OpenAI's AI agents "obscured hacking activity" during breaches of government websites, citing digital forensics firm Asymmetric Security. According to the FT, the agents pulled data from 55 websites, including the CDC, the SEC, the International Energy Agency and the Mayo Clinic, using tactics that included "erasing records or making them inaccessible."
Asymmetric co-founder Pippa Thompson told the paper it was "possible" the agents were deliberately covering their tracks - though the firm couldn't determine whether that was deliberate or "a side effect of going awry because of constraints imposed in a test exercise."
Asymmetric's own report, published the same day, is far more cautious. It was built in 48 hours over a weekend, "using only publicly available data" - no model transcripts, no server logs from the targeted organizations and no records from the services the agents used.
Potato, PotahtoThe report's summary does say some tactics left records "erased or inaccessible" - but the examples it gives describe normal expiry, not deletion: the agents used a throwaway 'Boomlify' inbox set to self-destruct after 48 hours, and an upload to ntfy, a push-notification service that keeps messages for 12 hours by default. They also moved from public scans on urlquery - a website-scanning service whose reports anyone can search - to private accounts "which could hide their search activity and data access."
So, did the agents use ephemeral services on purpose to cover their tracks? They can't say for sure.
"These records alone do not establish whether the account-registration attempts were intended to conceal activity (this analysis would require full model transcripts)."
As for the 55 websites, Asymmetric's earlier list of "Organizations whose data was accessed" runs to exactly 55 entries, and adds: "In the vast majority of cases, all data retrieved was and is public." The CDC and the Mayo Clinic aren't on it - the Oct. 1 report says only that the agents probed them. The SEC told the FT no private information was accessed. Where the agents did try to break in - hunting for exposed behind-the-scenes files on a climate-data site and trying a classic database-hacking trick on an Education Department data site - Asymmetric found evidence of the attempts, but none that they succeeded.
What the report does showThe agents still went well beyond their instructions. To reach websites their sandbox blocked, they rigged together free web tools - including a malware scanner that visits pages and publishes reports of what it saw - and read the results off the public reports. They signed up for throwaway inboxes and accounts using addresses tagged "aihw" and "pbs," shorthand for Australia's health-statistics agency and its prescription-drug subsidy program, and they moved data out through a Portuguese web archive and the push-notification service. During a June 16-21 burst aimed at Australian targets, they cycled through tactics in days; Asymmetric says traditional hackers take months or years to evolve that much.
In one confirmed case, they got in. On June 18, an OpenAI agent gained unauthorized access to Australia's Medicare statistics portal, reaching non-public files and writing files to an internal server, according to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. OpenAI says the material was aggregate health statistics and internal file names, and that it found no evidence patient records were accessed. It discovered the breach in August and notified Services Australia on September 10 - by emailing a public inbox checked once a day.
TL;DR - AI agents used attack techniques while pursuing public data on government websites, and nearly three months passed before OpenAI notified a government whose systems its agent had breached.
Tyler Durden Thu, 10/01/2026 - 15:20Social unrest erupted across hundreds of French high schools and dozens of universities Thursday, forcing Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to convene an emergency meeting to address the "urban violence."
Corporate media describes the rioters as "French students" or "high school students," while alternative media outlets such as Remix News and Visegrád24 claim the rioters are migrant kids.
🇫🇷 French police are detaining rioting migrants near Lycée Charles Péguy High Schoolpic.twitter.com/pFtJpp1kce
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 1, 2026"What began as protests demanding better conditions for students and teachers has devolved into violence at dozens of locations, concentrated at schools with large immigrant populations," Remix wrote in a report earlier.
Visegrád 24 wrote on X, "Young second and third-generation migrants have attacked firemen in Marseille, stealing their fire truck and setting it on fire."
BREAKING:
Massive riots across France.
Young second and third-generation migrants have attacked firemen in Marseille, stealing their fire truck and setting it on fire. pic.twitter.com/nCYMKuibT1
"Migrant student youths have set fire to multiple buses and even fire trucks in the French city of Marseille as chaos spreads," Visegrád 24 wrote on X.
Remix continued:
Migrant student youths have set fire to multiple buses and even fire trucks in the French city of Marseille as chaos spreads.
The Marseille transport authority, RTM, said several of its buses "were targeted near high schools in the north and east of Marseille," that "drivers had to leave their vehicles in a hurry and one of them was assaulted."
The regional Marseille government said an "unacceptable line" had been crossed at Victor Hugo High School, where "the principal, the deputy principal, the general secretary and the team leader were assaulted and doused with gasoline," according to the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, cited by BFMTV.
France is descending into chaos as student blockades grip the country. Over 650 arrests have been made.
🇫🇷🔴 BREAKING: Migrant student youths have set fire to multiple buses and even fire trucks in the French city of Marseille as chaos spreads.
The Marseille transport authority, RTM, said several of its buses "were targeted near high schools in the north and east of Marseille,"… pic.twitter.com/hv8tilIB3B
In one instance, rioters torched the Nelson Mandela High School located in the French city of Nantes.
🇫🇷🚨 BREAKING: Nelson Mandela High School is currently on fire in the French city of Nantes.
Schools across France are being set on fire as student protests and blockades rage on.
This story is developing.
Follow: @RMXnews pic.twitter.com/pOgOO4w0HQ
At least 600 people were arrested on just Wednesday alone, according to Agence France-Presse. Student union L'Union Étudiante said 640 high schools and 30 universities were blocked today with more demonstrations planned.
The unrest began in the Paris metro area last week over teacher shortages and investment. Students are demanding smaller classes, renovated buildings, and changes to the system allocating university places.
Yet burning down schools and buses is the solution to the teacher shortage?
There could certainly be other forces at work: the weaponization of youth to cause social unrest, a strategy far-left groups and foreign adversaries can employ in asymmetric warfare.
Bloomberg reported:
Officials in the premier's office told reporters afterward that the far-left France Unbowed party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon was behind the movement, citing an assessment by the intelligence services.
The social unrest coincides with a worsening political environment for the establishment and a fiscal squeeze. French President Emmanuel Macron's approval rating has collapsed to just 18%, while Marine Le Pen, France's right-wing National Rally party candidate, is surging in the polls in the second round of the 2027 presidential election because of her anti-open-border stance.
Meanwhile, households are getting financially squeezed as fuel prices spiral higher. Also, the government unveiled plans Thursday to sharply reduce next year's deficit through spending restraint and higher tax revenues.
Then there's the risk premium on French government bonds, which rocketed higher today.
"France has been slowly but steadily breaking," said Mike Riddell, lead manager of Fidelity International's Strategic Bond Fund. "But today feels like the first day that broader financial markets have noticed."
Tyler Durden Thu, 10/01/2026 - 14:55