Kazakhstan-linked hackers used AI agent to spy on Central Asian governments

The Silent Lynx group deployed a custom AI agent called Hermes to automate reconnaissance, credential harvesting, document exfiltration, and evidence erasure inside compromised Central Asian government networks. The use of AI to orchestrate these tasks significantly accelerated the attack lifecycle while reducing the human footprint that defenders typically look for. Command-and-control was routed through Telegram, a legitimate messaging platform, making malicious traffic harder to distinguish from normal communications. This case demonstrates that AI-assisted attacks can outpace traditional detection capabilities, making robust behavioral monitoring and strict access controls essential for sensitive government environments.