The Hacker News AI Security · July 31, 2026

Chinese Hacker Commands DeepSeek via Telegram to Launch Autonomous Attacks

Why it matters

Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 says a Chinese-speaking threat actor used DeepSeek through the open-source Hermes Agent framework to launch attacks autonomously. After an initial Telegram instruction, the agent found internet-facing systems and selected public exploits.

My takeaway: Chinese Hacker Commands DeepSeek via Telegram to Launch Autonomous Attacks is a model-release signal. The practical read is to compare the launch claims with safety notes, evaluation evidence, access controls, and the rollout constraints needed before enterprise use.