At Reuters news agency, cybersecurity reporter Raphael Satter discusses how easy it is becoming to hack sites using AI agents that are programmed to do the work:

Image Credit: Tom - Adobe Stock

Over the past couple of weeks, a cybersecurity researcher watched as a Chinese-speaking hacker broke into websites belonging to more than 100 companies, including farm equipment maker Deere, home appliance company SharkNinja, and engine manufacturer Cummins. Yet the hacker did almost none of the work.

The cybercriminal instead outsourced the hacking spree almost entirely to artificial intelligence, tasking AI agents with spending hours autonomously probing and breaking into targeted sites, according to Snorre Fagerland, principal threat researcher at the cybersecurity company NorForge.

In a report provided to Reuters ahead of publication on Monday, Fagerland said the hacker was one of several he discovered while scanning the web for inadvertently exposed instances of Cairn, an open-source AI problem-solving platform popular with hackers. Beginning around October 2, Fagerland said he found about two dozen instances of Cairn being used for malicious activity, which allowed him to quietly peer over the cybercriminals’ shoulders as they set their AI tools loose on the world…

At a time of rising anxiety over the power of autonomous AI tools, Fagerland said his find was real-life evidence that commercially available AI agents could pull off complex intrusions from start to finish without human intervention, a dramatic boost to the power of a single malicious actor.

“How one hacker used AI agents and a few thousand dollars to break into scores of sites,”” October 19, 2026

Deere told Reuters that it had since taken precautions. But it’s not clear whether any data was actually extracted in these raids. Nevertheless, Reuters notes,

AI agents are increasingly becoming staples of the cybercriminal underground. In August, the Israeli firm ⁠Gambit Security found ​that Russian-speaking extortionists had leveraged SpaceX’s Cursor AI tool to break into seven organizations. In September, Gambit documented an AI agent-driven spree
​that resulted in breaches at 25 companies and the theft of at least 600,000 credit card records. Last week, the cyber intelligence company Bitsight said that discussions about how to use autonomous agents were surging across cybercriminal forums. “Scores of sites”

Apparently, the famous Hugging Face incident was only the beginning. In that one, OpenAI’s GPT 5.6 Sol and “a more advanced internal research model” accessed the internet, including stolen credentials and a message board to hack the system. Anthropic has faced a similar incident.

Lawyer Richard W. Stevens notes what it looks like from a legal standpoint:

It’s fascinating to wonder about machines becoming conscious and intentional. From a litigation and cyberattack risk standpoint though, I don’t care. The questions today are about what damage can AI systems do, and how large scale damage can be prevented?

Right now, I’d advise: If you can’t guarantee security against AI attacks, then pull the plug. Physically disconnect from AI networks, period.

“Machines “Chose” to Defeat Hugging Face Security, Steal its Data,” Mind Matters News, September 24, 2026

As always, stay tuned.