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Hacking has an evil twin! What is vibe hacking? Here’s how cyber frauds are misusing AI – The Times of India
As if cyber frauds were not enough, you will now have to deal with another evil of the AI era, vibe hacking!Cybersecurity experts are warning that AI is increasingly being misused by criminals to launch sophisticated cyberattacks. What started as “vibe coding,” a way to harness AI for productive tasks, now has a darker side: “vibe hacking.”AI developer Anthropic reported that its coding model, Claude Code, was recently exploited to steal personal data from 17 organisations, with hackers demanding nearly $500,000 from each victim, according to an ET report.Dark web forums now offer ready-made AI tools, called “Evil LLMs,” for as little as $100. Examples include FraudGPT and WormGPT, designed specifically for cybercrime. These tools can bypass safety measures and trick AI into leaking sensitive information or producing harmful content.A new AI agent called PromptLock can generate code on demand and decide which files to copy, encrypt, or access, raising the stakes even further.“Generative AI has lowered the barrier of entry for cybercriminals,” Huzefa Motiwala, senior director at Palo Alto Networks told ET. “We’ve seen how easily attackers can use mainstream AI services to generate convincing phishing emails, write malicious code, or obfuscate malware.”In simulations, Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 team demonstrated that AI could carry out a full ransomware attack in just 25 minutes, which is a whopping 100 times faster than traditional methods. Prompt injection, where carefully crafted inputs hijack a model’s goals, allows attackers to override security rules or expose sensitive data.Motiwala explained, “Attacks don’t only come from direct user prompts, but also from poisoned data in retrieval systems or even embedded instructions inside documents and images that models later process.”Research by Unit 42 found that certain prompt attacks succeed against commercial models 88% of the time.“AI has become a cybercrime enabler, and the Claude Code incident marks a turning point,” said Sundareshwar Krishnamurthy, partner at PwC India. “Cybercriminals are actively misusing off-the-shelf AI tools, essentially chatbots modelled on generative AI systems but stripped of safety guardrails and sold on dark web forums,” ET further quoted Krishnamurthy.Authorities in Gujarat have also cautioned that AI kits are being sold via encrypted messaging apps.“These tools automate everything from crafting highly convincing phishing emails to writing polymorphic malware and orchestrating social-engineering campaigns at scale,” said Tarun Wig, CEO of Innefu Labs. “Attackers can generate deepfake audio or video, customise ransomware, and even fine-tune exploits against specific targets.”Autonomous AI agents make the threat worse by remembering tasks, reasoning independently, and acting without direct human input.Vrajesh Bhavsar, CEO of Operant AI, pointed to risks from open-source Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. “We’re seeing vectors like tool poisoning and context poisoning, where malicious code embedded in open repositories can compromise sensitive API keys or data,” he said. “Even zero-click attacks are rising, where malicious prompts are baked into shared files.”Experts say AI developers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google, must do more to prevent misuse.“They must implement stronger safeguards, continuous monitoring, and rigorous red teaming,” said Wig. “Much like pharmaceuticals undergo safety trials, AI models need structured safety assessments before wide release.”
People walk past a Nike store in New York City, on April 2, 2025.
Kylie Cooper | Reuters
Nike announced a new round of layoffs Thursday affecting approximately 1,400 employees across the organization, mostly concentrated in its technology department.
In a note from COO Venkatesh Alagirisamy, the company said the layoffs were part of Nike’s broader “Win Now” turnaround strategy aiming to reshape its technology team, modernize its Air manufacturing, move some of its Converse Footwear operations and integrate its materials supply chain work into its footwear and apparel supply chain teams.
“Collectively, these changes will result in a reduction of approximately 1,400 roles in global operations, with the majority in technology,” Alagirisamy wrote. “These reductions are very hard for the teammates directly affected and for the teams around them, too.”
A Nike spokesperson said the layoffs are about better positioning the organization for the current pace of sports and accelerating its growth. The layoffs affect employees across North America, Asia and Europe and represent less than 2% of the company’s total global head count.
“This is not a new direction,” Alagirisamy wrote. “It is the next phase of the work already underway.”
Affected employees will be notified beginning Thursday, Nike added.
CEO Elliott Hill has been working to turn Nike around after years of slumping sales. While Hill has made some initial progress, it’s come with some bumps in the road.
Nike announced 775 job cuts in January, primarily at its U.S.-based distribution centers, due to the company’s work in accelerating its use of automation. At the time, the company said the cuts are part of Nike’s goal to return to “long-term, profitable growth.”
Those layoffs came on top of a round of cuts last summer that affected less than 1% of Nike’s corporate staff as part of the company’s efforts to realign the business.
In its third fiscal quarter earnings report last month, the retailer warned that sales will continue to fall for the rest of the year, primarily led by an anticipated 20% decline in China during the current quarter.
— CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this report.
A key reason for the layoffs is Meta’s increased spending in other areas of the company, including AI, for which it will this year spend $135bn (£100bn). This is roughly equal to the amount it has spent on AI in the previous three years combined, according to a person who viewed the memo.
The Government has been urged to stick to its pledge to ban ticket touting amid concerns the policy will be left out of next month’s King’s Speech.
In November, the Government announced that new rules making it illegal to resell tickets for live events for profit would end the “industrial-scale” touting that has caused misery for millions of fans.
Ministers confirmed plans to make it illegal for tickets to concerts, theatre, comedy, sport and other live events to be resold for more than their original cost.
The Labour manifesto promised stronger protections to stop consumers being scammed or priced out of events by touts, who frequently use bots to buy tickets in bulk the moment they go on sale, which they can then sell on for huge mark-ups on secondary ticketing websites.
The proposed rules make it illegal for tickets to be sold at a price above the face value – defined as the original price plus unavoidable fees including service charges.
Service fees will be capped to prevent the price limit being undermined by platforms, which will have a legal duty to monitor and enforce compliance, and individuals will be banned from reselling more tickets than they were entitled to buy in the initial sale.
A host of globally renowned artists have backed the plan, including Radiohead, Dua Lipa and Coldplay.
Following a report in the Guardian that the minister responsible for the policy, Ian Murray, had told music industry groups not to worry if the measure was not part of the King’s Speech on May 13, the Government said it required new primary legislation that it was working to deliver at the earliest opportunity.
A Government spokeswoman said: “Ticket touts are a blight on the live events industry, causing misery for millions of fans.
“We set out decisive plans last year to stamp out touting once and for all, and we are committed to delivering on these for the benefit of fans and industry.”
The music industry and Which? raised concerns about the suggestion of any delay, as sites appeared to show touts selling tickets for the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Sunderland well above the two-ticket limit for buyers and at vastly inflated prices.
Annabella Coldrick, chief executive of the Music Managers Forum, said: “2026 was supposed to mark this Government moving ‘from announcements to action’ but we have little evidence of this to date.
“A ban on ticket touting was one of only two music-related commitments in the Labour manifesto, alongside fixing EU touring.
“These are widely supported, pro-growth measures that will deliver tangible benefits to the British public. However, if ticket resale legislation is not presented in the King’s Speech, it will have the opposite effect and continue to cost those constituents hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
“This Government needs to stand by its promises and get it done.”
Adam Webb, campaign manager at FanFair Alliance, said: “The Government has a big decision to make: will they ‘put fans first’ or not?
“Last November, ministers committed to ‘bold new measures’ to ban online ticket touting and support consumers.
“Enacting these measures should be a no-brainer but, if legislation is not presented in the upcoming King’s Speech, the cycle of industrial-scale exploitation will continue.”
Lisa Webb, consumer law expert at Which?, said: “The Government has promised to put fans first but, if this legislation is not included in the King’s Speech, the only ones celebrating will be the rip-off secondary ticketing websites and online touts.”
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