ChatGPT went from novelty to necessity in less than two years. It is now part of how you work, learn, write, code and search. OpenAI has said the service has roughly 800 million weekly active users, which puts it in the same weight class as the biggest consumer platforms in the world. 

When a tool becomes that central to your daily life, you assume the people running it can keep your data safe. That trust took a hit recently after OpenAI confirmed that personal information linked to API accounts had been exposed in a breach involving one of its third-party partners.

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What you need to know about the ChatGPT breach

OpenAI’s notification email places the breach squarely on Mixpanel, a major analytics provider the company used on its API platform. The email stresses that OpenAI’s own systems were not breached. No chat histories, billing information, passwords or API keys were exposed. Instead, the stolen data came from Mixpanel’s environment and included names, email addresses, Organization IDs, coarse location and technical metadata from user browsers. 

FAKE CHATGPT APPS ARE HIJACKING YOUR PHONE WITHOUT YOU KNOWING

That sounds harmless on the surface. The email calls this “limited” analytics data, but the label feels like PR cushioning more than anything else. For attackers, this kind of metadata is gold. A dataset that reveals who you are, where you work, what machine you use and how your account is structured gives threat actors everything they need to run targeted phishing and impersonation campaigns.

The biggest red flag is the exposure of Organization IDs. Anyone who builds on the OpenAI API knows how sensitive these identifiers are. They sit at the center of internal billing, usage limits, account hierarchy and support workflows. If an attacker quotes your Org ID during a fake billing alert or support request, it suddenly becomes very hard to dismiss the message as a scam.

OpenAI’s own reconstructed timeline raises bigger questions. Mixpanel first detected a smishing attack on November 8. Attackers accessed internal systems the next day and exported OpenAI’s data. That data was gone for more than two weeks before Mixpanel told OpenAI on November 25. Only then did OpenAI alert everyone. It is a long and worrying silent period, and it left API users exposed to targeted attacks without even knowing they were at risk. OpenAI says it cut Mixpanel off the next day.

The size of the risk and the policy problem behind it

The timing and the scale matter here. ChatGPT sits at the center of the generative AI boom. It does not just have consumer traffic. It has sensitive conversations from developers, employees, startups and enterprises. Even though the breach affected API accounts rather than consumer chat history, the exposure still highlights a wider issue. When a platform reaches almost a billion weekly users, any crack becomes a national-scale problem.

Regulators have been warning about this exact scenario. Vendor security is one of the weak links in modern tech policy. Data protection laws tend to focus on what a company does with the information you give them. They rarely provide strong guardrails around the entire chain of third-party services that process this data along the way. Mixpanel is not an obscure operator. It is a widely used analytics platform trusted by thousands of companies. Yet it still lost a dataset that should never have been accessible to an attacker.

Companies should treat analytics providers the same way they treat core infrastructure. If you cannot guarantee that your vendors follow the same security standards you do, you should not be collecting the data in the first place. For a platform as influential as ChatGPT, the responsibility is even higher. People do not fully understand how many invisible services sit behind a single AI query. They trust the brand they interact with, not the long list of partners behind it.

8 steps you can take to stay safer when using AI tools

If you rely on AI tools every day, it’s worth tightening your personal security before your data ends up floating around in someone else’s analytics dashboard. You cannot control how every vendor handles your information, but you can make it much harder for attackers to target you.

1) Use strong, unique passwords

Treat every AI account as if it holds something valuable because it does. Long, unique passwords stored in a reliable password manager reduce the fallout if one platform gets breached. This also protects you from credential stuffing, where attackers try the same password across multiple services.

Next, see if your email has been exposed in past breaches. Our #1 password manager (see Cyberguy.com/Passwords) pick includes a built-in breach scanner that checks whether your email address or passwords have appeared in known leaks. If you discover a match, immediately change any reused passwords and secure those accounts with new, unique credentials.

Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2025 at Cyberguy.com.

2) Turn on phishing-resistant 2FA

AI platforms have become prime targets, so they rely on stronger 2FA. Use an authenticator app or a hardware security key. SMS codes can be intercepted or redirected, which makes them unreliable during large-scale phishing campaigns.

3) Use strong antivirus software

Another important step you can take to protect yourself from phishing attacks is to install strong antivirus software on your devices. This can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, helping you keep your personal information and digital assets safe. 

The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe. 

Get my picks for the best 2025 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.

PARENTS BLAME CHATGPT FOR SON’S SUICIDE, LAWSUIT ALLEGES OPENAI WEAKENED SAFEGUARDS TWICE BEFORE TEEN’S DEATH

4) Limit what personal or sensitive data you share

Think twice before pasting private conversations, company documents, medical notes or addresses into a chat window. Many AI tools store recent history for model improvements unless you opt out, and some route data through external vendors. Anything you paste could live on longer than you expect.

5) Use a data-removal service to shrink your online footprint

Attackers often combine leaked metadata with information they pull from people-search sites and old listings. A good data-removal service scans the web for exposed personal details and submits removal requests on your behalf. Some services even let you send custom links for takedowns. Cleaning up these traces makes targeted phishing and impersonation attacks much harder to pull off.

While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice. They aren’t cheap, and neither is your privacy. These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites. It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com.

6) Treat unexpected support messages with suspicion

Attackers know users panic when they hear about API limits, billing failures or account verification issues. If you get an email claiming to be from an AI provider, do not click the link. Open the site manually or use the official app to confirm whether the alert is real.

7) Keep your devices and software updated

A lot of attacks succeed because devices run outdated operating systems or browsers. Regular updates close vulnerabilities that could be used to steal session tokens, capture keystrokes or hijack login flows. Updates are boring, but they prevent a surprising amount of trouble.

8) Delete accounts you no longer need

Old accounts sit around with old passwords and old data, and they become easy targets. If you’re not actively using a particular AI tool anymore, delete it from your account list and remove any saved information. It reduces your exposure and limits how many databases contain your details.

Kurt’s key takeaway

This breach may not have touched chat logs or payment details, but it shows how fragile the wider AI ecosystem can be. Your data is only as safe as the least secure partner in the chain. With ChatGPT now approaching a billion weekly users, that chain needs tighter rules, better oversight and fewer blind spots. If anything, this should be a reminder that the rush toward AI adoption needs stronger policy guardrails. Companies cannot hide behind transparent emails after the fact. They need to prove that the tools you rely on every day are secure at every layer, including the ones you never see.

Do you trust AI platforms with your personal information? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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Two years ago, the company sold about 5,000 units of the Playground. Last year, that number was roughly 150,000. This year, it’s on track for 600,000. Before its pivot, Nex did about $3 million of annual revenue and wasn’t profitable. This year, the company is projecting more than $150 million of sales and says it’s on pace to finally break even.

Cybercriminals keep getting better at blending into the software you use every day. 

Over the past few years, we’ve seen phishing pages that copy banking portals, fake browser alerts that claim your device is infected and “human verification” screens that push you to run commands you should never touch. The latest twist comes from the ongoing ClickFix campaign.

Instead of asking you to prove you are human, attackers now disguise themselves as a Windows update. It looks convincing enough that you might follow the instructions without thinking, which is exactly what they want.

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NEW SCAM SENDS FAKE MICROSOFT 365 LOGIN PAGES

How the fake update works

Researchers noticed that ClickFix has upgraded its old trick. The campaign used to rely on human verification pages, but now you get a full-screen Windows update screen that looks almost identical to the real thing. Joe Security showed how the page displays fake progress bars, familiar update messages and a prompt that tells you to complete a critical security update.

If you are on Windows, the site tells you to open the Run box, copy something from your clipboard and paste it in. That “something” is a command that silently downloads a malware dropper. The final payload is usually an infostealer, which steals passwords, cookies and other data from your machine.

NEW EMAIL SCAM USES HIDDEN CHARACTERS TO SLIP PAST FILTERS

The moment you paste the command, the infection chain begins. First, a file called mshta.exe reaches out to a remote server and grabs a script. To avoid detection, these URLs often use hex encoding for parts of the address and rotate their paths. The script then runs obfuscated PowerShell code filled with junk instructions to throw researchers off. Once PowerShell does its work, it decrypts a hidden .NET assembly that functions as the loader.

Why is this attack so hard to detect?

The loader hides its next stage inside what looks like a regular PNG file. ClickFix uses custom steganography, which is a technique that hides secret data inside normal-looking content. In this case, the malware sits inside the image’s pixel data. The attackers tweak color values in certain pixels, especially in the red channel, to embed pieces of shellcode. When you view the image, everything appears normal.

The script knows exactly where the hidden data sits. It extracts the pixel values, decrypts them and rebuilds the malware directly in memory. That means nothing obvious is written to disk. Security tools that rely on file scanning miss it, since the shellcode never appears as a standalone file.

Once rebuilt, the shellcode is injected into a trusted Windows process like explorer.exe. The attack uses familiar in-memory techniques such as VirtualAllocEx, WriteProcessMemory and CreateRemoteThread. Recent ClickFix activity has delivered infostealers like LummaC2 and updated versions of Rhadamanthys. These tools are built to harvest credentials and send them back to the attacker with very little noise.

7 steps you can take to protect yourself from the ClickFix campaign

The best way to stay protected is to slow down for a moment and follow a few steps that cut off these attacks before they start.

1) Never run commands you didn’t ask for

If any site tells you to paste a command into Run, PowerShell or Terminal, treat it as an immediate warning sign. Real operating system updates never require you to run commands from a webpage. When you run that command, you hand full control to the attacker. If something feels off, close the page and don’t interact further.

2) Keep Windows updates inside Windows

Updates should only come from the Windows Settings app or through official system notifications. A browser tab or pop-up pretending to be a Windows update is always fake. If you see anything outside the normal update flow asking for your action, ignore it and check the real Windows Update page yourself.

3) Use a reputable antivirus

Choose a security suite that can detect both file-based and in-memory threats. Stealthy attacks like ClickFix avoid leaving obvious files for scanners to pick up. Tools with behavioral detection, sandboxing and script monitoring give you a much better chance of spotting unusual activity early.

The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.

Get my picks for the best 2025 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.

4) Use a password manager

Password managers create strong, unique passwords for every account you use. They also autofill only on legitimate websites, which helps you catch fake login pages. If a manager refuses to fill out your credentials, take a second look at the URL before entering anything manually.

Next, see if your email has been exposed in past breaches. Our No. 1 password manager pick includes a built-in breach scanner that checks whether your email address or passwords have appeared in known leaks. If you discover a match, immediately change any reused passwords and secure those accounts with new, unique credentials.

Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2025 at Cyberguy.com.

5) Use a personal data removal service

Many attacks start by targeting emails and personal details already exposed online. Data removal services help shrink your digital footprint by requesting takedowns from data broker sites that collect and sell your information. They can’t erase everything, but reducing your exposure means fewer attackers have easy access to your details.

While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice. They aren’t cheap, and neither is your privacy. These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites. It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com.

6) Check URLs before trusting anything

A convincing layout doesn’t mean it is legitimate. Always look at the domain name first. If it doesn’t match the official site or uses odd spelling or extra characters, close it. Attackers rely on the fact that people recognize a page’s design but ignore the address bar.

7) Close suspicious full-screen pages

Fake update pages often run in full-screen mode to hide the browser interface and make the page look like part of your computer. If a site suddenly goes full screen without your permission, exit with Esc or Alt+Tab. Once you’re out, scan your system and don’t return to that page.

Kurt’s key takeaway

ClickFix works because it leans on user interaction. Nothing happens unless you follow the instructions on the screen. That makes the fake Windows update page especially dangerous, because it taps into something most people trust. If you are used to Windows updates freezing your screen, you may not question a prompt that appears during the process. Cybercriminals know this. They copy trusted interfaces to lower your guard and then rely on you to run the final command. The technical tricks that follow are complex, but the starting point is simple. They need you to help them.

Do you ever copy commands from a website without thinking twice about what they do? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com.  All rights reserved.