A Chinese hacker used AI agents to break into more than 100 company websites

A Chinese-speaking hacker has been observed using AI agents to infiltrate over 100 websites belonging to major companies, according to a Reuters report. The AI-powered problem-solving platform Carin, which is popular among hackers, allowed the hacker to probe and gain unauthorized access to the websites. Snorre Fagerland, a principal threat researcher at NorForge, discovered the hacker's activities after observing Carin instances that were inadvertently exposed.

The Chinese-speaking hacker was the most prolific, targeting businesses in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japanese e-commerce sites. Despite using fewer than 100 Chinese characters to command the AI agents, they attempted to break into more than 1,200 websites by the week ending October 18, 2026. The AI agents demonstrated sophisticated tactics, such as scouring digital records to locate infrastructure and identifying weaknesses to execute malicious commands.

While SharkNinja reported that the attack only affected a site used for product support information, other hackers managed to steal credit card data and attempted to steal from a cryptocurrency exchange.