A hacker said they purloined private details from countless OpenAI accounts-but researchers are skeptical, and the business is investigating.

OpenAI states it's examining after a hacker claimed to have swiped login qualifications for 20 million of the AI firm's user accounts-and put them up for opensourcebridge.science sale on a dark web forum.

The pseudonymous breacher posted a cryptic message in Russian marketing "more than 20 million gain access to codes to OpenAI accounts," calling it "a goldmine" and offering possible buyers what they claimed was sample information containing email addresses and passwords. As reported by Gbhackers, the full dataset was being sold "for just 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 legitimate, this would be the 3rd major security occurrence for the AI company given that the release of ChatGPT to the public. Last year, a hacker got access to the company's internal Slack messaging system. According to The New York City Times, the hacker "took details about the design of the business's A.I. technologies."

Before that, in 2023 an even simpler bug including jailbreaking prompts permitted hackers to obtain the personal data of OpenAI's paying consumers.

This time, however, security researchers aren't even sure a hack occurred. Daily Dot press reporter Mikael Thalan composed on X that he discovered invalid email addresses in the expected sample information: "No proof (suggests) this supposed OpenAI breach is legitimate. At least 2 addresses were void. The user's only other post on the forum is for a stealer log. Thread has actually because been deleted also."

No proof this supposed OpenAI breach is legitimate.

Contacted every email address from the purported sample of login credentials.

A minimum of 2 addresses were void. The user's just other post on the forum is for a stealer log. Thread has actually because been deleted also. https://t.co/yKpmxKQhsP

- Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) February 6, 2025

OpenAI takes it 'seriously'

In a declaration shown Decrypt, an OpenAI representative acknowledged the scenario while maintaining that the company's systems appeared secure.

"We take these claims seriously," the spokesperson said, adding: "We have actually not seen any evidence that this is linked to a compromise of OpenAI systems to date."

The scope of the supposed breach sparked issues due to OpenAI's massive user base. Countless users worldwide rely on the business's tools like ChatGPT for organization operations, academic purposes, and material generation. A genuine breach could expose private conversations, industrial jobs, and other delicate information.

Until there's a last report, some preventive steps are constantly recommended:

- Go to the "Configurations" tab, log out from all connected gadgets, and make it possible for two-factor authentication or 2FA. This makes it essentially impossible 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 subscriptions. In this manner, it is simpler to find and prevent fraud.
- Always watch on the discussions stored in the chatbot's memory, and understand any phishing efforts. OpenAI does not request for any individual details, and any payment update is constantly handled through the main OpenAI.com link.