India, May 5 -- Fortinet's latest threat report, released by FortiGuard Labs, reveals a seismic shift in cybercrime strategy. Automation and AI are no longer fringe tools-they are central to how modern cyberattacks operate. According to the report, automated scans surged 16.7% globally in 2024, with attackers launching 36,000 scans per second in a relentless hunt for vulnerable services and devices.

The proliferation of Cybercrime-as-a-Service on darknet marketplaces has lowered the bar for entry. Neatly packaged exploit kits, stolen credentials, and remote access tools are now traded with the ease of e-commerce. Over 1.7 billion stolen credential records and a 500% rise in logs from infostealer malware underscore the scale of the crisis...