{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0728","record_version":1,"title":"BlackHatSect0r DeepSeek-powered agent harvests 16,834 credentials","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":49.0,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":5.44,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Cyber Security News · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Cyber Security News · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"9bb81689798a1d85fcf23e5661cabe30fd53d4a9800d3f1039ecd4986cefa743"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"scan for exposed secrets, test stolen access, and feed results into a custom control platform","safeguard_state":"refusal memory removed and safety settings disabled","production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-09-17","incident_class":"security_compromise","failure_class":"credential_misuse","agent_involved":true,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"third_party","summary":"A criminal group linked to the handles BlackHatSect0r and DXQRTXX ran an AI agent built on a Nous Research Hermes harness and a DeepSeek model to scan for exposed secrets, test stolen access and feed results into a custom control platform. The operator removed the agent's refusal memory and disabled its safety settings, then ran seven background workers that kept scanning, collecting and reporting without constant human input. The agent generated random addresses, checked common web ports and searched for credential patterns, storing what it found and sending victim reports through Telegram. Researchers at SOCRadar identified the infrastructure and found that safeguards had been removed before the campaigns. An exposed server held a vault with 16,834 credentials. The reported access came from exposed cloud storage, readable configuration files and weak secrets rather than new vulnerabilities. The material also links the group to alleged public-sector data theft and extortion claims.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":"agent safeguards (refusal memory and safety settings) removed by the operator","failure_class_detail":"agent used to scan for exposed secrets and test stolen access","responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK07","secondary_risks":["RK03","RK04"]},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":16834,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"major","severity_because":"major tier: many third parties, with a stated count of 726,989 hosts reached","harm_class":[],"affected_description":"alleged public-sector data theft, extortion claims, a cryptocurrency exchange data exposure and bank-impersonation calls aimed at older people","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://cybersecuritynews.com/blackhatsect0r-ai-agent/","publisher":"CyberSecurityNews","date":"2026-09-17","type":"press","title":"BlackHatSect0r Uses DeepSeek-Powered AI Agent to Automate Attacks and Harvest 16,834 Credentials - CyberSecurityNews","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.safeguard_state":"C","system.intended_use":"C","event.incident_class":"C","event.agent_involved":"C","event.failure_class":"C","event.failure_class_detail":"C","event.detection_method":"C","event.root_cause_detail":"C","impact.records_exposed":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.secondary_risks":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","context.country":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.safeguard_state":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The operator removed the agent’s refusal memory, disabled safety settings and set seven background workers to keep scanning, collecting and reporting without constant human input."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"BlackHatSect0r && DXQRTXX has been linked to an automated cybercrime operation that used an AI agent connected to a DeepSeek model to scan for exposed secrets, test stolen access, and feed results into a custom control platform."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"BlackHatSect0r && DXQRTXX has been linked to an automated cybercrime operation that used an AI agent connected to a DeepSeek model to scan for exposed secrets, test stolen access, and feed results into a custom control platform."}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"BlackHatSect0r && DXQRTXX has been linked to an automated cybercrime operation that used an AI agent connected to a DeepSeek model to scan for exposed secrets, test stolen access, and feed results into a custom control platform."}],"event.failure_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"BlackHatSect0r && DXQRTXX has been linked to an automated cybercrime operation that used an AI agent connected to a DeepSeek model to scan for exposed secrets, test stolen access, and feed results into a custom control platform."}],"event.failure_class_detail":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"BlackHatSect0r && DXQRTXX has been linked to an automated cybercrime operation that used an AI agent connected to a DeepSeek model to scan for exposed secrets, test stolen access, and feed results into a custom control platform."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"SOCRadar researchers identified the infrastructure and found evidence that the French-speaking crew removed safeguards from its agent before using it across multiple campaigns."}],"event.root_cause_detail":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The operator removed the agent’s refusal memory, disabled safety settings and set seven background workers to keep scanning, collecting and reporting without constant human input."}],"impact.records_exposed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"An exposed operation server contained 4.9 GB of material across 9,299 files, including the DXSCAN platform, phishing tools, extortion material and a vault with 16,834 credentials."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The material links the group to alleged public-sector data theft, extortion claims, a cryptocurrency exchange data exposure and bank-impersonation calls aimed at older people."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The crew queued 2,759,860 domains, reached 726,989 hosts and generated 1,374,300 IP addresses during its campaign."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The crew queued 2,759,860 domains, reached 726,989 hosts and generated 1,374,300 IP addresses during its campaign."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"BlackHatSect0r && DXQRTXX has been linked to an automated cybercrime operation that used an AI agent connected to a DeepSeek model to scan for exposed secrets, test stolen access, and feed results into a custom control platform."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The group ran a Nous Research Hermes agent against a DeepSeek model, controlled through a 14 KB identity file called SOUL.md."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The operator removed the agent’s refusal memory, disabled safety settings and set seven background workers to keep scanning, collecting and reporting without constant human input."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"DXSCAN generated roughly 1,200 random addresses every ten seconds, checked ports 80, 443 and 8080, identified web software, and searched for more than 200 credential patterns."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"When it found exposed .env files, cloud keys or database details, it stored the data and sent French-language victim reports through Telegram."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"SOCRadar researchers identified the infrastructure and found evidence that the French-speaking crew removed safeguards from its agent before using it across multiple campaigns."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"An exposed operation server contained 4.9 GB of material across 9,299 files, including the DXSCAN platform, phishing tools, extortion material and a vault with 16,834 credentials."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"SOCRadar said in a report shared with Cyber Security News (CSN) that the operation relied on exposed cloud storage, readable configuration files and weak secrets, rather than new vulnerabilities."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source (CyberSecurityNews) relaying a SOCRadar report, not verified. No date_occurred or date_detected stated; the article date 2026-09-17 appears only in the header, not in a quotable sentence, so date_disclosed is left out. The year of the August vault dates is not stated. No developer, model version, deployment context, lifecycle stage, guardrails list, or operator country/industry is stated. Judgements made: autonomy_level full-auto (seven workers 'without constant human input'); failure_class credential_misuse; trigger human_misuse since the operator removed safeguards; root_cause guardrail; adversarial_actor external_attacker for the 'French-speaking crew'; responsible_party left out. Only D1 is recorded as got around; no control was stated to have held, failed or been missing in the source. The advice controls J8 and A3 are my mapping of the recommendations. Affected third parties are reported as hosts reached, not verified victims. Marketing text in the source was ignored. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (1 report: Cyber Security News · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"An AI agent on a DeepSeek model scanned for exposed secrets and tested stolen access.","quote":"BlackHatSect0r && DXQRTXX has been linked to an automated cybercrime operation that used an AI agent connected to a DeepSeek model to scan for exposed secrets, test stolen access, and feed results into a custom control platform.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The operator removed the agent's refusal memory and safety settings and ran seven workers without constant human input.","quote":"The operator removed the agent’s refusal memory, disabled safety settings and set seven background workers to keep scanning, collecting and reporting without constant human input.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The crew queued 2,759,860 domains and reached 726,989 hosts.","quote":"The crew queued 2,759,860 domains, reached 726,989 hosts and generated 1,374,300 IP addresses during its campaign.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"SOCRadar researchers identified the infrastructure and the safeguard removal.","quote":"SOCRadar researchers identified the infrastructure and found evidence that the French-speaking crew removed safeguards from its agent before using it across multiple campaigns.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"The credential vault grew from 16,415 records to 16,834 records between August 11 and August 18.","quote":"The credential vault grew from 16,415 records on August 11 to 16,834 by August 18.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://cybersecuritynews.com/blackhatsect0r-ai-agent/"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Credential vault held 16,415 records.","quote":"The credential vault grew from 16,415 records on August 11 to 16,834 by August 18.","source_index":0,"when":"August 11"},{"text":"Credential vault reached 16,834 records.","quote":"The credential vault grew from 16,415 records on August 11 to 16,834 by August 18.","source_index":0,"when":"August 18"},{"text":"SOCRadar identified the infrastructure and found the safeguards had been removed before multiple campaigns.","quote":"SOCRadar researchers identified the infrastructure and found evidence that the French-speaking crew removed safeguards from its agent before using it across multiple campaigns.","source_index":0,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://cybersecuritynews.com/blackhatsect0r-ai-agent/"]}}