:AI sharpens cat-and-mouse hacking

From hacked supermarket fridges and a record cryptocurrency theft at Binance to an emergency over flaws in widely used web software, companies worldwide are facing a wave of cyber threats executives say AI is accelerating and making more sophisticated.



The surge is straining IT departments, with staff working overnight to patch software vulnerabilities, prompting some companies to turn to and increase investment in AI-powered software.



A cyberattack on European supermarkets on Monday, the second in three weeks in which hackers raised refrigerator and freezer temperatures, forcing retailers to discard millions of dollars' worth of spoiled food, underscored the urgency.



Nearly 37,000 security flaws in software or computer systems were reported in the third quarter of 2026, tripling from a year earlier, according to the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list, an international registry of disclosed security flaws.