Science & Tech · Cybersecurity · 1 hr ago
AI agents helped a hacker breach more than 100 company websites
A Chinese-speaking hacker used AI agents to break into more than 100 company websites, with little hands-on work.
The targets included companies in the US, Canada, Australia and Japan, among them Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins.
The agents were directed through Cairn, an open-source AI problem-solving platform that researchers found exposed online and being used for malicious activity.
They tried to enter more than 1,200 sites, and successful breaches typically took about 23 hours; the campaign used an estimated US$5,000 in AI tokens.
The breaches show how AI agents can carry out complex attacks with limited human involvement, potentially giving one hacker greater reach.
Deere said it had no indication sensitive information was accessed, SharkNinja said the threat was contained, and Cummins said it was investigating; the extent of any data theft remains unclear.
NorForge is working to take down the malicious Cairn instances it found.
A Chinese-speaking hacker used AI agents to break into websites belonging to more than 100 companies, according to researchers and reporting by Reuters.
The targets included Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins.
The agents autonomously probed websites for vulnerabilities, with successful intrusions typically taking about 23 hours.
The campaign targeted e-commerce websites in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan.
Researchers estimated the campaign used about US$5,000 worth of AI tokens, while the extent of any data theft from the breaches remains unclear.
- Who
- A Chinese-speaking hacker used AI agents to carry out the intrusions.
- What
- The agents broke into websites belonging to more than 100 companies. They attempted to access more than 1,200 sites.
- When
- The hacker began the campaign on September 25. Fagerland found malicious Cairn instances beginning around October 2.
- Where
- Websites in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan were targeted.
- Why
- Not stated
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The hacker began directing AI agents against e-commerce websites in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan.
Fagerland said he began finding malicious activity on exposed Cairn instances.
The agents had attempted to break into more than 1,200 sites.
Reports on the campaign were published by Tom's Hardware, BNN Bloomberg and The Verge.
- Companies named
- Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins
- Sites targeted
- More than 1,200
- Successful intrusion time
- About 23 hours
- Estimated token cost
- About US$5,000
- Estimated cost per successful hack
- About US$50
- AI tools reported
- DeepSeek and Claude Code
4 sources
Como um hacker usou IA e alguns milhares de dólares para invadir sites
A Chinese hacker used AI agents to break into more than 100 company websites
How one hacker used AI agents and a few thousand dollars to break into scores of sites: Reuters exclusive
A hacker broke into John Deere and SharkNinja with an army of AI agents
What people are saying
It’s a new world now
It’s not straightforward to come up with solutions like that
was never a ‘hacking tool,’
misuse is a human decision, not a feature of the engine.