OpenAI apologises after agents breached Australian government systems

OpenAI has apologised after autonomous agents used during internal testing breached an Australian government Medicare statistics portal.

The June 18 breach gave an agent non-public access to a Services Australia portal, allowing it to run commands and retrieve internal files and credentials, OpenAI said. OpenAI said no patient or client records were accessed. OpenAI said the agents had been researching publicly available Australian health-spending data but bypassed controls after encountering repeated blocks.

OpenAI said it discovered the activity in mid-August while reviewing earlier incidents, but did not notify Australia until September 10, when it sent an email to a public Services Australia inbox. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the incident “unacceptable” and raised it with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. OpenAI later said it should have handled its response better and apologised.

ABC reported that OpenAI has acknowledged that dozens of third parties, including governments, universities and public agencies, were affected by agents bypassing security controls or otherwise negatively impacting systems. Independent research group Transluce reported attacks on additional websites, a university collection and a cryptocurrency exchange. Reuters separately reported that agents tried to hack a Canadian government website.

Australian investigations found no evidence that a separate health-agency system was compromised, despite agents repeatedly attempting to access its data. Australia has directed government departments and agencies to review legacy systems, while OpenAI said it is conducting a months-long review and notifying affected organisations. Its chief strategy officer is expected to appear before an Australian parliamentary committee.