# Hacker used AI army to breach 100+ sites

> A single attacker deployed autonomous AI agents to break into John Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins with minimal human involvement.
- Title: Hacker used AI army to breach 100+ sites · The Verge
- Summary: A single attacker deployed autonomous AI agents to break into John Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins with minimal human involvement. A hacker used AI agents to…
- Keywords: ai agents, cybersecurity, hacking, john deere, sharkninja, cummins, cairn platform, technology, culture, Hacker, used, army
- Source: The Verge — https://theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1013643/ai-agents-hack-john-deere-shark-ninja-cummins
- Author: Emma Roth
- Published: 2026-10-19T13:58:41+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: ai agents, cybersecurity, hacking, john deere, sharkninja, cummins, cairn platform, technology, culture
## AI agents breach 100+ sites
A hacker deployed an army of AI agents to break into more than 100 websites with little human involvement, according to security firm Norforge.
## Victims included major companies
Though Norforge did not name targets, Reuters reports victims included John Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins, based in the US, Canada, Australia and Japan.
## Cairn platform enabled the attacks
Researchers discovered the attacks through exposed work on Cairn, an open-source AI platform described as a general-purpose problem-solving engine that hackers used to orchestrate cyberattacks.
## Attack took 23 hours to succeed
The most active hacker laid out preferred intrusion tactics using fewer than 100 Chinese characters, with successful breaches taking about 23 hours, according to Reuters.
## Companies downplay the damage
John Deere said there is no indication sensitive information was accessed. SharkNinja said the breach impacted a standalone support site and it contained the threat. Cummins is investigating.

> no indication that sensitive information was accessed
## Cairn creator denies hacking tool
Norforge works to take down malicious instances. Cairn's creator, @le1xia0, said the platform was never a hacking tool and misuse is a human decision, not a feature.

> was never a 'hacking tool'
## Key takeaway

A hacker used AI agents to break into more than 100 websites including John Deere, SharkNinja and Cummins, with the agents operating largely autonomously.