India’s national cybersecurity agency CERT-In says an AI-assisted threat actor it calls “CRAFTY FALCON” has stepped up attacks on crypto exchanges and other financial firms, stealing wallet keys and draining funds, Cointelegraph reported. The update, numbered CIAD-2026-0058, was issued on Wednesday and follows an October warning, CIAD-2026-0046.
According to the agency, the attacker “operates at machine speed and strikes by invoking the victim’s own payment and disbursement APIs.” Targets include nonbank lenders, fintechs, payment aggregators and crypto exchanges. CERT-In says the attackers exploited vulnerable applications and exposed test environments, used shared credentials and tokens, targeted cloud infrastructure, and used AI tools to refine attack scripts. Some attacks were timed for weekends and holidays, and small test transfers were made before larger ones.
“The threat is active and ongoing,” CERT-In said, advising organizations to treat the campaign as active and escalating. Its recommendations include round-the-clock monitoring with lower alert thresholds.
The agency did not name any affected exchange or put a figure on losses. Cointelegraph said it contacted CERT-In and exchanges including CoinDCX, CoinSwitch, WazirX, ZebPay and Mudrex. The article also pointed to an October CrowdStrike report on an attacker who used AI tooling against South Korean financial firms, suggesting the technique is spreading across the region.
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