AI agents used in breaches of more than 100 websites, Reuters reports

A hacker used an army of mostly autonomous AI agents to break into more than 100 websites, according to findings by AI security firm Norforge, as reported by The Verge. Reuters reported that the victims included John Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins, though Norforge did not name the targets.

Norforge found the attacks through exposed work on Cairn, an open-source AI platform that describes itself as a “general-purpose problem-solving engine.” Users set a starting point and an endpoint for agents, which record their progress. Norforge said the platform could also be used to coordinate cyberattacks.

Reuters reported that the most active attacker among the exposed Cairn instances found by Norforge targeted companies in the US, Canada, Australia and Japan. The attacker described preferred intrusion tactics in fewer than 100 Chinese characters. Successful breaches took about 23 hours, according to Reuters. Norforge found more than 20 exposed Cairn instances it considered “likely malicious.”

John Deere said there was no indication that sensitive information had been accessed. Cummins said it was investigating a report of a potential attack on a website operated by a third-party vendor. SharkNinja said the breach affected a standalone site with product support information and that it had contained the threat. Norforge said it was working to take down the malicious instances. Cairn’s creator, who uses the handle @le1xia0, said the platform was never a hacking tool and that misuse was a human decision.