Sales of AI-based tools is accelerating within underground ransomware marketplaces, lowering the barrier to entry for new actors in the process.
An analysis of Telegram channels, 20 dark web forums, and five underground markets by anti-ransomware platform vendor Halcyon found that AI utility posts grew to 1,486 in February 2026, up from just 38 in December 2025.
The AI tools for sale divided into four categories:
Weaponized LLMs: Sometimes called dark LLMs, these tools omit the safety guardrails and rules present in legitimate large language models (LLMs). “WormGPT” is the market leader in this category of cybercrime-focused AI tooling but only as a brand used by multiple operators, some of ...