Attackers built a ‘Skynet’ AI agent that hijacks exposed models to run cyberattacks

Publisher excerpt From CSO Online

Skynet is no longer a fictional adversary. Attackers have built an offensive agent that exploits unprotected AI models on the web with a ‘Skynet’ directive that allows them to run unattended for up to 100,000 steps. In this mode, a reference to the humanity-destroying artificial neural network-based superintelligence system in the Terminator film franchise, the agent can kick off tools, scan for and infect targets, deploy data miners, steal credentials, reinfect hosts, and mine cryptocurrency, all without waiting for human approval. The activity is a form of LLMjacking, in which attackers essentially commandeer a victim’s AI model for their own purposes. The victims themselves then foot the bill. The method was discovered by the Symantec Threat Hunter Team, who were able to capture it in a honeypot and get a rare look at the anatomy of an attack. “The attackers are not just using AI; they are using your AI,” noted Frank Dickson of Dickson Research. The owners pay for every step, and their servers’ data is then stolen and erased, and the machines put to work for adversarial purposes. “Each compromise can fund the next,” he said. ‘Skynet’ in action Exposed LLM endpoints are juicy targets for attackers, as they answer AI requests without authentication, and can be accessed via stolen keys. They can include self-hosted model servers left open by default, “hastily deployed” internal test systems, AI gateways that sit in front of an organization’s model accounts, or Model C…

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