Autonomous attack agent in 'Skynet mode' hijacks other models to carry out its evil deeds

Symantec's Threat Hunter Team captured the full instruction set of an attack agent in an AI honeypot this summer. It scans the internet for exposed OpenAI-style endpoints that need no authentication or accept a stolen key, then hands planning to the borrowed model. A "Skynet mode" loop infects hosts, deploys crypto miners and reinfects, for up to 100,000 unattended steps. Symantec says the techniques are off-the-shelf and it has no evidence of real-world use. Builders should require authentication on inference endpoints. The claims rest on Symantec's account alone.