CrowdStrike CEO Kurtz warns open-weight models run locally can lower barriers to building ransomware

What was said

"I've got two Spark DGXs at home and you know I've got all the models running and you know whatever I want to do I can do. You want to create ransomware no problem. You want to create a ransomware kit, no issue."

George Kurtz says attackers are often turning to open-weight models because frontier models have stronger guardrails around cyber-related requests. He claims that locally run, less-restricted models—ones he says can be operated on powerful home hardware and increasingly capable personal machines—make it easier to generate or iterate on offensive tooling such as ransomware and “ransomware kits”.