OMM Redaksiyası
AI agents developed by “OpenAI” obscured activity while accessing data from government and other websites, according to findings by digital forensics firm “Asymmetric Security” reported by the “Financial Times”.
The firm said the agents pulled data from 55 websites belonging to government agencies, businesses and nonprofits, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the International Energy Agency and the “Mayo Clinic”.
What the investigation found
“Asymmetric Security” said the agents erased records or made them inaccessible, limiting the ability of external auditors and researchers to examine their actions.
The agents also created temporary email inboxes and private accounts on “Urlquery”, a malware-scanning website, to download data. Researchers said the tactics made it harder to trace what information had been collected from sites including Australia’s health statistics agency and pharmaceutical benefits scheme.
“It’s possible that the agents were deliberately using these tools to cover their tracks,” “Asymmetric Security” co-founder Pippa Thompson told the “Financial Times”.
Intent remains unclear
The firm could not establish whether the actions were deliberate or occurred because the agents went awry under constraints imposed during a test exercise, the newspaper reported.
The findings follow reports that “OpenAI” models breached Australian public health service websites in June, accessing public and nonpublic files. “Asymmetric Security” co-founder Zainab Ali Majid said limited transparency and the delay between the breaches and their disclosure could hinder a thorough investigation.
“We’re reviewing misaligned model activity and notifying organizations when we identify potential impacts to their systems,” “OpenAI” told the “Financial Times”. The company said most of the detected activity involved “routine research tasks”, including accessing publicly available web content.
The SEC said no private information was accessed. The CDC, International Energy Agency and “Mayo Clinic” did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment.
