Search results for api-key-for-openai | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Microsoft has disclosed details of a novel backdoor dubbed SesameOp that uses OpenAI Assistants Application Programming Interface (API) for command-and-control (C2) communications. "Instead of relying on more traditional methods, the threat actor behind this backdoor abuses OpenAI as a C2 channel as a way to stealthily communicate and orchestrate malicious activities within the compromised environment," the Detection and Response Team (DART) at Microsoft Incident Response said in a technical report published Monday. "To do this, a component of the backdoor uses the OpenAI Assistants API as a storage or relay mechanism to fetch commands, which the malware then runs." The tech giant said it discovered the implant in July 2025 as part of a sophisticated security incident in which unknown threat actors had managed to maintain persistence within the target environment for several months. It did not name the impacted victim. Further investigation into the intrusio...

Microsoft has revealed that it's pursuing legal action against a "foreign-based threat–actor group" for operating a hacking-as-a-service infrastructure to intentionally get around the safety controls of its generative artificial intelligence (AI) services and produce offensive and harmful content. The tech giant's Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) said it has observed the threat actors "develop sophisticated software that exploited exposed customer credentials scraped from public websites," and "sought to identify and unlawfully access accounts with certain generative AI services and purposely alter the capabilities of those services." The adversaries then used these services, such as Azure OpenAI Service, and monetized the access by selling them to other malicious actors, providing them with detailed instructions as to how to use these custom tools to generate harmful content. Microsoft said it discovered the activity in July 2024. The Windows maker...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a now-patched security flaw in LangChain's LangSmith platform that could be exploited to capture sensitive data, including API keys and user prompts. The vulnerability, which carries a CVSS score of 8.8 out of a maximum of 10.0, has been codenamed AgentSmith by Noma Security. LangSmith is an observability and evaluation platform that allows users to develop, test, and monitor large language model (LLM) applications, including those built using LangChain. The service also offers what's called a LangChain Hub , which acts as a repository for all publicly listed prompts, agents, and models. "This newly identified vulnerability exploited unsuspecting users who adopt an agent containing a pre-configured malicious proxy server uploaded to 'Prompt Hub,'" researchers Sasi Levi and Gal Moyal said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "Once adopted, the malicious proxy discreetly intercepted all user communicatio...

ChatGPT and similar large language models (LLMs) have added further complexity to the ever-growing online threat landscape. Cybercriminals no longer need advanced coding skills to execute fraud and other damaging attacks against online businesses and customers, thanks to bots-as-a-service, residential proxies, CAPTCHA farms, and other easily accessible tools.  Now, the latest technology damaging businesses’ bottom line is  ChatGPT . Not only have ChatGPT, OpenAI, and other LLMs raised ethical issues by  training their models  on scraped data from across the internet. LLMs are negatively impacting enterprises’ web traffic, which can be extremely damaging to business.  3 Risks Presented by LLMs, ChatGPT, & ChatGPT Plugins Among the threats ChatGPT and ChatGPT plugins can pose against online businesses, there are three key risks we will focus on: Content theft  (or republishing data without permission from the original source)can hurt the authority,...

Attackers aren’t waiting for patches anymore — they are breaking in before defenses are ready. Trusted security tools are being hijacked to deliver malware. Even after a breach is detected and patched, some attackers stay hidden. This week’s events show a hard truth: it’s not enough to react after an attack. You have to assume that any system you trust today could fail tomorrow. In a world where AI tools can be used against you and ransomware hits faster than ever, real protection means planning for things to go wrong — and still staying in control. Check out this week’s update to find important threat news, helpful webinars, useful tools, and tips you can start using right away. ⚡ Threat of the Week Windows 0-Day Exploited for Ransomware Attacks — A security affecting the Windows Common Log File System (CLFS) was exploited as a zero-day in ransomware attacks aimed at a small number of targets, Microsoft revealed. The flaw, CVE-2025-29824, is a privilege escalation vulnerabilit...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of an artificial intelligence (AI) powered platform called AkiraBot that's used to spam website chats, comment sections, and contact forms to promote dubious search engine optimization (SEO) services such as Akira and ServicewrapGO. "AkiraBot has targeted more than 400,000 websites and successfully spammed at least 80,000 websites since September 2024," SentinelOne researchers Alex Delamotte and Jim Walter said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "The bot uses OpenAI to generate custom outreach messages based on the purpose of the website." Targets of the activity include contact forms and chat widgets present in small to medium-sized business websites, with the framework sharing spam content generated using OpenAI's large language models (LLMs). What makes the "sprawling" Python-based tool stand apart is its ability to craft content such that it can bypass spam filters. It's believe...

GitGuardian is famous for its annual  State of Secrets Sprawl  report. In their 2023 report, they found over 10 million exposed passwords, API keys, and other credentials exposed in public GitHub commits. The takeaways in their 2024 report did not just highlight 12.8 million  new  exposed secrets in GitHub, but a number in the popular Python package repository  PyPI . PyPI, short for the Python Package Index, hosts over 20 terabytes of files that are freely available for use in Python projects. If you've ever typed pip install [name of package], it likely pulled that package from PyPI. A lot of people use it too. Whether it's GitHub, PyPI, or others, the report states, "open-source packages make up an estimated 90% of the code run in production today. "  It's easy to see why that is when these packages help developers avoid the reinvention of millions of wheels every day. In the 2024 report, GitGuardian reported finding over 11,000 exposed  unique...

Cyber threats didn’t slow down last week—and attackers are getting smarter. We’re seeing malware hidden in virtual machines, side-channel leaks exposing AI chats, and spyware quietly targeting Android devices in the wild. But that’s just the surface. From sleeper logic bombs to a fresh alliance between major threat groups, this week’s roundup highlights a clear shift: cybercrime is evolving fast, and the lines between technical stealth and strategic coordination are blurring. It’s worth your time. Every story here is about real risks that your team needs to know about right now. Read the whole recap. ⚡ Threat of the Week Curly COMrades Abuses Hyper-V to Hide Malware in Linux VMs — Curly COMrades, a threat actor supporting Russia's geopolitical interests, has been observed abusing Microsoft's Hyper-V hypervisor in compromised Windows machines to create a hidden Alpine Linux-based virtual machine and deploy malicious payloads. This method allows the malware to run completel...

Security failures rarely arrive loudly. They slip in through trusted tools, half-fixed problems, and habits people stop questioning. This week’s recap shows that pattern clearly. Attackers are moving faster than defenses, mixing old tricks with new paths. “Patched” no longer means safe, and every day, software keeps becoming the entry point. What follows is a set of small but telling signals. Short updates that, together, show how quickly risk is shifting and why details can’t be ignored. ⚡ Threat of the Week Improperly Patched Flaw Exploited Again in Fortinet Firewalls — Fortinet confirmed that it's working to completely plug a FortiCloud SSO authentication bypass vulnerability following reports of fresh exploitation activity on fully-patched firewalls. "We have identified a number of cases where the exploit was to a device that had been fully upgraded to the latest release at the time of the attack, which suggested a new attack path," the company said. The activi...

This week showed just how fast things can go wrong when no one’s watching. Some attacks were silent and sneaky. Others used tools we trust every day — like AI, VPNs, or app stores — to cause damage without setting off alarms. It’s not just about hacking anymore. Criminals are building systems to make money, spy, or spread malware like it’s a business. And in some cases, they’re using the same apps and services that businesses rely on — flipping the script without anyone noticing at first. The scary part? Some threats weren’t even bugs — just clever use of features we all take for granted. And by the time people figured it out, the damage was done. Let’s look at what really happened, why it matters, and what we should all be thinking about now. ⚡ Threat of the Week Silently Patched Fortinet Flaw Comes Under Attack — A vulnerability that was patched by Fortinet in FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) has been exploited in the wild since early October 2025 by threat actors to c...

Every tap, click, and swipe we make online shapes our digital lives, but it also opens doors—some we never meant to unlock. Extensions we trust, assistants we rely on, and even the codes we scan are turning into tools for attackers. The line between convenience and vulnerability has never been thinner. This week, we dive into the hidden risks, surprising loopholes, and the clever tricks cybercriminals are using to outsmart the systems we depend on. Stay with us as we unpack what’s happening behind the screen and how you can stay one step ahead. ⚡ Threat of the Week Dozens of Google Chrome Extensions Caught Stealing Sensitive Data — The challenges with securing the software supply chain reared once again after about three dozen extensions were found surreptitiously siphoning sensitive data from roughly 2.6 million devices for several months as part of two related campaigns. The compromises came to light after data loss prevention service Cyberhaven revealed that its browser extens...

Security and IT teams are routinely forced to adopt software before fully understanding the security risks. And AI tools are no exception. Employees and business leaders alike are flocking to generative AI software and similar programs, often unaware of the major SaaS security vulnerabilities they're introducing into the enterprise. A February 2023  generative AI survey of 1,000 executives  revealed that 49% of respondents use ChatGPT now, and 30% plan to tap into the ubiquitous generative AI tool soon. Ninety-nine percent of those using ChatGPT claimed some form of cost-savings, and 25% attested to reducing expenses by $75,000 or more. As the researchers conducted this survey a mere three months after ChatGPT's general availability, today's ChatGPT and AI tool usage is undoubtedly higher.  Security and risk teams are already overwhelmed protecting their SaaS estate (which has now become the operating system of business) from common vulnerabilities such as misconfigura...