In a startling revelation by AI security firm Norforge, it was uncovered that a hacker managed to infiltrate more than 100 websites utilizing an army of AI agents that operated independently. While the specific targets were not disclosed by Norforge, reports from Reuters indicate that prominent companies such as John Deere, SharkNinja, and Cummins were among the victims.

The sophisticated attacks were brought to light by researchers at Norforge who detected suspicious activity on Cairn, an open-source AI platform designed as a “general-purpose problem-solving engine.” This platform allows users to define a starting and ending point for AI agents, which then document their progress as they execute the assigned task. However, Norforge highlighted that cybercriminals could exploit Cairn to orchestrate AI-driven cyberattacks.

The hacker responsible for the breaches was identified as the most active user among the exposed instances of Cairn discovered by Norforge. The attacker targeted companies in the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan, launching attacks with specific intrusion tactics outlined in fewer than 100 Chinese characters. Successful breaches reportedly took approximately 23 hours to execute. Norforge identified over 20 Cairn instances as potentially malicious.

Following the cyber incidents, Cummins spokesperson Melinda Koski confirmed that the company is investigating a potential attack on a website operated by a third-party vendor. John Deere and SharkNinja assured Reuters that there was no evidence of sensitive information being compromised, with SharkNinja containing the threat to a standalone site providing product support.

Despite the reports, John Deere and SharkNinja have yet to respond to requests for comment from The Verge. Norforge is actively working to remove the malicious Cairn instances. The creator of Cairn, @le1xia0, reiterated that the platform was not intended as a hacking tool and emphasized that misuse was a result of human decisions, not inherent features of the engine.

Update, October 19th: Added a statement from Cummins.