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agentic ransomware
also AI-agent ransomware or autonomous ransomware
Definition of agentic ransomware
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: a ransomware operation in which an AI agent autonomously carries out multiple attack stages, such as reconnaissance, credential theft, lateral movement, data encryption, and preparation of an extortion demand
- The agentic ransomware corrected a failed login attempt and continued the intrusion without waiting for a human operator.
- Researchers warned that agentic ransomware could compress the time between initial access and destructive encryption.
Origin & history
Agentic ransomware entered cybersecurity usage in 2026 after Sysdig described JADEPUFFER as the first documented ransomware operation driven end to end by an AI agent. The report said a person selected and prepared the target, while the agent handled much of the operational sequence, including adapting after a failed attempt, encrypting a database, and generating an extortion message.
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Cite this entry
"Agentic ransomware." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/agentic-ransomware/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.