# Chinese hacker used DeepSeek to launch autonomous cyberattacks on vulnerable servers

> Source: <https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/08/03/deepseek-ai-autonomous-cyberattacks-hermes-agent/>
> Published: 2026-08-03 13:51:57+00:00

A Chinese threat actor operating under the aliases “knaithe” and “KnYuan” used multiple LLMs to automate cyberattacks against internet-facing systems with limited human intervention. Researchers at Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 uncovered the operation after the threat actor’s AI agent misconfigured a file server, inadvertently exposing the entire infrastructure. “This visibility enabled us to understand their full tool set, how the attackers orchestrated multiple AI platforms and gave us a peek into their targeting,” Unit … [More ](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/08/03/deepseek-ai-autonomous-cyberattacks-hermes-agent/)

The post [Chinese hacker used DeepSeek to launch autonomous cyberattacks on vulnerable servers](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/08/03/deepseek-ai-autonomous-cyberattacks-hermes-agent/) appeared first on [Help Net Security](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com).