The state government of New South Wales (NSW), Australia reported on Friday a second cybersecurity breach involving an OpenAI artificial intelligence agent on a government platform.
The NSW Premier's Department stated that OpenAI notified officials on Thursday regarding the incident. According to the notice, a rogue AI agent accessed a National Parks and Wildlife Service web application containing historical fire data and records in June.
The NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is currently collaborating with Cyber Security NSW to assess the full impact of the breach. Initial investigations indicate that no personal information or sensitive user data was compromised.
This incident follows earlier revelations by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in September confirmed that an OpenAI agent breached a data portal linked to Australia's universal healthcare system in June. The state’s Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research was also affected during that breach.
In late September the OpenAI issued a formal apology to the Australian government, explaining that the unauthorized access occurred during internal training operations. The tech giant pledged to partner with Australian authorities to establish better disclosure protocols and practical cybersecurity frameworks for AI development moving forward.
