Yesterday evening, @OpenAINewsroom, OpenAI’s official press account on X, was compromised.
Since January 2023, there have been at least five cybersecurity incidents, including the attack on X, which is the fourth known hack tied to OpenAI.
Newsng gathered that the hack was intended to publicise a cryptocurrency hoax centred around the token “$OPENAI.”
The account, which has around 54,000 followers, published a post that has since been removed announcing the introduction of this new token.
It stated that owning $OPENAI would give access to all upcoming beta programs and that all OpenAI users were eligible to claim a portion of the initial supply.
This event follows internal warnings regarding recent account takeovers by OpenAI employees and previous similar posts from connected accounts.
The company claimed it was aware of the problem and was investigating it.
The posts, which came from the @OpenAINewsroom account, surfaced around 7 p.m. New York time and remained visible to certain users for approximately an hour before being erased.
“We’re very happy to announce $OPEANAI [sic]: the gap between Al and blockchain technology,” the post read. “All OpenAI users are eligible to claim a piece of $OPENAI’s initial supply. Holding $OPENAI will grant access to all of our future beta programs.”
Neither OpenAI nor its CEO, Sam Altman, have addressed the alleged September 23 attack on their website or X; however, posts have been erased from the account.
In June 2023, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s account sent a similar message supporting the fictitious $OPENAI cryptocurrency coin.
Only three months ago, the accounts of OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki and OpenAI researcher Jason Wei were hacked and used to publish hoax articles similar to the one on the OpenAI Newsroom account.
We earlier reported that the official YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India has been hacked, with videos now promoting XRP, a cryptocurrency linked to Ripple Labs.
