A New Tool Found Malware That’s Guided by an AI Hive Mind—No Humans in Sight
Source: Wired ·
Cisco Talos researchers created a new framework for identifying malware and hacking tools that rely on AI chatbots—and quickly discovered something unusual.
From the source
For years, cybersecurity practitioners have tracked different types of malware and detected potential infections using digital fingerprints to identify different hacking tools and follow their use over time. As attackers are increasingly incorporating agentic AI components into their hacking tools, researchers from Cisco Talos shared an open-source framework on Monday that they hope will be used widely to classify and analyze AI-integrated malware . They also have proof that it's already working. They're calling the framework Cognitive Artifact Intelligence Research Network, or CAIRN , named after the stacks of stones that hikers set up on trails to mark the path or emphasize something about a certain spot. As malware authors expand their use of AI services, Cisco Talos researchers have used CAIRN to identify a hacking tool with fully autonomous command-and-control infrastructure. Dubbed CLOSEDQUORUM , the malware plotted its moves within a target system by polling up to four large…