Then, in the early 2010s, ransomware hackers turned to crypto as a method of payment. Later, more prominent examples of ransomware attacks that selected crypto as the ransom payment method of choice included the likes of WannaCry and Petya. But Lee doesn't think AI poses as severe a ransomware risk as many would think. "There's a lot of hypothesis about AI being very good for social engineering," Lee told CNBC. "Outside of RaaS providers and those leveraging stolen or procured toolchains, credentials and system access have proven to be effective," Jake King, security lead at internet search firm Elastic, told CNBC.

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Persons: Seksan, —, ransomware, Martin Lee, wasn't, Joseph Popp, Lee, CryptoLocker, What's, Mike Beck, Darktrace, CNBC's, Beck, Lee doesn't, Jake King Organizations: Cisco, CNBC, Harvard, Cybersecurity Ventures Locations: Panama, United States, Lee