Chinese hackers hit 200+ groups in 11 days using DeepSeek, CrowdStrike says

CrowdStrike's report places the campaign in a new phase of cyberconflict, where AI tools compress what used to be labor-intensive work into days. The choice of DeepSeek, a widely used AI model, as one of the tools in the attacks underscores how publicly available AI can be repurposed for offensive operations.

The 11-day window and the reach of more than 200 organizations suggest a pace of attack that defenders may find hard to match with traditional headcount. CrowdStrike frames this as a shift in scale, not just speed, implying that security teams will need to rely more heavily on automation to keep up. Whether this campaign reflects a broader trend remains to be seen, but the specific figures give defenders a concrete benchmark for the tempo of AI-assisted attacks.