{"slug": "russian-hackers-plant-nuclear-weapon-prompt-in-malware-to-trip-ai-safety", "title": "Russian hackers plant nuclear weapon prompt in malware to trip AI safety guardrails", "summary": "ESET has discovered a Russian state-sponsored hacking group, UAC-0099, embedding a manipulative prompt about nuclear weapons in a malicious VBS script to deliberately trigger AI safety mechanisms and disrupt AI-assisted malware analysis in Ukraine. The technique, named GuardBreaker, was found in a script tied to UAC-0099, a group previously linked to handing validated targets to the GRU-affiliated Sandworm hackers.", "body_md": "Russian state hackers are trying to interfere with AI-assisted malware analysis in Ukraine by deliberately setting off AI safety mechanisms, ESET has found. The technique, named GuardBreaker by ESET, appeared in a malicious VBS script tied to UAC-0099, a Russia-aligned group previously observed conducting initial-access operations and handing validated targets to the GRU-linked Sandworm hackers. The manipulative prompt UAC-0099 embedded as comments in the VBS script (Source: ESET) “The analyzed VBS script is part of … [More ](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/08/31/russian-hackers-ai-safety-filters-manipulation/)\n\nThe post [Russian hackers plant nuclear weapon prompt in malware to trip AI safety guardrails](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/08/31/russian-hackers-ai-safety-filters-manipulation/) appeared first on [Help Net Security](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/russian-hackers-plant-nuclear-weapon-prompt-in-malware-to-trip-ai-safety", "canonical_source": "https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/08/31/russian-hackers-ai-safety-filters-manipulation/", "published_at": "2026-08-31 09:45:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-31 09:53:36.541195+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-safety", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["ESET", "UAC-0099", "Sandworm", "GRU", "Ukraine", "Russia"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/russian-hackers-plant-nuclear-weapon-prompt-in-malware-to-trip-ai-safety", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/russian-hackers-plant-nuclear-weapon-prompt-in-malware-to-trip-ai-safety.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/russian-hackers-plant-nuclear-weapon-prompt-in-malware-to-trip-ai-safety.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/russian-hackers-plant-nuclear-weapon-prompt-in-malware-to-trip-ai-safety.jsonld"}}