OpenAI Bans ChatGPT Accounts Used by Russian, Chinese & Iranian Hacker Groups

Main Takeaways

• OpenAI disabled hundreds of accounts linked to malicious actors in various countries.
• The accounts were involved in operations such as social engineering, espionage, influence efforts, and scam infrastructure.
• The action highlights both the misuse of AI tools by adversaries and the role AI providers play in policing abuse.

Details

The threat actors used ChatGPT to assist with tasks like writing code (including for malware or infrastructure), automating social media posting, or preparing influence content.
One operation, dubbed “Operation Sneer Review,” focused on content around Taiwan and included campaigns in English and Chinese.Some accounts also appear tied to North Korean IT worker schemes, where ChatGPT was used to draft resumes, enable fraudulent job applications, or automate parts of operations.

OpenAI’s investigative teams used their AI capabilities to detect abusive patterns and associations, then acted to disable accounts.The banned operations had targeting beyond a single country, with focus areas including the U.S., Europe, and regions of geopolitical interest.

Risks

• AI tools like ChatGPT are increasingly used by threat actors as force multipliers — improving speed, scale, and sophistication of attacks.
• Because these actors use legitimate infrastructure and plausible tasks (coding, translation, social media), detection is challenging.
• The bans show that AI platform providers have to be vigilant about misuse and increasingly act as gatekeepers.
• There’s ongoing risk of such actors finding new accounts, shifting tactics, or exploring other AI models.

Mitigation

• Monitor AI usage logs — track unusual or high-volume queries, especially those involving code, translation, or political content.
• Apply identity vetting & risk scoring — more stringent checks on accounts or usage patterns that match threat actor profiles.
• Share threat intelligence — collaborate across AI providers and cybersecurity communities to flag abusive actors.
• Limit privileged use cases — confine usage of critical features (e.g. code generation, system advisories) to vetted users.
• Audit content & output — analyze AI-generated outputs for patterns, reused prompts, or batch behaviors that suggest automation.
• Respond quickly to abuse — have processes to disable accounts, revoke API keys, and investigate suspicious activity.