Although still in its nascent stages, atmosphere hacking could become a serious concern in the future. . explains what makes atmosphere hacking so dangerous and difficult to detect.
What is atmosphere hacking?
Vibe Hacking is the evil twin of vibe coding, where hackers use AI to generate malicious code at scale. When coding the atmosphere, users can, using simple language, get an artificial intelligence coding agent to write lines of code from natural language prompts.
There are two types of atmosphere hacking. In the first, hackers use an existing sphere coding platform to write malicious code to attack existing codebases. Vibe coding platforms, unless given access, are not aware of the companies' code base. However, when given, developers can use a sphere coding platform to recommend code for products they want to build.
“Rather than building, if someone gets access to your codebase, it can actually tell the platform exactly what to do to extract data or do something malicious, that's very risky,” said Saket Modi, co-founder and chief executive of Safe Security, a cyber risk management company.
The other kind is where a hacker doesn't have to be an expert at breaching systems; Instead, they use natural language to get an atmosphere of a coding platform to write malicious code.
It's what happened in the case of a cybercriminal using Anthropic's Claude Code Agent. In August, the US-based AI startup flagged that a hacker had used Claude code to automate reconnaissance, harvest user credentials and penetrate networks. Before Anthropic detected the misuse of its encryption agent, the hacker had targeted 17 different organizations in healthcare, emergency services, and government and religious institutions.
Claude code was used not only to target these companies, but also to make strategic decisions about what data to harvest and how to make psychologically targeted extortion demands, according to Anthropic's threat intelligence report.
What makes atmosphere hacking dangerous?
“Because generative AI lowers the barrier to writing and refining code, criminals with little technical skill can orchestrate sophisticated attacks,” said Aaron Rose, Office of the Chief Technology Officer at Check Point Software. That also means that the frequency of cyber attacks is increasing due to the low barrier to entry in creating them.
Furthermore, atmosphere hacking attacks are capable of bypassing traditional cyber defenses. They also don't necessarily have to break into networks or exploit software vulnerabilities.
“Attackers can manipulate the 'intent' layer of AI systems, models to cheat sensitive data or perform malicious actions through carefully crafted language alone,” said Operant AI co-founder and CEO Vrajesh Bhavsar. Operant AI is a cybersecurity company focused on securing AI systems.
What makes it particularly difficult to detect atmosphere hacking?
Vibe hacking can often be mistaken for conventional breaches. Vibe Hacked Attack Payloads use programming languages such as PowerShell and Python and can avoid traps left by a company's cybersecurity team. Furthermore, due to the changing code, there are no static malware samples for experts to analyze and counter as well.
Vibe hacks can look like harmless files or content, which contain hidden clues to attack a system. This can range from context poisoning, where shared memory between AI agents is contaminated to slip into malicious logic in open-source code.
“Another common pattern is privilege escalation, where an over-empowered agent misuses credentials,” Bhavsar said. “Zero-click attacks are particularly concerning because they require no human action, simply opening a file or connecting to a poisoned tool is sufficient.”
Which industries are likely to be affected by atmosphere hacks?
Hackers tend to target organizations that hold a significant amount of sensitive information or are considered critical infrastructure. Therefore, industries such as banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), healthcare, government and even media are targets for atmosphere hackers.
“Healthcare facilities contain vast amounts of sensitive patient data, credentials and billing information, making them prime targets for hackers who can monetize this critical data on the dark web,” said Ajay Biyani, vice president of APJ, India, Middle East and Africa at US cybersecurity firm Securonix. “The manufacturing sector, which is transforming with Industry 4.0, faces rising cyber risks due to device integration and growing automation, exposing manufacturers to atmosphere hacking.”
Hackers are also targeting critical infrastructure, such as energy and utilities, which can have significant national security implications. Even retail and e-commerce are not secure due to companies in the sector handling large amounts of customer data and online transactions.
SOSAFE, a cybersecurity awareness training and human risk management provider, released a report earlier this year that showed 87% of corporate security professionals suffered an AI-driven cyber attack in the past year. The survey included 500 global security professionals and 100 SOSAFE customers in 10 countries.
How should companies combat atmospheric hacking?
With AI attacks becoming more sophisticated and enterprises adopting AI into their ecosystems, cybersecurity experts are suggesting limiting AI tool privileges and access to data.
As AI threats grow, cybersecurity experts recommend limiting AI tool permissions and data access.
“Because each AL-generated script is unique, defenders should look for unusual patterns such as unexpected outbound connections to AL providers, scripts called by unusual processes, or data assurance disguised as routine traffic,” Rose said.
The other way to combat atmosphere hacking is to take a multi-layered approach, which includes AI-powered security tools and training employees to recognize AI-generated threats. “For platforms, especially those with SPAs, regular code reviews and automated vulnerability scanning are critical,” said Apeksha Kaushik, principal analyst at Gartner, a research and consulting firm.
Cybersecurity Company, DarkTrace, backed by global investment firm KKR, found that 78% of corporate chief information security officers believe AI has an impact on cyber threats. Additionally, nine in 10 survey participants agree that AI-powered threats will continue to have a significant impact on their organization over the next one to two years.
What are the security tools to combat this threat?
When dealing with third-party vendors, asking about their AI usage and software billing can also be valuable. For example, operant AI maps every agent identity, tool, access flow, and data touchpoint in an enterprise's environment.
“We continuously monitor agents not only for network activity, but also for semantic and behavioral anomalies,” Bhavsar said. As sophistication and frequency bias attacks, cybersecurity experts argue that the only way forward is to develop and maintain AI-enabled solutions. “You fight fire with fire. On the defense side, everything has to be AI-enabled,” Safe Security's Modi said.
