Hackers used AI agents to breach the websites of over a hundred companies
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Snorre Fagerland, a researcher at security firm NorForge, while scanning publicly exposed instances of the open-source AI problem-solving platform Cairn, found a Chinese-speaking operator using an AI agent to launch automated intrusion attempts against more than 1,200 websites, breaking into the websites of more than 100 companies, with victims including Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins. The attacker combined the DeepSeek model with the Claude Code runtime environment, and one attack campaign issued its instructions in fewer than 100 Chinese characters. NorForge identified three campaign clusters, two of which were judged malicious, with more than 1,100 attack projects across 14 panels possibly linked to the attacker, mainly targeting e-commerce and payment infrastructure in the United States, Japan and Australia, and at least one attack had planted a web shell on a commercial website. The researchers estimated model costs at about $5,000, or about $50 per successful intrusion; Reuters said it could not determine whether any data was stolen.
Generated by AI from reports · Updated 7 min ago
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- CSA Labs ResearchSelected$50 per intrusion: detecting autonomous agent intrusion campaigns
On October 19, 2026, Reuters and security firm NorForge disclosed that a Chinese-speaking operator used the open-source multi-agent platform Cairn to attempt intrusions against more than 1,200 websites; Reuters, after reviewing the operator's records, confirmed that more than 100 company sites were breached, including those of Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins, but could not determine whether any data was stolen. NorForge researchers estimated the operator's model costs at about $5,000, roughly $50 per successful intrusion; their report separately estimated about $5 per task and noted substantial uncertainty. Previously, in September, Gambit Security disclosed that a similar agent combination using Cairn as its exploitation engine breached at least 27 companies and stole records of more than 600,000 unexpired payment cards.
- 网页AI Threat Watch (aithreat.io)· Media coverageA hacker let AI hack over 100 companies for $5,000(opens the original post in a new tab)
- 网页보안뉴스 Boannews（韩）· Media coverage중국어권 해커, AI 침투 테스트 도구로 기업 사이트 무더기 공격(opens the original post in a new tab)
- 网页AI Threat Watch (aithreat.io)· Media coverageHackers deploy an army of AI agents to breach systems of multiple well-known companies(opens the original post in a new tab)
- 小红书小红书 可信 AI 说· DiscussionIn under 100 words, AI compromised 1,200 websites(opens the original post in a new tab)
- 网页Zenn 安全话题（日语）· Media coverageI tried the AI penetration testing tool "Cairn"(opens the original post in a new tab)
- RedditReddit r/artificial· DiscussionOne Hacker Used AI Agents to Breach 100+ Company Websites for About $5,000(opens the original post in a new tab)
- X@venkatmangudi· Discussionhttps://norforge.com/blog/inside_cairn(opens the original post in a new tab)
- Dark ReadingHackers abuse AI penetration testing tool Cairn to automate large-scale attacks
Security company NorForge found that Chinese-speaking hackers used the AI penetration testing tool Cairn to automate attacks on about 100 e-commerce and payment-related websites, and that at least one attack had already implanted a Web shell in a commercial website. Researchers identified three activity clusters in publicly exposed AI penetration testing control panels, two of which were judged malicious; the 14 panels possibly related to this group of attackers contained more than 1100 attack projects in total, and the activity was mainly economically motivated with no obvious signs of state support. According to Reuters, the victims include John Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins; John Deere said it had taken remediation measures and found no sensitive information accessed, and SharkNinja said the incident was contained and affected only one standalone product support website. The attackers had AI agents look for weaknesses such as SQL injection, insecure file uploads, insecure deserialization, authentication bypass and server-side template injection; some instructions also required deploying a Web shell, and browser automation was used to determine whether a website could process orders in order to screen targets.
- The Hacker NewsSelectedAttacker uses an autonomous AI agent to breach corporate websites, targeting more than 1200 sites
A Chinese-speaking attacker operated an autonomous AI agent to breach corporate websites with almost no human assistance, trying more than 1200 sites and reaching the websites of over 100 companies, including Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins. Snorre Fagerland of the security firm NorForge discovered the activity by scanning Cairn panels exposed on the internet and read the attack records in real time. A Chinese-language cluster named AIA0001 linked 14 panels to more than 1100 attack projects, targeting stores and payment systems in the United States, Japan and Australia with the intent of gaining long-term access. NorForge counted an average time of slightly under 23 hours for successful breaches, an overall success rate of about 10%, a cost of about $5 per task, and about $5000 in tokens used across the whole campaign. The three named companies said the impact was limited.
- X@LowdCode· DiscussionSources: https://norforge.com/blog/inside_cairn(opens the original post in a new tab)
- RedditReddit r/cybersecurity· DiscussionA China-linked operator used AI agents to attack governments across Asia.(opens the original post in a new tab)
- X@DanielJHoward11· DiscussionSource: NorForge, 2026-10-19: https://norforge.com/blog/inside_cairn(opens the original post in a new tab)
- X @themidasprojSelectedReuters 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.
- XX @AndrewCurran_· Discussion@teortaxesTex Full report: https://norforge.com/blog/inside_cairn(opens the original post in a new tab)
- XX @AndrewCurran_· DiscussionSource for Reuters story. https://norforge.com/blog/inside_cairn(opens the original post in a new tab)
- Hacker NewsHacker News· DiscussionA hacker broke into John Deere and SharkNinja with an army of AI agents(opens the original post in a new tab)
- The Verge AIHacker breaches John Deere and SharkNinja with an army of AI agents
AI security company Norforge found that a hacker breached more than 100 websites with the help of a cluster of mostly autonomous AI agents; according to Reuters, the victims include companies such as John Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins. Norforge discovered the attacks through tasks exposed on the open-source AI platform Cairn, which describes itself as a general-purpose problem-solving engine where users can set a starting point and an endpoint for agents, and the agents record task progress, but hackers can also use it to orchestrate cyberattacks. Reuters said the hacker is the most active attacker targeting companies in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan, listed preferred intrusion methods in fewer than 100 Chinese characters, and took about 23 hours to successfully breach. Norforge also found more than 20 exposed Cairn instances that may be malicious and is pushing for them to be taken down.
- NorForgeSelectedNorForge found more than 20 Cairn control panels exposed on the public internet; a Chinese-speaking group used Claude Code plus DeepSeek V4.1 Flash to run more than 1,100 intrusion projects
An investigation by the security research organization NorForge found more than 20 Cairn control panels exposed on the public internet, most of which were judged to be related to malicious intrusion activity. Cairn is a system that can dispatch AI agents to reconnaissance targets, search for weaknesses and attempt intrusion; these panels also exposed target information, account credentials and API keys. The most active Chinese-speaking cluster, AIA0001, used 14 panels and more than 1,100 attack projects, mainly targeting e-commerce and payment infrastructure in the United States, Japan and Australia; the English-speaking cluster AIA0002 focused on stealing credit cards and cryptocurrency. NorForge said the task worker was named claudecode_deepseek-v4.1-flash, presumed to be the Claude Code harness paired with the DeepSeek 4.1 Flash model. According to NorForge's estimate, the overall success rate of such tasks was about 10%; projects in which AIA0001 achieved its goal took an average of slightly less than 23 hours and produced about 140 facts each.
- ReutersExclusive: How one hacker used an AI agent and a few thousand dollars to breach dozens of websites
Snorre Fagerland, a threat researcher at cybersecurity company NorForge, found that a Chinese-speaking hacker used an AI agent to launch automated intrusion attempts against more than 1,200 websites, breaching the sites of more than 100 companies, including Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins. In a report submitted to Reuters, Fagerland said he discovered the hacker while scanning exposed instances of the open-source AI problem-solving platform Cairn, and that since about October 2 he had found about two dozen Cairn instances being used for malicious activity. The hacker targeted e-commerce sites in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan starting September 25, with instructions of fewer than 100 Chinese characters, and successful intrusions typically took about 23 hours. Fagerland estimates the campaign used a mix of DeepSeek and Anthropic's Claude Code, consumed about $5,000 in tokens, and averaged about $50 per successful intrusion.
Related discussion
- 网页AI Threat Watch (aithreat.io)A hacker let AI hack over 100 companies for $5,000(opens the original post in a new tab)
- 网页보안뉴스 Boannews（韩）중국어권 해커, AI 침투 테스트 도구로 기업 사이트 무더기 공격(opens the original post in a new tab)
- 网页AI Threat Watch (aithreat.io)Hackers deploy an army of AI agents to breach systems of multiple well-known companies(opens the original post in a new tab)
- X@chris_uk2026 · ChrisUK20261/4 A Chinese-speaking hacker used autonomous AI agents to breach over 100 corporate websites, including John Deere and…(opens the original post in a new tab)
4 comments·Oct 21 14:33Collect
- 小红书小红书 可信 AI 说In under 100 words, AI compromised 1,200 websites(opens the original post in a new tab)
- 网页AI Threat Watch (aithreat.io)Chinese-language instructions control AI Agent; hackers breach over a hundred websites in the US, Japan, Canada and Australia; each successful attack costs only about 204 ringgit(opens the original post in a new tab)
- X@swif_ai · SwifNorForge found 20+ open Cairn AI-hacking panels likely run by criminals, and real red teams' client tests on open panel…(opens the original post in a new tab)
- X@heatmaster555 · HeatSecurity[AI attack management panels fully exposed] NorForge found more than 20 public panels suspected of misuse of the AI intrusion tool "Cairn"; in the largest attack group, more than 1,100 attack projects were confirmed; Japanese e-commerce sites were also targeted, and web shell installation was actually confirmed; attacks…(opens the original post in a new tab)
1 likes·Oct 21 14:33Collect
- 网页Zenn 安全话题（日语）I tried the AI penetration testing tool "Cairn"(opens the original post in a new tab)
- X@LisaIshihara3 · 石原リサ｜シリコンバレー20+年1社あたり約50ドル。 たった1人のハッカーが、AIエージェントを使って100社以上のサイトに侵入。狙われたのは、日本を含むネットショップや決済の仕組み。 攻撃はもう、人が頑張る仕事ではなくAIに任せる仕事。守る側も、人の目だけでは追いつ…(opens the original post in a new tab)
1 likes · 1 comments·Oct 21 08:33Collect
- X@TerryReinert556 · TerryA hacker breached 100+ companies, including John Deere and Cummins, for about $50 per breach in AI tokens, working from…(opens the original post in a new tab)
- RedditReddit r/artificialOne Hacker Used AI Agents to Breach 100+ Company Websites for About $5,000(opens the original post in a new tab)
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