A Framework for Evaluating Emerging Cyberattack Capabilities of AI

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Rodriguez, Mikel, Popa, Raluca Ada, Flynn, Four, Liang, Lihao, Dafoe, Allan, Wang, Anna
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Rodriguez, Mikel
Popa, Raluca Ada
Flynn, Four
Liang, Lihao
Dafoe, Allan
Wang, Anna
author_facet Rodriguez, Mikel
Popa, Raluca Ada
Flynn, Four
Liang, Lihao
Dafoe, Allan
Wang, Anna
contents As frontier AI models become more capable, evaluating their potential to enable cyberattacks is crucial for ensuring the safe development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Current cyber evaluation efforts are often ad-hoc, lacking systematic analysis of attack phases and guidance on targeted defenses. This work introduces a novel evaluation framework that addresses these limitations by: (1) examining the end-to-end attack chain, (2) identifying gaps in AI threat evaluation, and (3) helping defenders prioritize targeted mitigations and conduct AI-enabled adversary emulation for red teaming. Our approach adapts existing cyberattack chain frameworks for AI systems. We analyzed over 12,000 real-world instances of AI involvement in cyber incidents, catalogued by Google's Threat Intelligence Group, to curate seven representative attack chain archetypes. Through a bottleneck analysis on these archetypes, we pinpointed phases most susceptible to AI-driven disruption. We then identified and utilized externally developed cybersecurity model evaluations focused on these critical phases. We report on AI's potential to amplify offensive capabilities across specific attack stages, and offer recommendations for prioritizing defenses. We believe this represents the most comprehensive AI cyber risk evaluation framework published to date.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_11917
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Framework for Evaluating Emerging Cyberattack Capabilities of AI
Rodriguez, Mikel
Popa, Raluca Ada
Flynn, Four
Liang, Lihao
Dafoe, Allan
Wang, Anna
Cryptography and Security
Artificial Intelligence
As frontier AI models become more capable, evaluating their potential to enable cyberattacks is crucial for ensuring the safe development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Current cyber evaluation efforts are often ad-hoc, lacking systematic analysis of attack phases and guidance on targeted defenses. This work introduces a novel evaluation framework that addresses these limitations by: (1) examining the end-to-end attack chain, (2) identifying gaps in AI threat evaluation, and (3) helping defenders prioritize targeted mitigations and conduct AI-enabled adversary emulation for red teaming. Our approach adapts existing cyberattack chain frameworks for AI systems. We analyzed over 12,000 real-world instances of AI involvement in cyber incidents, catalogued by Google's Threat Intelligence Group, to curate seven representative attack chain archetypes. Through a bottleneck analysis on these archetypes, we pinpointed phases most susceptible to AI-driven disruption. We then identified and utilized externally developed cybersecurity model evaluations focused on these critical phases. We report on AI's potential to amplify offensive capabilities across specific attack stages, and offer recommendations for prioritizing defenses. We believe this represents the most comprehensive AI cyber risk evaluation framework published to date.
title A Framework for Evaluating Emerging Cyberattack Capabilities of AI
topic Cryptography and Security
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.11917