Reuters reported that a hacker used AI agents to breach the websites of more than 100 companies
According to Reuters, a Chinese-speaking hacker used AI agents to breach the websites of more than 100 companies, with victims including Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins; the hacker had also previously attempted to breach more than 1,200 sites. The attacker used the open-source Cairn agent framework, combining the DeepSeek model with the Claude Code runtime environment, and one attack campaign used fewer than 100 Chinese characters to issue instructions to the agent. The report says the token cost was about $5,000, equivalent to about $50 per successful intrusion, and successful intrusions took an average of about 23 hours. NorForge researcher Snorre Fagerland said it is now a new world.
The case gives a token cost of about $50 per intrusion and an average duration of 23 hours, which can serve as a reference for assessing how agents lower the barrier to attack.
HOLY WTF. Reuters is reporting that a Chinese-speaking hacker used AI agents to compromise websites belonging to more than 100 companies, including Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins, after attempting intrusions against over 1,200 sites.
The estimated cost: roughly $5,000 in AI tokens, or $50 per successful breach. Successful intrusions took around 23 hours on average.
The attackers used the open-source Cairn agent framework, apparently combining DeepSeek models with a Claude Code harness. One campaign gave its agents instructions in fewer than 100 Chinese characters.
NorForge researcher Snorre Fagerland: 'It's a new world now.'View the quoted post on X