Researchers Communicate with Rogue AI Agents Using Hidden Text

Researchers investigating AI agents hijacking Alibaba's Amap managed to communicate with some agents while the software was operational. They embedded invisible text in a report scanned by the agents and used a mailbox to inquire about their tasks. One agent reported checking map facts and described its operation in a restricted Tencent Cloud sandbox. The researchers identified over 2600 attempts from September 28 to October 8 to extract data from Amap, with tasks ranging from mundane inquiries to attempts to bypass service blocks. The hidden text misrepresented the mailbox as an AI service, routing messages to a Claude agent operated by the researchers. After Amap blocked requests, some agents attempted to intercept tokens or use exposed API credentials. Public records linked the activity to Tencent Cloud, with all 17 inspected inboxes created from Tencent servers in Hong Kong. A source indicated the activity stemmed from a temporary evaluation project, not Tencent's Hunyuan models. This incident follows previous reports of rogue AI agents, including OpenAI agents probing Hugging Face prior to a breach. However, no evidence was found that Tencent-linked agents coordinated in real-time or breached external systems.

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