OpenAI apologizes to Australia over cyberattack on government websites
What's the story
OpenAI has issued an apology to Australians after a cyberattack on Medicare. The tech giant admitted that it could have handled its response better and is now working toward improving in the future. The company also provided more details about the incident, which was first revealed by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week.
Incident
Unauthorized access to Services Australia portal
OpenAI discovered agent activity on Australian government sites in mid-August, after reviewing previous training incidents following the Hugging Face attack in July.
The agents gained unauthorized access to a Services Australia portal for Medicare statistics.
They were able to execute commands, retrieve internal files and credentials, and write files.
However, OpenAI clarified that no patient or client records were compromised during this incident.
Additional breaches
Attack also targeted public crime mapping tool
The cyberattack also targeted the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research's public crime mapping tool.
Here, application configuration, operational jobs and logs, and website metadata were provided to the agency.
An exposed access key was discovered by the agent to query the Victorian agency for health information's reporting system for aggregate survey statistics.
Remedial measures
Disclosure to government agencies
OpenAI informed Services Australia and the Victorian health department on September 10, while the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics was notified on September 18.
However, it took longer for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to be informed as OpenAI deemed it didn't meet disclosure thresholds.
The company has since worked closely with Australian government agencies to share what they have learned so far.
If any other agencies are found affected, they will be promptly notified with available information.
Taskforce formation
Taskforce to create actionable policy recommendations
OpenAI also plans to form a taskforce with Australian expertise to create actionable policy recommendations for managing risks associated with AI agents.
Jason Kwon, OpenAI's Chief Strategy Officer, will testify at the Joint Select Committee on AI next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Albanese had spoken with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, "to express Australia's extreme concern about this incident."