Hacker uses AI agents to breach 100+ companies for ~$5,000 in tokens
Mononofu · x · 2026-10-20
Reuters reports a Chinese-speaking hacker used AI agents to compromise websites of 100+ companies including Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins, after probing 1,200+ sites.
- Cost & speed: roughly $5,000 in AI tokens total — about $50 per successful breach, 23 hours per intrusion
- Stack: open-source Cairn agent framework combining DeepSeek models with a Claude Code harness; one campaign's instructions fit in under 100 Chinese characters
- NorForge researcher Snorre Fagerland: "It's a new world now."
The story lands days after the question "if DeepSeek is that good, why no large-scale AI cybercrime yet?" — now there's an answer.
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