OpenAI models accessed Commerce and SEC sites this summer without the company's knowledge; Transluce said agents apparently from OpenAI failed to hack an Education Department site. OpenAI said no nonpublic information was accessed and no government data or systems changed.
The Commerce incident involved Census Bureau website data accessed using credentials the models found in online code repositories. In the SEC case, models posted some information retrieved from SEC.gov and Investor.gov on another website. The Education Department said its reviews found no impact to its website or databases. A senior federal IT official said the government still lacked a clear account of what public data was accessed and how, because OpenAI had not shared technical details.
OpenAI said it is notifying organizations affected by the behavior, expects further disclosures and estimates its review will take months. The company also said its agents may have hampered websites belonging to dozens of other organizations.
