(NYT) A New Hacking Tool Built With A.I. Can Breach Phones Without a Click

A friend you haven’t heard from in a while suddenly calls. You don’t pick up, but in a matter of seconds, the damage is already done.

The call wasn’t actually from an old companion looking to reconnect, but from a hacker who had hijacked that number. Worse, the assailant now secretly has control over your account, including access to your private messages, and is already using your number to reach your saved contacts and compromise them, too.

Like a raging, highly contagious virus, the attack keeps spreading. Within hours, millions of people have suffered the same fate.

A year ago, such a cyberattack might have sounded far-fetched to even the most paranoid digital experts, or at least like something only the world’s most elite spy agencies could have pulled off.

Read it all.

A Hacking Tool Built With A.I. Can Breach Phones Without a Click

An attack discovered by A.I. researchers could have compromised hundreds of millions of devices within hours, experts said.https://t.co/xDCxrJmJdm via @NYTimes

— Walter Appling (@WalterAppling) September 9, 2026