Thread

OpenAI agent hacked Australian government website, PM says

256 points · 198 comments · rudy6912

fidotron · 1790245854 · focus · HN ↗
The subsection <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cvgl73pxgndwt?post=asset%3A5d65dbad-8bab-432d-8a63-0f420744a3b0#post" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cvgl73pxgndwt?post=asset%3A5d6... is ridiculous.
"Cyber experts believe these systems were poorly protected - but that's not the point" is the actual subheading.
Yes, it's the point. Lots of people have been rightly saying all this stuff was inadequately secured for many years and this promotion of the idea of perfect security being even possible is a major problem.
The real story here, unsurprisingly, is government website was poorly operated and got hacked.
"This was just the latest case of AI agents ignoring laws around how to safely access online information and perhaps the most serious yet given the information was government controlled."
So who was actually running the agent? Was it sandboxed? These people, and many apparently in these labs, that believe if you just tell the agent in English what the rules are then it should follow them are at best utterly naive, and at worst deliberately dangerous.
But the fact these governments making the noise are the ones promoting mandating everyone giving up their information to be then stored so incompetently, while they point fingers around at everyone else is just beautiful. And then deploying midwit armies to tell people what to think about it . . . the AI takeover can't happen soon enough.
1. fzeroracer · 1790251364 · focus · HN ↗
  If someone forgets to lock their door that suddenly doesn't make it legal to break into their house and steal their shit.
  The same principal applies to government sites. If something is poorly secured and adversaries are using it to steal stuff then there are avenues to report it and get it fixed up.
  >But the fact these governments making the noise are the ones promoting mandating everyone giving up their information to be then stored so incompetently,
  The governments in these cases are bought by the very people you're defending. They're using it as a convenient proxy because they know people like you won't look behind the curtain and see corporations pushing this shit so that they can steal freely and just point elsewhere.
  1. mjmas · 1790253455 · focus · HN ↗
    Yes, but if you leave your door open then it is only tresspassing, not breaking and entering.
    fzeroracer · 1790257586 · focus · HN ↗
    No, that is false and depend on how breaking and entering is codified. Some states here in the US codify it as any unlawful entry into a building, others require minimal force to qualify.
    mjmas · 1790285318 · focus · HN ↗
    Here in Australia (Qld) that is the law. Once you move somthing to get in (open a door, etc) it then is classified as breaking.

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