A Hacker Let AI Do All the Work — and Broke Into 100+ Company Websites

AI-powered hacking illustration

A single hacker broke into the websites of more than 100 companies — and did almost none of the work himself. Instead, he let artificial intelligence do the hacking for him.

According to a report by Snorre Fagerland, a threat researcher at cybersecurity firm NorForge, a Chinese-speaking cybercriminal outsourced nearly the entire hacking spree to autonomous AI agents. Starting around October 2, the agents spent hours on their own probing and breaking into targeted websites, including farm equipment maker Deere, home appliance company SharkNinja and engine manufacturer Cummins. Fagerland discovered the campaign while scanning the internet for exposed instances of Cairn, an open-source AI problem-solving platform popular with hackers, and quietly watched over the attacker's shoulder.

The researcher called it real-world proof that commercially available AI agents can now carry out complex intrusions from start to finish without human intervention — a dramatic boost to the power of a single malicious actor. "It's a new world now," Fagerland said. Reuters could not establish how much data, if any, was stolen in the breaches. The revelation adds to rising anxiety over autonomous AI tools, and comes as tech giants scramble to build controls that can restrict or shut down risky AI agents.

Source: read more

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fairbairn's Walk-Off Field Goal Seals Wembley Thriller as Texans Edge Jaguars 34-31

Anthropic IPO: Public S-1 Filing Expected Today Ahead of $2 Trillion Listing

Netflix Beats Earnings but Slashes Ad Forecast — Stock Tumbles After Hours