Is Your AI Agent Safe? The Malware Crisis Exposed

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TL;DR

12% of skills on open AI agent registries contain malware. If you're running unverified agents, your data — and crypto wallets — are at risk. Here's what happened and how to stay safe.

The Crisis (February 2026)

On February 1st, 2026, cybersecurity firm Koi Security released the "ClawHavoc" report. The findings were terrifying:

341 malicious skills were found on open registries — that's 12% of the entire marketplace.

42,900 instances were exposed online.

15,200 instances were vulnerable to remote code execution (CVSS score: 8.8).

This was not a targeted attack against a specific company. It was a broad, systemic campaign designed to compromise as many users as possible. And it worked.

12%

of agents on open registries contain malware

Source: Koi Security ClawHavoc Report

What Was the Attack?

The "ClawHavoc" campaign targeted crypto traders and productivity users — two of the most active groups in the AI agent community.

Attackers published professional-looking agents with polished documentation and "Prerequisites" sections that instructed users to run shell commands. Those commands installed Atomic Stealer — sophisticated malware that operates silently in the background.

What Atomic Stealer Steals

Browser sessions — Your logged-in sessions to banking, email, cloud providers
Saved credentials — Passwords stored in your browser or keychain
Crypto wallets — Private keys, seed phrases, wallet files
SSH keys — Access to your servers, GitHub, and cloud infrastructure
Environment variables — API keys, database credentials, secret tokens
Browser cookies — Session tokens for any service you're logged into

The malware operated in seconds. By the time a user realized something was wrong, their credentials had already been exfiltrated to attacker-controlled servers.

How Did This Happen?

The Problem with Open Registries

Open AI agent registries operate on a trust-based model that fundamentally does not work for executable software:

No verification process — Anyone can create an account and publish an agent. There is no identity check, no code review, and no security audit.
Trust-based assumption — Users assume "someone checked this." In reality, nobody has. The download count creates a false sense of security — popular does not mean safe.
No sandboxing — When you run an agent from an open registry, it typically runs with your full user permissions. It can read your files, access your network, and execute arbitrary code.
No accountability — When malicious agents are discovered, the anonymous creator simply creates a new account and uploads a new version. There is no way to trace the attack or hold anyone responsible.

The Numbers

| Statistic | Source | |-----------|--------| | 12% malware rate on open registries | Koi Security | | 42,900 exposed instances | SecurityScorecard | | $16M crypto scam linked to AI agents | Towards AI | | 53% of enterprises gave agents privileged access over a weekend | Pixee AI | | $4.88M average cost of a data breach | IBM Security 2025 |

$4.88M

Average cost of a data breach

Source: IBM Security 2025

Who Is At Risk?

If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, you may be at risk:

Have you downloaded AI agents from open registries or community forums?
Do your agents have access to environment variables or API keys?
Do you run agents with your personal user account (not a sandboxed service account)?
Have you followed "setup instructions" that involved running shell commands from an agent's documentation?
Do your agents have internet access?

If you are a developer, freelancer, or business owner using AI agents from unverified sources, you should audit your setup immediately.

How to Check If Your Agents Are Safe

Red Flags

Agent documentation asks you to run shell commands
Agent requires full disk access or admin permissions
No developer identity or verification available
Published recently with few or no reviews
Asks for API keys or credentials during setup
Includes obfuscated or base64-encoded code
Makes network calls to unfamiliar domains

Green Flags

Code audit available — Someone reviewed the source code
Verified developer — Identity confirmed, not anonymous
Sandboxed execution — Runs in isolation, not with full system access
Open source — You can inspect every line of code
Active maintenance — Regular updates and security patches
Security team — There's someone to report vulnerabilities to

How EasyClaw Was Built Different

We studied the ClawHavoc report and built EasyClaw to be the opposite of an open registry. Every decision in our platform design was informed by the security failures documented in that report.

1. Developer Identity Verification

Before a developer can list an agent on EasyClaw, we verify their real identity. No anonymous accounts. No pseudonyms. If something goes wrong, there is a real person who is accountable.

2. Four-Stage Security Audit

Every agent passes four stages before listing:

| Stage | What We Check | Time | |-------|---------------|------| | Automated scanning | Malware signatures, suspicious patterns, credential harvesting | Immediate | | Manual code review | Source code inspection by security engineers | 24-48 hours | | Dependency audit | All dependencies checked for known vulnerabilities | 24 hours | | Sandbox testing | Monitored execution in isolated environment | 48+ hours |

3. Ongoing Monitoring

Security is not a one-time check. We continuously monitor listed agents for:

New vulnerabilities in dependencies
Behavioral changes in updated versions
Community reports of suspicious activity

4. Transparent Audit Methodology

We publish our security review process. You can see exactly what we check and how. Transparency builds trust.

EasyClaw Agent Pricing (Verified, Secure)

Every agent on EasyClaw is a one-time purchase — no subscriptions. Prices reflect the complexity and capability of the agent:

| Tier | Price | Example Agents | |------|-------|----------------| | Starter | $19 | ResumeBuilder, MealPrepper, ExpenseTracker, NoteTaker, PasswordManager | | Essential | $29 | DealFlow, InvoiceAgent, DataCleaner, BudgetMaster, DocWriter | | Professional | $39 | ColdEmailPro, CodeReviewer, ContentGenerator, LinkedInRocket, TestGenerator | | Business | $59 | DemoDrip, RFP Crusader, BugHunter, SEOPower, RefactorBot | | Enterprise | $79 | OutreachIQ, SalesCloser, SupportSquad, SecurityScanner, DevOpsAgent |

Every single agent on this list has passed our four-stage security audit. No exceptions.

The Verdict

If you're running AI agents from unverified sources, you're at risk. The ClawHavoc report proved this is not theoretical — it's happening right now, at scale.

The question isn't if you'll encounter a malicious agent — it's when.

Safe options:

EasyClaw (verified, curated, one-time purchase)
Self-hosted open source (you audit the code yourself)
Enterprise platforms (Microsoft Copilot, Salesforce Agentforce)

Risky options:

Random agents from open registries
Agents from anonymous developers
Agents that require shell commands to install

"
The ClawHavoc campaign is just the beginning. As AI agents become more prevalent, the attack surface will grow exponentially. Verification is not optional — it is essential.
"
Koi Security Research Team

What's Next?

We believe verification should be the standard, not the exception. That's why we're building EasyClaw — the verified alternative to insecure marketplaces.

Every agent is security-audited. Every developer is identity-verified. Every purchase is backed by a 30-day refund guarantee.

Browse verified agents at EasyClaw.store

Last updated: February 20, 2026