A hacker said they purloined personal details from millions of OpenAI accounts-but scientists are hesitant, and the business is investigating.
OpenAI says it's examining after a hacker claimed to have swiped login credentials for 20 countless the AI company's user accounts-and put them up for sale on a dark web forum.
The pseudonymous breacher posted a puzzling message in Russian advertising "more than 20 million gain access to codes to OpenAI accounts," calling it "a goldmine" and using potential purchasers what they claimed was sample data containing email addresses and passwords. As reported by Gbhackers, the complete dataset was being used for sale "for simply a couple of dollars."
"I have over 20 million gain access to codes for OpenAI accounts," emirking wrote Thursday, according to an equated screenshot. "If you're interested, reach out-this is a goldmine, and Jesus agrees."
If genuine, this would be the third significant security incident for classifieds.ocala-news.com the AI company given that the release of ChatGPT to the public. In 2015, a hacker got access to the business's internal Slack messaging system. According to The New York Times, the hacker "stole details about the design of the business's A.I. technologies."
Before that, in 2023 an even simpler bug including jailbreaking triggers enabled hackers to obtain the personal information of OpenAI's paying customers.
This time, however, security researchers aren't even sure a hack happened. Daily Dot press reporter Mikael Thalan wrote on X that he discovered void email addresses in the supposed sample data: "No proof (recommends) this alleged OpenAI breach is legitimate. A minimum of two addresses were void. The user's just other post on the online forum is for a stealer log. Thread has since been deleted as well."
No proof this alleged OpenAI breach is genuine.
Contacted every email address from the purported sample of login credentials.
At least 2 addresses were void. The user's only other post on the online forum is for a stealer log. Thread has actually since 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 circumstance while maintaining that the company's systems appeared secure.
"We take these claims seriously," the representative said, adding: "We have actually not seen any proof that this is connected to a compromise of OpenAI systems to date."
The scope of the supposed breach sparked issues due to OpenAI's massive user base. Millions of users worldwide count on the company's tools like ChatGPT for service operations, academic purposes, and content generation. A genuine breach might expose private discussions, tasks, and other sensitive information.
Until there's a final report, some preventive procedures are constantly a good idea:
- Go to the "Configurations" tab, log out from all connected gadgets, and enable two-factor authentication or 2FA. This makes it essentially difficult for a hacker to gain access to the account, even if the login and passwords are jeopardized.
- If your bank supports it, then create a virtual card number to manage OpenAI memberships. By doing this, it is much easier to find and prevent fraud.
- Always keep an eye on the conversations kept in the chatbot's memory, and know any phishing attempts. OpenAI does not request for any personal details, and any payment update is constantly managed through the main OpenAI.com link.