Palo Alto says AI agents breached a software company in under 10 hours
A human operator used agents to raid code repos, seize cloud keys and hijack the victim's own AI infrastructure, Unit 42 reported.
By RuntimeWire Staff · Published
Primary source: Semafor
Why it matters
AI agents can compress routine intrusion work from days into hours, leaving defenders less time to react. The attack also shows that familiar controls - protected branches, strict credential handling and rapid revocation - can still stop machine-speed operations.
Palo Alto Networks, the cybersecurity vendor Nir Zuk founded in 2005, says a human attacker used AI agents to breach an unnamed European IT and software company in less than 10 hours during summer 2026. Palo Alto's Unit 42 incident responders estimated that the same operation would ordinarily require human hackers about two weeks.…
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.