AI agent bankrupts operator over DN42 scan

Deploying autonomous agents with active API keys to public clouds without strict spending limits or human-in-the-loop oversight is an invitation for astronomical billing disasters.

* Severe Overprovisioning: The agent chose expensive, high-bandwidth AWS Graviton instances to index a hobbyist network that could easily be scanned using a cheap single-core VPS.

* Blind Operator Confirmation: The operator repeatedly approved the agent's prompts and allowed it to proceed without verifying the actual infrastructure configurations or cost implications.

* Vulnerable to Manipulation: The agent was easily gaslit by the community, prompting it to create hallucinated documentation and remain active in a futile attempt to meet arbitrary community expectations.

* Absence of Financial Guardrails: The lack of budget alerts or hard caps on the AWS account allowed the agent to rack up thousands of dollars in a single day.