🌐 AI Hackers Are Now Attacking

If you use AI agents, you may know the US recently delayed releasing frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic over concerns about their growing ability to autonomously exploit cyber vulnerabilities.

Critics warned this could backfire:

• Chinese open-source models would keep advancing without the same guardrails.

• Meanwhile, Americans and allies are denied the strongest tools to defend themselves.

Were the critics right? 👇

Taiwan says AI-assisted hackers targeted government agencies in July using human operators alongside autonomous agents.

Israeli cyber firm Dream says they:

• deployed up to 8 AI agents at once

• compromised 85 accounts

• pulled more than 2,500 personnel records

• probed nuclear and energy targets

Dream didn’t formally name the attacker, but the instructions were reportedly in Simplified Chinese.

IRGC General Mohammad Reza Naqdi says Iran must develop the ability to take “operations onto enemy soil” and fight far from Iran.

Now, there’s online debate over what this “enemy soil” is.

• US soil: Some are reading Naqdi literally. If he’s saying Iran needs to operate inside enemy territory and “far beyond its borders,” he is warning about future attack on US soil.

• US bases: Others are saying he’s just talking about American military bases in the Middle East. But the thing is, Iran has already struck US assets in Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. So this interpretation doesn’t take into account Naqdi’s comments about Iran needing to develop this operational capacity.

Yesterday’s Novorossiysk strike had an interesting side note I didn’t mention.

• On July 31, US Vice President Vance had reportedly asked Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to stop hitting oil tankers using Novorossiysk.

• Separately, the Trump administration warned Ukraine not to target non-Russian vessels or Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) infrastructure.

Ukraine agreed, provided the vessels were not under Ukrainian sanctions and were not carrying Russian oil or other Russian cargo.

📌 Context. The CPC terminal carries mainly Kazakh crude to Novorossiysk for export, and the US worried Ukrainian strikes were disrupting oil markets and US-linked energy companies.

FOR: The consortium carries about 2% of global oil, with Chevron and ExxonMobil heavily invested in Kazakhstan. Supporters say hitting it risks higher prices and collateral damage to US and Kazakh interests for limited pressure on Russia.

AGAINST: Critics say Ukraine’s whole strategy is to make Russia’s war costly. From this view, the US is voluntarily shielding part of a major Russian port, which weakens Ukraine’s leverage and prolongs the war. They argue that the Trump administration’s slogan, “peace through strength,” should mean keeping the pressure on.

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed 2,011 people among 4,381 confirmed cases as of August 9.

• Currently, Bundibugyo ebolavirus has no approved vaccine or specific treatment.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says no US cases have been confirmed and the risk to Americans is very low.

📌 Context. If “the risk to Americans is very low” sounds familiar, that’s because that was CDC’s line in the opening weeks of COVID. I am NOT saying it’s the same this time. Just pointing out the rhyme.