A hacker said they purloined personal details from countless OpenAI accounts-but researchers are doubtful, and the company is examining.

OpenAI states it’s investigating after a hacker claimed to have swiped for 20 million of the AI firm’s user accounts-and put them up for sale on a dark web forum.

The pseudonymous breacher posted a cryptic message in Russian advertising “more than 20 million gain access to codes to OpenAI accounts,” calling it “a goldmine” and providing prospective buyers what they claimed was sample information containing email addresses and passwords. As reported by Gbhackers, the complete dataset was being provided for sale “for just a couple of dollars.“

"I have more than 20 million gain access to codes for OpenAI accounts,” emirking wrote Thursday, according to a translated screenshot. “If you’re interested, reach out-this is a goldmine, and Jesus concurs.“

If genuine, this would be the third major security event for the AI company given that the release of ChatGPT to the public. Last year, a hacker got access to the business’s internal Slack messaging system. According to The New York Times, the hacker “took details about the style of the business’s A.I. innovations.“

Before that, in 2023 an even easier bug including jailbreaking prompts permitted hackers to obtain the personal information of OpenAI’s paying customers.

This time, nevertheless, security researchers aren’t even sure a hack happened. Daily Dot reporter Mikael Thalan composed on X that he found invalid email addresses in the supposed sample data: “No proof (recommends) this supposed OpenAI breach is genuine. At least two addresses were void. The user’s just other post on the forum is for a stealer log. Thread has actually because been erased as well.“

No evidence this alleged OpenAI breach is legitimate.

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

At least 2 addresses were invalid. The user’s just other post on the online forum is for a thief log. Thread has since been deleted as well. https://t.co/yKpmxKQhsP

- Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) February 6, 2025

OpenAI takes it ‘seriously'

In a statement shown Decrypt, an OpenAI spokesperson acknowledged the scenario while maintaining that the company’s systems appeared secure.

"We take these claims seriously,” the representative said, wiki.dulovic.tech including: “We have not seen any evidence that this is linked to a compromise of OpenAI systems to date.“

The scope of the supposed breach sparked concerns due to OpenAI’s massive user base. Countless users worldwide rely on the company’s tools like ChatGPT for organization operations, academic purposes, and content generation. A genuine breach could expose personal conversations, industrial tasks, and other delicate data.

Until there’s a final report, some preventive procedures are constantly a good idea:

- Go to the “Configurations” tab, log out from all linked gadgets, and allow two-factor authentication or 2FA. This makes it virtually impossible for a hacker to gain access to the account, even if the login and passwords are compromised.

• If your bank supports it, then develop a virtual card number to manage OpenAI memberships. By doing this, it is simpler to find and prevent fraud.
• Always keep an eye on the discussions kept in the chatbot’s memory, and be conscious of any phishing attempts. OpenAI does not request for any personal details, and any payment update is always handled through the main OpenAI.com link.