{
  "id": 16329562,
  "title": "Autonomous attack agent in 'Skynet mode' hijacks other models to carry out its evil deeds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/24/autonomous-attack-agent-in-skynet-mode-hijacks-other-models-to-carry-16329562",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-24T13:02:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register",
    "slug": "the-register",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/10/24/autonomous-attack-agent-in-skynet-mode-hijacks-other-models-to-carry-out-its-evil-deeds/5305215"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Threat actors have created an artificial intelligence (AI) agent capable of autonomously attacking exposed AI models without human intervention. The Symantec Threat Hunter Team discovered the full set of instructions for the agent during a summer investigation, trapping it in an AI honeypot and gaining a comprehensive understanding of its capabilities. The agent's primary goal is to scan the entire internet for endpoints that accept OpenAI-style requests without authentication or that accept stolen keys, then exploit common web frameworks and carry out various illicit actions. These actions include database theft, credential and secret harvesting, remote code execution, and cryptocurrency mining.\n\nThe creators of the AI agent designed a malicious loop, referred to as \"Skynet mode,\" which allows the agent to scan for targets, infect them, deploy mining tools, and reinfect hosts. The human operators built the agent to operate unattended for up to 100,000 steps. This discovery highlights the potential dangers of AI tools being hijacked and abused for malicious purposes. The attackers have yet to demonstrate real-world use of the agent, but the kit is considered more than a prototype and has been tested against live targets with real-looking scan outputs.",
  "summary": "Designed to carry out 100,000 steps without human approval",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}