DeepSeek AI tools impersonated by infostealer malware on PyPI

Cybersecurity researchers identified that threat actors had uploaded multiple packages impersonating legitimate tools developed by DeepSeek, a prominent company known for its advanced artificial intelligence models. The malicious packages were crafted to closely resemble genuine DeepSeek AI utilities, leveraging nearly identical names and descriptions. Unsuspecting developers who installed these packages unknowingly activated a stealthy infostealer malware designed to harvest sensitive data such as saved credentials, environment variables, browser cookies, and SSH keys from their systems.
This deceptive activity, known as typosquatting, is a common tactic where attackers exploit minor spelling variations to mimic trusted libraries or tools. In this case, packages like deepseak-llm and others were uploaded, remaining live on PyPI long enough to compromise several systems before being taken down by the platform maintainers.
The stolen information was believed to be exfiltrated to remote servers controlled by the attackers, posing a significant threat to both individual developers and enterprise environments that integrate Python-based tools into their software pipelines.
DeepSeek AI issued an official statement confirming it had no involvement with the malicious packages and advised developers to verify sources before downloading third-party tools. Additionally, the company urged PyPI and similar platforms to strengthen their review processes and implement better safeguards against typosquatting attacks.
This incident once again highlights the growing cybersecurity risks associated with the open-source software supply chain. Experts recommend developers adopt proactive security hygiene, such as using virtual environments, validating package authors, and incorporating automated dependency scanning to mitigate such threats. The campaign serves as a critical reminder for the software development community to remain vigilant and verify the authenticity of software dependencies in an increasingly targeted threat landscape.