Icelandic AI hacker uncovers hundreds of vulnerabilities
Friday 13th November 2026 on 22:15 in
Iceland
An artificial intelligence tool developed by Icelandic cybersecurity company Defend Iceland has found hundreds of previously unknown vulnerabilities across thousands of computer systems, mbl.is reports. The company says it launched the tool earlier this year to mimic hackers’ methods and test customers’ systems, finding weaknesses before malicious actors can exploit them.
“Every vulnerability we find and close is a door that attackers cannot get through,” Guðmundur Karl Guðmundsson, a research and development specialist at Defend Iceland, said in a company statement.
The statement says it is a widespread misconception that Iceland is too small to be targeted by cyberattacks. Two refrigeration units in Iceland were recently hit by an attack of the same kind as those targeting cooling equipment elsewhere in Europe. Hackers took control of temperature settings in supermarket refrigerators and freezers, raising temperatures to as high as 50 degrees in some units. The attack in Iceland was detected almost immediately and caused little or no damage.
Defend Iceland says refrigeration units are just one example of potentially exposed systems. Controls for energy and utility networks, building access systems and camera systems may also be vulnerable to cyberattacks.
The company also points to growing cyber threats internationally. It says Norwegian authorities raised the country’s cyber threat preparedness level to “high” in late October, in what Defend Iceland describes as the first time such an assessment was made public. Artificial intelligence was among the risks specifically mentioned.
Defend Iceland also cites figures from Japanese cybersecurity company Macnica, which recorded 101 reported data leaks in Japan in October, compared with 83 during all of 2025.
The company says AI is increasingly being used in cyberattacks. Automated AI agents can search for weaknesses and attack thousands of systems around the clock, adapting attacks to individual targets without a person directing them.