Hacker used AI agents to breach over 100 websites, Reuters says

The agents ran on Cairn, a free tool that moves a team of AI workers step by step from a starting point to a set goal. Here the goal was access to a site. NorForge found more than 20 Cairn control panels left unprotected online that it links to criminal activity. The busiest group ran over 1,100 attack projects across 14 panels likely tied to it, all on a worker named after DeepSeek’s V4.1 Flash model.

The attacker’s instructions were brief, under 100 Chinese characters in all, Tom’s Hardware reports, yet the agents had gone after more than 1,200 sites by 18 October. NorForge estimates the average task cost about $5 in AI fees and calls the figure highly uncertain.

SharkNinja says only a standalone help site was affected and the threat is contained. Deere says it has found nothing to suggest sensitive data was touched, and Cummins says it is looking into a report about a site run by one of its suppliers.

For any brand with a website, an attack priced at a few dollars a try means even small sites are worth an attacker’s time.