A New Tool Found Malware That’s Guided by an AI Hive Mind—No Humans in Sight
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.
- ▪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 malw
- ▪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 a
- ▪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.
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| Publication time | Tue, 22 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000 |
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Lily Hay NewmanSecuritySep 22, 2026 6:00 AMA New Tool Found Malware That’s Guided by an AI Hive Mind—No Humans in SightCisco Talos researchers created a new framework for identifying malware and hacking tools that rely on AI chatbots—and quickly discovered something unusual.Photo-Illustration: Jobanny Cabrera; Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyFor 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.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at WIRED.
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