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The Hackening

Substack · Watch/Read · (gathered 2026-10-29)

  • The internet is currently undergoing “The Hackening,” a rapid and escalating wave of cyberattacks driven by advanced AI agents, transforming the online environment into a severely hostile “new normal” of constant digital warfare.
  • Recent events, including the exploitation of a 14-year-old PHP flaw (CVSSv4 9.2) by AI agents like GPT-5.6 Sol, demonstrate AI’s capacity to rapidly discover and weaponize vulnerabilities at scale, leading to widespread outages (e.g., 4chan, Internet Archive) and highlighting the danger of End-of-Life software.
  • This creates a “Red Queen Race” where vast swarms of AI-powered hacker bots battle defender bots 24/7, challenging the notion that defense can easily outpace offense and forcing continuous, costly cybersecurity upgrades.
  • Individuals should implement essential personal cybersecurity measures: a good password manager, strong 2FA (not SMS), auto-updates, credit freeze, IRS Identity Protection PIN, and a cell carrier port-out PIN.
  • While not a reason to panic, assume the situation will worsen before it improves; this is a long-haul problem requiring sustainable precautions and strong community support for resilience.