ChatGPT experienced a few episodes of downtime this week. The generative chatbot was actually the target of a cyberattack, OpenAI reveals.
The company currently considered number one in artificial intelligence saw its services severely disrupted this week. So much so that its popular conversational agent was affected. OpenAI has finally come out of its silence to explain why. ChatGPT was in breakdown several times since Monday.
ChatGPT services targeted by DDoS attacks
The trouble for OpenAI and its customers begins on Monday. First of all, it concerns its artificial intelligence image generator. The error rate of DALL-E reaches new heights. But the American company’s developers quickly stepped in to solve the problem.
The next day, ChatGPT suffers a partial outage. The technical problem seems to be more or less under control, but OpenAI is not disclosing any details.
Then came Wednesday’s major outage. The message ” We are experiencing exceptionally high demand. Please bear with us as we work to expand our systems. “is displayed on every request. OpenAI explains and reveals that it has suffered DDoS attacks targeting its API and sound services chatbot AI.
ChatGPT down to Israeli-Palestinian conflict
OpenAI does not name the perpetrators of this wave of cyberattacks in its statement. However, the Anonymous Sudan claims this one.
” The ChatGPT link is totally dead all over the world. Thousands of posts on X and other social networks are talking about it. Let’s see if they admit it’s a DDoS attack. “, the hacker collective wrote in a Telegram channel. It also states that the SkyNet botnet is at the heart of the hack against the American company.
On the other hand, a level 7 DDoS attack – method used against OpenAI – enables malicious actors to target the application layer by overwhelming it with requests. Unable to handle the unusual fluctuation in requests, the application or service stops. This is how ChatGPT crashed.
In addition, Anonymous Sudan has targeted OpenAI and its generative chatbot because of ” its pro-Israel stance “in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It should be remembered that this war has taken a new turn since the massacre perpetrated by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
Other tech companies also targeted
Some cybersecurity experts believe that Anonymous Sudan is acting under a false flag in order to cover its tracks. Indeed, the group may have links with Russiaand even Iran, in view of its positions.
As a reminder, the group was created last January. At the time, it announced that it would target anyone in opposition to Sudan. Since its creation, its hackers have gone on to launch attacks against governmental and international organizations. They make network infrastructure disruption their specialty.
The group also targets companies in the technology world. Last June, the Outlook, OneDrive and Azure Portal from Microsoft were targeted. The American IT giant had also suffered a level 7 DDoS attack.