In the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region, a new wave of cyber threats is emerging, shaped by the convergence of artificial intelligence, sophisticated criminal networks, and a rapidly evolving digital landscape. According to a report released Monday, October 20, 2025, by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Inc., AI-powered cybercriminals are now industrializing attacks with a level of discipline and precision that would have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago.
The 2025 APJ eCrime Landscape Report, as detailed by CrowdStrike, paints a sobering picture: enterprising adversaries—many operating from underground Chinese-language marketplaces—are leveraging AI to scale up their operations, automate their attacks, and target high-value sectors including manufacturing, technology, and financial services across India, Australia, and Japan. The result? A surge in high-velocity, high-volume ransomware campaigns and billions of dollars in illicit transactions flowing through shadowy online channels.
“eCrime actors are industrializing cybercrime across APJ through thriving underground markets and complex ransomware operations. Simultaneously, AI-developed malware enables adversaries to launch high-velocity, high-volume attacks,” Adam Meyers, head of counter adversary operations at CrowdStrike, told Homeland Prep News. “Defenders must meet this new pace of attack with decisive action, powered by AI, informed by human experience, and unified in response.”
The report’s findings are stark. Underground markets such as Chang’an, FreeCity, and Huione Guarantee have become safe havens for Chinese-speaking threat actors. These platforms allow criminals to buy and sell stolen credentials, phishing kits, malware, and money-laundering services, all while preserving operational security and anonymity across the clearnet, darknet, and even encrypted Telegram channels. The scale of these operations is staggering: Huione Guarantee alone processed an estimated $27 billion USD before its disruption in 2025, the report notes.
This clandestine ecosystem persists despite heightened internet restrictions and crackdowns by the Chinese government. CrowdStrike’s intelligence-driven analysis reveals that these decentralized markets are not only surviving but thriving, continuing to fuel phishing, fraud, and credential theft throughout the region. Meanwhile, Vietnam-based threat actors have carved out their own niche, hijacking social media business accounts using custom-designed data stealers, further complicating the region’s cyber threat landscape.
The rise of AI is transforming every stage of the cyberattack chain. From AI-enhanced social engineering—where attackers craft more convincing phishing messages—to automated malware development that can adapt on the fly, artificial intelligence is giving criminals a powerful new toolkit. The report highlights that emerging ransomware-as-a-service providers, such as KillSec and Funklocker, are leveraging AI-developed malware to devastating effect. Together, these groups were responsible for more than 120 incidents targeting organizations across the APJ region in the past year alone.
The consequences are increasingly visible. According to CrowdStrike, 763 victims have been publicly named on dedicated leak sites in the APJ region, a testament to the scale and aggressiveness of these operations. The most frequently targeted sectors—manufacturing, technology, and financial services—are critical to national economies, making the potential impact of such attacks even more severe.
One particularly persistent threat group, dubbed SOLAR SPIDER, continues to target financial institutions across APJ with sophisticated phishing and malware campaigns. These attacks are often supported by a thriving ecosystem of eCrime services, including bulletproof hosting, phishing kits, and SMS spam tools, making it increasingly difficult for defenders to keep pace.
As the report makes clear, the cybercrime landscape is evolving at breakneck speed, and artificial intelligence is at the heart of this transformation. “As adversaries leverage AI to accelerate attacks and exploit both technical and human vulnerabilities, organizations across APJ must adopt proactive threat hunting strategies and advanced technologies,” CrowdStrike advises. The company emphasizes that only by combining AI-driven defenses with human expertise and collaboration can organizations hope to stay ahead of these ever-morphing threats.
While the APJ region grapples with these urgent challenges, the broader implications of advanced AI loom large—and not just in the realm of cybercrime. The late Stephen Hawking, the celebrated theoretical physicist, was one of the earliest and most influential voices warning of the transformative potential and existential risks posed by artificial intelligence. Hawking’s insights, as reported by BBC and other outlets, remain strikingly relevant in today’s climate of technological upheaval.
Hawking recognized AI’s capacity to revolutionize medicine, eradicate diseases, alleviate poverty, and address environmental crises. Yet he was equally forthright about the dangers. In a 2014 interview, he famously cautioned, “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” His concern was that AI could evolve more rapidly than humans, redesigning itself at an ever-increasing rate and potentially creating an intelligence beyond human comprehension.
“AI could take off on its own and re-design itself at an ever-increasing rate,” Hawking warned, highlighting a scenario in which machines could outperform humanity in every intellectual domain. Such an outcome, he suggested, might herald the emergence of a new form of life, one that could render humans obsolete or even threaten our very existence.
The risks extend beyond existential threats. Hawking also pointed to the dangers of AI in military and strategic contexts, where autonomous weapons could make life-or-death decisions without human oversight. He cautioned that such systems, if controlled by authoritarian regimes or malicious actors, could destabilize global security and spark accidental or deliberate conflicts. “Unchecked deployment of AI in these areas might have catastrophic worldwide consequences,” Hawking emphasized, calling for international regulation and ethical oversight.
Hawking’s warnings weren’t limited to doomsday scenarios. He foresaw the broader social and economic disruptions that AI could bring, predicting that widespread automation might concentrate wealth among a select few while displacing millions of workers. This, he argued, could intensify economic inequality and spark social instability—a challenge that is as much societal as it is technological.
Yet, Hawking was not opposed to the development of AI. On the contrary, he advocated for responsible innovation, strict ethical oversight, and global collaboration. In 2015, he co-signed an open letter urging researchers to investigate the societal impact of AI and develop safeguards to ensure it aligns with human values. “AI could become the biggest event in the history of our civilisation. Or the worst. We just don’t know,” he observed, underscoring the profound uncertainty that surrounds this technology.
As organizations in the APJ region and around the world confront the realities of AI-driven cybercrime, Hawking’s call for vigilance, oversight, and proactive engagement remains as urgent as ever. The future of artificial intelligence—whether as a tool for progress or a source of peril—will depend on the choices made today by technologists, policymakers, and society at large.
In the end, the rise of AI-powered threats is not just a regional issue but a global challenge. The need for collaborative, ethical, and forward-thinking responses has never been clearer.
