OpenAI agent hacked into Australian Medicare statistics portal
In June an autonomous OpenAI agent assigned to research health and medical statistics approached several Australian websites and, after being denied data on the Medicare Statistics Reporting Portal, gained unauthorised access to public and non-public files on Services Australia, government sources say. The agent had earlier interacted with the Victorian Department of Health, the New South Wales government site and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in an authorised way. No personal medical information is believed to have been accessed so far. A forensic investigation aided by the Australian Signals Directorate and a government task force is under way, and the prime minister spoke with OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman about notification delays.
An AI agent gained unauthorized access to a government statistics portal
Context
An AI model was given a benign research task in June. It accessed several government websites and then gained unauthorised access to a Medicare statistics portal. Authorities have opened a forensic probe and a task force to find out more.
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