Artificial intelligence could be a key tool for helping organizations keep track of an ever-expanding catalog of identified software flaws, a top official at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said Thursday.

CISA sponsors the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program, which publishes standardized data about known cyber vulnerabilities. The number of vulnerabilities the CVE program published last year rose to 40,000, said Chris Butera, acting deputy executive assistant director of cybersecurity at CISA.

“For any organization to try to track and hash against 40,000 different vulnerabilities within their IT ecosystem, it’s a very complex challenge,” he said at Thursday’s GDIT Emerge event, produced by Scoop News Group. “We can do a lot more with automation, and that’s where maybe AI can help us in the automation pieces.”

CISA’s goals for the CVE program are “more automation, innovation and increasing the quality of the data going into the program,” he said. Earlier this year CISA narrowly averted a lapse in a key contract to administer it.

Butera’s remarks were among several at the event where industry and policymakers opined on how AI can aid cyber defenders, as opposed to fears about how AI might aid hackers looking to exploit the technology.

Daniel Richard, associate deputy director of digital innovation at the Central Intelligence Agency, said that he’s “actually quite bullish and optimistic in how AI can be leveraged in the cyber space.”

It’s especially important as the window shrinks between the discovery of previously unknown vulnerabilities called zero-days and when hackers begin exploiting them.

“There is a lot of opportunity as we gather more telemetry data, more metrics, to be able to leverage AI to identify anomalies much more quickly to be able to react to those threats in a much more proactive way,” he said.

Manny Medrano, director of the office of cybersecurity monitoring and operations at the State Department, said a good role might be treating AI as a “virtual assistant.” But humans have to remain in charge in the end. “You make the final decision,” he said.

It also can play an important role for defenders in sifting through mountains of data, said David Carroll, vice president of cyber capability, engineering and strategy at GDIT.

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U.S. officials imposed sanctions Thursday on Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, its successor Grinex, and related affiliates, while also targeting its leaders for arrest with financial rewards. These measures are part of intensified efforts to halt the flow of ransomware proceeds facilitated by the platforms.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control re-designated Garantex for sanctions, accusing its operators of processing more than $100 million in illicit transactions since 2019. The State Department announced financial rewards totaling up to $6 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Garantex’s leaders, including up to $5 million for Russian national Aleksandr Mira Serda, the exchange’s co-founder and chief commercial officer.

Authorities expanded their targeting of Garantex, its leaders and associated companies following a sweeping international law enforcement operation in March when officials seized three domains linked to the exchange, confiscated servers, froze more than $26 million in cryptocurrency and indicted its leaders. 

One of those leaders, Aleksej Besciokov, was arrested in March while on vacation in India shortly after the Justice Department unsealed indictments against him and Mira Serda, officials said. OFAC also imposed sanctions on Sergey Mendelev, co-founder of Garantex, and Pavel Karavatsky, co-owner and regional director of Garantex.

“According to the U.S. Secret Service and FBI, Garantex received hundreds of millions in criminal proceeds and was used to facilitate various crimes, including hacking, ransomware, terrorism, and drug trafficking, often with substantial harm to U.S. victims,” Tammy Bruce, spokesperson for the State Department, said in a statement Thursday. “Between April 2019 and March 2025, Garantex processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions.” 

Before Garantex moved its operations and funds to Grinex following the globally coordinated law enforcement disruption, the exchange received millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from Russia-linked ransomware affiliates. Officials traced those transactions to Conti, Black Basta, LockBit, Ryuk, NetWalker and Phoenix Cryptolocker. 

Grinex, which was created to avoid the sanctions placed on Garantex, has since facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions, the Treasury Department said. The Treasury Department’s OFAC initially sanctioned Garatex in April 2022.

OFAC sanctioned six additional organizations Thursday, including A7, A7 Agent, Old Vector, InDeFi Bank and Exved for their alleged involvement with and material support of Garantex and Grinex.

“Exploiting cryptocurrency exchanges to launder money and facilitate ransomware attacks not only threatens our national security, but also tarnishes the reputations of legitimate virtual asset service providers,” John K. Hurley, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement. “By exposing these malicious actors, Treasury remains committed to and supportive of the digital asset industry’s integrity.”

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The State Department announced Thursday it will pay up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of seven North Korean nationals accused of operating criminal schemes that generate revenue for Pyongyang’s weapons programs, marking the latest effort to disrupt financing networks that have funneled money around sanctions.

The coordinated action that also involved the Justice and Treasury departments targets what officials describe as an extensive network involving cryptocurrency theft, fraudulent remote IT work, tobacco smuggling and other illicit activities that primarily target U.S. companies and citizens.

The largest reward, $7 million, is offered for Sim Hyon-sop, who prosecutors say led tobacco smuggling operations designed to generate U.S. dollars for North Korea. Six co-conspirators carry bounties ranging from $500,000 to $3 million each.

The announcement comes as U.S. officials increasingly focus on North Korea’s ability to circumvent international sanctions through criminal enterprises that have grown more sophisticated in recent years. Intelligence assessments indicate revenue from these schemes directly funds North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, which have expanded significantly under Kim Jong Un’s leadership.

One of the most lucrative schemes involves dispatching thousands of North Korean IT workers abroad, primarily to Russia and China, where they assume false identities to secure remote positions with U.S. companies. These workers often target high-paying technology jobs, with earnings sent back to North Korea to support government programs. 

In a related case, a U.S. citizen, Christina Marie Chapman, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison Thursday for facilitating a scheme that defrauded more than 300 U.S. companies, by helping North Korean IT workers obtain remote positions under false pretenses.

The Treasury Department simultaneously sanctioned Korea Sobaeksu Trading Company, which officials say has deployed IT workers to Vietnam, along with three additional North Korean nationals involved in similar schemes.

Research has indicated these operations generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually, providing North Korea with hard currency needed to purchase materials and technology for weapons development.

The use of criminal revenue to fund state weapons programs represents what analysts describe as a hybrid model where traditional organized crime intersects with state-sponsored activities to achieve strategic objectives.

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