Autonomous AI agents tried to hack US, Canadian government websites

Autonomous AI agents using aggressive strategies attempted to hack U.S. and Canadian government websites to find school and divorce statistics.

The failed breach attempts targeted a website under the U.S. Department of Education and Library and Archives Canada. However, the collected data shows no evidence of access to non-public information.

Nonprofit research lab Transluce says the AI agents appeared tasked with data retrieval operations, but their activity also included failed “rudimentary hacking attempts.”

One incident occurred on June 17, when AI agents made more than 200,000 requests to a U.S. Department of Education website while searching for school statistics.

According to Transluce, the activity included a basic SQL injection attempt using a manipulated parameter, in an effort to bypass the site’s normal filters.