick a decade ago is now being mass-produced by artificial intelligence, and the scale of the problem is rising fast. In 2025, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received over one million complaints of cybercrime—a record high.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:20) **Tech Camp Intro: Cybercrime on the Rise** - Hosts Regina Barber and Emily Kwong introduce the topic of hackers and cybercrime, noting the FBI received a record high of over one million cybercrime complaints in 2025.
2 (00:58) **The "Ocean's Eight" Spear-Phishing Example** - Ryan Calambert, Chief Strategy Officer at ProofPoint, praises Rihanna's character in *Ocean's Eight* for executing a perfect spear-phishing attack by sending a targeted email about Wheaton Terriers.
3 (02:05) **Why AI Supercharges Cybercrime** - Ryan states that AI makes cybercrime easier, faster, and harder to detect, creating more work for defenders.
4 (04:06) **The Cybersecurity Triad (CIA)** - Ryan introduces the core cybersecurity principle of Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA).
5 (05:52) **Who Are Today's Cybercriminals?** - The hosts discuss the profile of modern cybercriminals, moving beyond the lone "hacker in a hoodie" stereotype.
6 (06:52) **Three Ways AI Makes Attacks Better** - Ryan details how AI is improving cyberattacks.
7 (07:51) **The AI Arms Race: Defenders vs. Attackers** - Ryan discusses the new Anthropic model "Claude Mythos," which is excellent at discovering code vulnerabilities.

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Show Notes

Hacking has been on the rise around the world. In 2025, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 1 million complaints of cybercrime, a record high in the US. Hackers are always getting more creative, and now they have a new tool at their disposal: AI.

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