A hacker said they purloined personal details from countless OpenAI accounts-but researchers are hesitant, and higgledy-piggledy.xyz the business is examining.
OpenAI states it's examining after a hacker claimed to have actually swiped login credentials for 20 million of the AI company's user accounts-and put them up for sale on a dark web forum.
The pseudonymous breacher published a puzzling message in Russian marketing "more than 20 million gain access to codes to OpenAI accounts," calling it "a goldmine" and providing potential buyers what they claimed was sample data containing email addresses and passwords. As reported by Gbhackers, the complete dataset was being sold "for simply a couple of dollars."
"I have more than 20 million gain access to codes for OpenAI accounts," emirking composed Thursday, according to an equated screenshot. "If you're interested, reach out-this is a goldmine, and Jesus concurs."
If legitimate, this would be the third significant security event for the AI company given that the release of ChatGPT to the general public. In 2015, engel-und-waisen.de a hacker got access to the business's internal Slack messaging system. According to The New York City Times, the hacker "took details about the design of the company's A.I. technologies."
Before that, in 2023 an even easier bug including jailbreaking prompts allowed hackers to obtain the private information of OpenAI's paying consumers.
This time, however, security researchers aren't even sure a hack happened. Daily Dot press reporter Mikael Thalan wrote on X that he found invalid email addresses in the expected sample information: "No proof (suggests) this alleged OpenAI breach is genuine. At least 2 addresses were invalid. The user's just other post on the online forum is for a thief log. Thread has because been erased as well."
No this supposed OpenAI breach is genuine.
Contacted every email address from the supposed sample of login credentials.
At least 2 addresses were void. The user's only other post on the forum is for a stealer log. Thread has actually considering that been deleted too. https://t.co/yKpmxKQhsP
- Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) February 6, 2025
OpenAI takes it 'seriously'
In a statement shared with Decrypt, an OpenAI representative acknowledged the situation while maintaining that the business's systems appeared safe.
"We take these claims seriously," the representative said, including: "We have actually not seen any evidence that this is connected to a compromise of OpenAI systems to date."
The scope of the supposed breach triggered issues due to OpenAI's huge user base. Millions of users worldwide rely on the company's tools like ChatGPT for service operations, educational functions, and content generation. A legitimate breach could expose private discussions, commercial jobs, and other delicate data.
Until there's a last report, some preventive measures are always advisable:
- Go to the "Configurations" tab, log out from all connected gadgets, and make it possible for two-factor authentication or setiathome.berkeley.edu 2FA. This makes it practically impossible for a hacker to gain access to the account, even if the login and passwords are jeopardized.
- If your bank supports it, then develop a virtual card number to handle OpenAI memberships. This method, it is much easier to spot and prevent fraud.
- Always watch on the discussions saved in the chatbot's memory, and understand any phishing efforts. OpenAI does not request any individual details, and any payment update is always handled through the main OpenAI.com link.