The autumn wave of attacks on crypto exchanges and prediction platforms like Polymarket has exposed a tectonic shift in the digital threat landscape. The key driver is the rapid rise of "hacker AI": technology originally created as a development tool is increasingly being used for malicious purposes. According to Dmitry Machikhin, CEO of the AML company BitOK, speaking at the DIGCOM 26 conference in Moscow, this shift has radically changed the balance of power in the cybersecurity market.
Neural networks have replaced entire teams of hackers
The main effect of the new reality is the extreme compactness of attacking groups. If previously numerous teams were required to find vulnerabilities and conduct cascading attacks, now one or two specialists armed with neural network tools are enough. This is exactly the behavior model experts observed during the high-profile hack of the Binance exchange.
Machikhin attributes the surge in incidents specifically in autumn more to a confluence of circumstances than to a seasonal factor: a peak in business activity, record trading volumes on exchanges, and the emergence of new promising AI models enabling such attacks all coincided.
Major hacks are not expected, but risks remain
Part of the market expects a decline, but expert analysis points to a more complex picture. The same hacking competencies are in demand within companies — including large ones — where specialists build defenses taking into account the risks that AI poses. Major hacks should not be expected in the near future, but cybercrime, like classical crime, is always one step ahead.
For investors, this means the risk of losing funds due to a platform hack has not disappeared. As a preventive measure, Machikhin recommends turning to white hat hackers and ordering pentests — legal trial attacks on one's own system that identify weak points. The discovered holes are closed, and the project feels safer. According to his observations, demand for white hat hacker services has surged over the past month — ethical hacking specialists have "struck gold" on the wave of incidents, and testing systems for AI vulnerabilities is becoming the new norm.
Cryptalist analysis: The shift of attackers to compact AI-armed groups lowers the barrier to entry for cybercrime and makes traditional defense models insufficient. For institutional players, this is a signal to revisit security budgets and include pentesting in the regular audit cycle. The ethical hacking services market will likely continue to grow, turning into an independent segment of crypto infrastructure.