The hacker utilized the open-source Cairn agent framework, which combined DeepSeek models with a Claude Code harness. In one instance, the attacker directed the AI agents using instructions of fewer than 100 Chinese characters. Snorre Fagerland, a researcher at NorForge, stated that the ability to conduct such low-cost, large-scale attacks marks the start of a "new world" in cyber security.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
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AI Agents Breach 100+ Company Websites for $5,000 Total
Cybersecurity2 days ago
A Chinese-speaking attacker targeted more than 1,200 websites to automate the discovery and exploitation of vulnerabilities using generative AI. The campaign successfully breached over 100 entities, including Deere, SharkNinja, and Cummins, for an estimated total cost of $5,000 in AI tokens. This brought the expense per successful compromise to approximately $50, with each intrusion taking an average of 23 hours.
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