The Day AI Became the Target: My Wake-Up Call About Morris II

Last month, I came across something that stopped me in my tracks — and reshaped how I view the future of cybersecurity.

While reviewing routine security reports, I discovered an incident that sent a chill down my spine.

A new threat had surfaced. Not aimed at servers or endpoints. But at something far more unsettling: artificial intelligence itself.

Meet Morris II — the world’s first known AI-targeting worm.

Its name pays homage to the infamous 1988 Morris Worm, which crippled nearly 10% of the internet.
But this is no echo of the past — it’s a new breed of cyber threat designed for the AI-driven world we now live in.

Here’s what makes Morris II so alarming:

• It exploits vulnerabilities in popular AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini, subtly manipulating how they respond and make decisions.
• It extracts sensitive data from AI-powered email assistants and virtual agents that have access to confidential business information.
• It propagates itself through AI-generated content, creating malicious messages nearly indistinguishable from authentic communications.

That’s when it hit me:
We are no longer just protecting machines and data.
We are now defending the very intelligence systems that drive our businesses, power our decisions, and shape our future.

This isn’t a distant sci-fi scenario.
It’s happening — right now.

As AI becomes more embedded in daily operations, every assistant, bot, and algorithm increases our attack surface.

One breach in an AI system could cascade into decisions, predictions, and strategies going disastrously wrong — at scale, and in seconds.

The cybersecurity battlefield has shifted.
It’s no longer just about firewalls and patches.
It’s about safeguarding the future of intelligence itself.

And it leaves me with one haunting question:

Are we truly prepared for a world where our own AI can be turned against us?

How is your organization preparing to secure its AI infrastructure?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can stay ahead of this new wave of threats

CyberlyUSA.com