AI technology poses rising cybersecurity and bioweapon risks

New reports highlight the dual-edged nature of artificial intelligence, identifying it as both a tool for cyberattacks and a potential catalyst for biological warfare.

In Kenya, ESET’s H1 2026 Threat Report indicates that organizations are primarily facing established cyberattack techniques rather than novel ones. The report noted a 145% increase in QR code phishing in Kenya and a doubling of exploitation attempts against an older Microsoft Office vulnerability. Malicious email attachments, particularly scripts and Microsoft Office documents, remain a primary vector for ransomware.

Separately, a report from the RAND Corporation warns that advancing AI technology could significantly lower the barriers to designing and developing biological weapons. Researchers caution that AI-enabled biotechnology may allow malicious actors to create enhanced or novel pathogens capable of causing biological incidents ten times more destructive than the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially leading to societal collapse or systemic destabilization.