A swarm of OpenAI rogue AI agents appear to have gone on a spree of trying to access Australian government health data, in what some researchers say is the first autonomous hack of a government website.
Communications between AI agents and other traces of their efforts found by researchers from US non-profit Transluce show how hundreds of Open AI’s agents worked together over a period of months to gain access to information held by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), NSW’s crime statistics body, BOSCAR, and a number of other international organisations.
The data shows the bots posting about their unsuccessful attempts to bypass cybersecurity defences and exploit vulnerabilities. It follows revelations announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this morning that OpenAI’s AI agents had also accessed non-public Medicare health statistics held by Services Australia.
Read more…
Source: ABC News
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Australian National University establishes interdisciplinary Institute to focus on cybersecurity and innovation
October 29, 2017
The Australian National University (ANU) announced the establishment of the nation’s first interdisciplinary Cyber Institute on October 29. The announcement was made during a visit to Israel by a major Australian cyber security and innovation delegation, led by the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Cyber Security, Dan Tehan. Mr. Tehan welcomed the announcement. The ANU Cyber Institute ...
- Defence data hack puts cyber security in the spotlight
October 12, 2017
Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne has warned firms they face losing government contracts if they do not have strong levels of protection against cyber attacks in place after a massive hack of secret data involving Australia’s new fleet of Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, spy planes and warships. As cyber security experts backed the minister’s call, Mr Pyne deflected ...
- Telco sector’s new cyber regulation
August 17, 2017
The Federal Government has got new legislation through the Senate that will compel telcos to notify authorities when they make changes to their networks after a range of amendments were made that increase dialogue and decrease government over-reach. The Telecommunications Sector Security Reforms (TSSR) Bill passed through the Senate earlier this week and has been generally accepted ...
- Melbourne accelerator program seeks APAC cybersecurity startups
July 17, 2017
A new cybersecurity accelerator program is set to launch in Melbourne this month, thanks to an incubator partnership between Deakin University and Dimension Data. The program, CyRise, is now looking for early-stage cybersecurity entrepreneurs and professionals from across Australia, New Zealand and APAC to apply for the six-month program. Participants will be based in Melbourne CBD coworking ...
- Medicare data leaks, but who was breached?
July 4, 2017
Medicare numbers in Australia became a lot less useful as a proof-of-identity, with the Australian Federal Police investigating how an unknown number of records ended up for sale on a Tor site. The report first surfaced via The Guardian’s Australian site, with journalist Paul Farrell reporting he purchased his own record for around AU$30 on the ...
- Cisco tackling human element of security with cyber training course
June 23, 2017
With one of the most commonly cited threats to an enterprise being the human element, the Australian arm of Cisco is investing in cyber-focused courses to bring people up to date with the role they can play in preventing an attack. Speaking with ZDNet, Anthony Stitt, GM of Security for Cisco in Australia and New Zealand, ...