Google's Latest AI Ransomware Defense Only Goes So Far Google has launched a new AI-based protection in Drive for desktop that can shut down an attack before it spreads--but its benefits have their limits. Ransomware attacks have loomed for years as an urgent digital threat with no easy solution --especially as they have evolved to include data grab-and-leak attacks that may not even involve data-encrypting malware at all. Traditional ransomware that locks up files and systems is still rampant, though, and Google on Tuesday launched a new defense for its Google Drive for desktop apps that aims to quickly detect ransomware activity and halt cloud syncing before an infection can spread. While antivirus scanners monitor for signs of malware across a system, the new ransomware protections in Drive for desktop are meant to act as an additional line of defense. The detection capability is built on an AI model that Google trained using millions of real victims' files that had been encrypted with various strains of ransomware.