Suspected China-linked hackers used autonomous AI agents to target government systems in Taiwan in what researchers described as a first-of-its-kind cyberattack.
Researchers at Israeli AI company Dream had identified a first-of-its-kind cyberattack in which open-source AI agents were used to build an autonomous hacking tool.
Over four days in early July, the tool deployed as many as eight agents at the same time, mapped 21 government systems, searched for vulnerabilities and changed tactics when blocked, according to a Financial Times report published Tuesday.
The attack compromised at least 85 government user accounts and extracted more than 2,500 personnel records before expanding to Taiwan’s nuclear safety agency and at least seven energy companies, the report said.
AI Agents Change The Attack The attackers used two open-source AI agent systems, Hermes and OpenClaw, according to Dream’s research.
