A small group of cybersecurity researchers said Sunday that they broke into OpenAI earlier this year, an announcement that has added a new element of alarm around AI security and safety.
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that → say → security
The researchers, from a small company called Hacktron, found that by chaining together two unknown vulnerabilities, one in a third-party company called Discourse and one in how OpenAI validates its employees, they could access employees’ ChatGPT accounts.
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they → call → accounts
As is customary for researchers — sometimes called “white-hat hackers” — they caused no harm to the company’s systems.
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they → call → systems
Hacktron conducted the entire operation within 72 hours in late July, soon after some of OpenAI’s agents broke containment and hacked the AI platform Hugging Face.
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some → conduct → platform
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed Hacktron’s report and said the vulnerabilities have since been patched.
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vulnerabilities → confirm → report
“We thank the researchers for contacting us and sharing their findings,” the spokesperson said.
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spokesperson → thank → findings
The news comes as concerns about AI safety have exploded into public view in recent weeks.
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concerns → come → weeks
Safety researchers have resigned from major companies and issued stern warnings that the advanced technology could pose a risk to the human race, and politicians from across the political spectrum have called for action.
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politicians → resign → action
While most of those concerns have centered on the capabilities of advanced AI models, the security of the companies themselves is also a significant issue.
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security → center → companies
AI development is extremely competitive, and concerns of theft — primarily through a process known as distillation — abound.
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concerns → know → distillation
Like many companies, OpenAI maintains a “bug bounty” program, which offers to pay cybersecurity researchers who find novel ways to hack it instead of selling them to malicious hackers who would do the company harm.
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who → maintain → harm
Hacktron’s researchers wrote in their blog post that OpenAI paid them $6,500 for the discovery.
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OpenAI → write → discovery
There is no evidence that any other hackers exploited the same vulnerabilities that Hacktron did.
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Hacktron → be → vulnerabilities
But American countries have for years accused Chinese intelligence of economic espionage, saying China’s elite government hackers routinely share stolen trade secrets with Chinese companies.
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hackers → accuse → companies
China broadly rejects the accusations.
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China → reject → accusations
More recently, the U.S. formally accused the Chinese AI industry of systematically distilling against American AI companies.
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U.S. → accuse → companies
Greg Linares, a cybersecurity researcher at Persona, a company that helps authenticate users, said that Hacktron’s finding would have given China or other countries’ elite hackers the ability to break into OpenAI systems.
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finding → help → systems
“What they chained together was not untypical from what very high-level real-world attackers, such as APTs or nation-state-backed hackers, would use to compromise targets,” Linares told NBC News, using the abbreviation for “advanced persistent threats,” meaning hacker groups that operate in perpetuity and are usually state-backed or state-adjacent.
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that → chain → perpetuity
“The hack conducted demonstrates the need for constant vigilance in these environments and when there’s so many moving parts and the pressure to constantly develop and be delivering; patches get neglected, configurations get missed and cracks in layers of security get exposed,” he said.
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he → conduct → security
The Aporia
