AISN #80: AI Is Assisting Cyberattacks on Critical Infrastructure

Also, two new technical reports on the Hugging Face incident.

Welcome to the AI Safety Newsletter by the Center for AI Safety. We discuss developments in AI and AI safety. No technical background required.

In this edition, we look at how AI is enabling malicious actors including state-sponsored Iranian and Chinese hackers to drastically increase the volume of cyberattacks they launch. We also look at two new reports on the Hugging Face attack, one published by OpenAI and the other by researchers from METR and Redwood Research.

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Hackers Are Using AI to Scale Up Attacks on Critical Infrastructure

Recent reports suggest that hacker groups from Iran and China are using AI to dramatically scale up cyberattacks. Their targets include critical infrastructure in the US and the UK.

This summer has seen cyberattacks on more than 100 water facilities across the US. AI enables large numbers of parallel attacks, making water infrastructure a more appealing target for malicious actors. (Image: Bob Brewer / Unsplash)

Iranian hackers are suspected of using AI to target infrastructure in the US and UK. On August 19, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure [...]

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Outline:

(00:42) Hackers Are Using AI to Scale Up Attacks on Critical Infrastructure

(05:43) Two Postmortems of Hugging Face Attack Published

(10:02) In Other News

(10:05) Government

(12:04) Industry

(13:17) Civil Society

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First published:
September 1st, 2026

Source:
https://newsletter.safe.ai/p/aisn-80-ai-is-assisting-cyberattacks

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Want more? Check out our ML Safety Newsletter for technical safety research.

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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