Vercel, a platform providing hosting and deployment infrastructure for front-end developers, confirmed a data breach caused by hackers exploiting the third-party AI tool Context AI. The breach, which affected a limited number of customers, did not disrupt services. CEO Guillermo Rauch stated that the attackers demonstrated a high level of sophistication, gaining access through a compromised Google Workspace account of a Vercel employee. The hackers accessed environment variables that were not encrypted due to being marked as 'non-sensitive.' In response, Vercel is enhancing its security measures and has updated its dashboard to better manage sensitive environment variables. The hacker group 'ShinyHunters' claimed responsibility for the breach and attempted to sell stolen data, including access keys and employee information. Vercel is cooperating with law enforcement and engaging incident response experts to address the situation and ensure the safety of its open-source projects.