OpenAI unveils GPT-6 Cyber with new safety safeguards

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 6, 2026 by itnerd

OpenAI has introduced GPT-6 Cyber, a cybersecurity-focused AI model designed to discover vulnerabilities, develop working exploits and help security teams patch weaknesses. OpenAI reports that the model identified 81 previously unknown high-severity vulnerabilities in Firefox and developed working exploits for 948 Linux kernel vulnerabilities.

The model achieved a 48.5% success rate on OpenAI’s ExploitGym benchmark, compared with 32.1% for GPT-5.6 Cyber. OpenAI also introduced stronger safeguards intended to prevent unauthorized exploitation. In internal evaluations, GPT-6 Cyber remained within its assigned boundaries in 99.93% of tests without additional deployment safety instructions and 100% with them.

OpenAI has classified the model as Critical in cybersecurity under its Preparedness Framework. Initially available to a limited group of approved researchers through its Daybreak Red program, GPT-6 Cyber includes additional monitoring, identity verification and safeguards for high-risk activities involving critical infrastructure. The launch raises questions about how organizations can safely deploy increasingly capable autonomous security tools while ensuring defenders have access to them.

Daniel Park, Senior Marketing Executive, BreachLock

“A 99.93% boundary compliance rate sounds reassuring until you ask what the 0.07% looks like when the model is holding a working privilege-escalation exploit. In a test harness, that’s a rounding error. But on a production network, it’s an unauthorized action by something that can chain exploits faster than anyone can review them. The first real measure of those safeguards will come from what the model does when a live environment pushes back.”

ㅤ

Darin Fredde, Senior Director and Offensive Security Evangelist, Ridge Security

“An AI agent capable of developing working exploits shouldn’t also get to write its own permission slip. GPT-6 Cyber represents meaningful progress in offensive security, and I understand OpenAI’s decision to limit initial distribution. These capabilities deserve responsible oversight. But restricting access cannot become a substitute for proving the technology operates safely. We also need to consider who gets access. If the most capable security tools remain available only to a select few, we risk leaving smaller organizations and independent defenders behind. The answer is neither unrestricted access nor indefinite gatekeeping. Its responsible expansion supported by enforceable rules of engagement, independent validation, and technical controls that limit what these agents can do. The real breakthrough won’t be deciding who gets the keys. It will be proving the brakes work, regardless of who’s driving.”

Frankly, OpenAI can’t be trusted. At least not with me. So I would be wary of running this model as it may go rogue just like every other OpenAI model.

Researchers identify 1,465 exposed AI-powered hacking frameworks

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 6, 2026 by itnerd

New research from Censys has identified 1,465 internet-exposed instances of ARTEX, an AI-powered autonomous penetration testing framework previously linked to cyberattacks against South Korean financial institutions and a China-linked campaign targeting ConnectWise customers.

In a separate November 5 warning, CERT-EU reported observing multiple threat actors using ARTEX to automate cyberattacks and assessed that similar activity targeting EU institutions highly likely involved the framework. The agency warned that ARTEX could enable faster, more frequent and scalable attacks, noting that its operating boundaries rely on configurable rules and AI model behavior rather than hard technical enforcement.

Censys found that 155 exposed instances (10.6%) were hosted alongside other offensive security tools or threats, including Cobalt Strike and Vshell. Researchers also discovered 32 publicly accessible directories containing exploitation tools, malware implants and post-exploitation utilities. Approximately 650 hosts shared nearly identical configurations.

CERT-EU urged organizations to restrict internet-facing management interfaces, monitor privileged accounts, strengthen authentication and address even minor misconfigurations that automated tools could combine into more serious attacks.

The original ARTEX repository was withdrawn in October, but independent forks remain publicly available.

Daniel Park, Senior Marketing Executive, BreachLock

“Microsoft documenting privileged cloud access in under three hours shows that the human-paced assumptions behind most defensive programs have already broken. Censys found roughly 650 exposed hosts with nearly identical configurations, which means this tooling is being deployed from a template by operators who need very little skill of their own. Any tenant with an open path to privileged access is now on a timeline measured in hours, and a remediation cycle measured in weeks will lose that race.”

ㅤ

Corey Ham, COO, Black Hills Information Security

“There’s no honor among cyber criminals. They don’t just go after corporations, they go after each other. ARTEX is an ideal target for a supply chain attack: If it succeeds, you compromise another hacker and pillage whatever they have gathered from their victims. If anyone happens to using ARTEX for legitimate purposes, compromising them is even better, as they likely have corporate resources backing them up. I suspect the attackers main goal was to obtain AI API keys they can use to fuel more attacks. As good as tools like ARTEX are, they are not cheap to run, because of their token use. This creates an unexpected financial burden on threat actors: they have to monetize their campaigns early on, to make up for the cost of running these tools.

“We’ve seen threat actors using tools like https://github.com/Wei-Shaw/sub2api to cheaply combine AI subscription services like Claude and Codex, since these subscriptions are much cheaper than API billing, and spreading this activity across multiple accounts makes it harder to detect for providers like Anthropic and OpenAI. I also assume that many of the accounts being used with sub2api are compromised and stolen accounts. Earlier this year, we saw Anthropic proactively notifying people who had Claude accounts compromised by infostealers.”

ㅤ

Darin Fredde, Senior Director and Offensive Security Evangelist, Ridge Security

“ARTEX didn’t invent the attack chain. It just took the coffee breaks out of it. What concerns me isn’t simply how many ARTEX instances Censys discovered. Not every deployment is malicious. It’s what we’re seeing in documented attacks, where automation combines reconnaissance, exploitation, and abuse of trusted relationships at speeds that leave defenders precious little time to respond. Attackers have always combined weaknesses to achieve their objectives. Agentic AI can accelerate that process without necessarily introducing new techniques. Our response shouldn’t be to panic over another AI framework. We need proven countermeasures, strong identity and access controls, and continuous offensive testing that challenges trust boundaries, business logic, and complete attack paths. The real question isn’t how quickly an AI agent can find a weakness. It’s whether our security controls can stop what happens next.”

ㅤ

Ryan McCurdy, Vice President of Marketing, Liquibase

“What’s concerning about ARTEX isn’t just how widely available these tools are. It’s how quickly they can operate. Attackers can now automate reconnaissance, test permissions, and move through systems at a speed that gives security teams very little time to respond.

“For databases, that creates another challenge. An attacker with valid credentials doesn’t necessarily need to exploit a vulnerability to make a damaging change. They may already have the permissions needed to execute it.

“Companies have spent years strengthening access controls and vulnerability detection but organizations also need to limit unnecessary privileges, monitor unexpected database activity, and enforce policies around changes before they reach production.

“AI is accelerating the attack lifecycle. The controls protecting critical systems need to account for that speed.”

This is bad as it is a safe bet that the bad guys are using tools like this to go after any organization that is not prepared for this sort of thing. So you need to choose which organization that you are.

Cybersecurity policy following the midterm elections

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 6, 2026 by itnerd

Following the 2026 midterm elections, attention is turning to what the next Congress could mean for U.S. cybersecurity policy, federal oversight and the regulation of emerging technologies.

Among the issues drawing attention are the future of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity information sharing and the growing role of artificial intelligence in enterprise security.

As policymakers consider their priorities, organizations continue to face evolving cyber threats and new challenges associated with AI-driven automation, access controls and software security.

Ryan McCurdy, Vice President of Marketing, Liquibase

“The next Congress may bring new priorities for cybersecurity oversight and AI security, but the underlying challenge for enterprises won’t change. As AI agents take on more responsibility for developing and deploying software, organizations need to rethink how they control what those systems are allowed to do. What happens when a system with legitimate access makes a dangerous change? An agent doesn’t need to exploit a vulnerability to drop a production table. It just needs the right permissions.

“There’s growing attention on AI agent identity and authorization, including work underway at NIST. However, access is only part of the problem. Enterprises also need to enforce policies around the changes those systems make, validate them before execution, and maintain evidence of what happened.

“Regardless of where federal policy goes, organizations remain accountable for what reaches production. The same standards should apply whether a change comes from a developer, an automated pipeline, or an AI agent.”

Doc McConnell, Head of Policy and Compliance, Finite State

“Congressional Democrats are likely to take a more assertive posture on the role of the federal government in promoting cybersecurity. I expect to see three shifts:

“First, information sharing. A durable reauthorization of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 is the most likely early win. The law’s liability protections give companies the confidence to share threat and vulnerability information voluntarily, and the recent string of short-term extensions erodes that confidence. A multi-year reauthorization, whether it comes in the lame-duck session or early in the new Congress, would restore the predictability that voluntary sharing depends on.

“Second, critical infrastructure. CISA has lost roughly a third of its workforce, has seen programs and partnerships contract, and has faced proposed budget cuts of hundreds of millions of dollars, all while attacks on critical infrastructure have intensified. This summer’s coordinated intrusions into water systems, which began with more than thirty Minnesota utilities in late July and reached at least a dozen states, was a stark reminder: if the intrusions are coordinated, then our defense must be as well. I expect a renewed effort to rebuild federal capacity and to get resources to the state and local operators, beginning with reauthorization and funding for the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program.

“Third, supply chain transparency. Concern about foreign technology in U.S. systems is bipartisan, so this is an opportunity for a continuation of current policy trends. So far, we’ve seen a piecemeal approach to supply chain protections: formal rules for connected vehicles, an executive order for the bulk power system, and FCC actions that have created sudden and sharp disruptions for consumer technology companies. The new Congress has an opportunity to streamline and harmonize these requirements across sectors, satisfying the requirement for security and transparency, while giving manufacturers the predictability they need to plan long-term investments in the U.S. market.”

AI needs a bunch of things. Oversight is high up there. Hopefully that is what we get.

The CompTIA Tech Job report is out

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 6, 2026 by itnerd

The CompTIA Tech Jobs report is out today. Highlights include:

  • Tech industry employment saw a gain of about 7,200 jobs in October. Job gains were seen in
    tech manufacturing, information services, search and platforms, and IT and custom software services.
  • Tech occupation employment also saw a gain of about 26,000 jobs in October.
  • Active tech job postings totaled about 630,000 in October and saw a slight gain above September postings. Job postings noting AI skills continue to rise.

Richard Matthews, Senior Solution Consulting Director at Nexthink had this to say:

“Employer demand for AI skills continues to rise. The challenge is that these skills are still scarce and come with a cost premium. Demand is outstripping supply. Therefore, firms will need to build these skills from within, through the people they already employ. That’s easier said than done. Few have a clear view of who is getting real value from AI and who is struggling to make it work. Without that insight, businesses can’t address the specific problems holding teams back or improve AI adoption.

“Visibility into how employees use AI changes that. Organizations can see where adoption is high, where it’s lagging and where people are running into friction. That lets them focus training where it’s needed most and get more from the people and tools they already pay for. When businesses can’t hire their way to AI skills, that knowledge shows them where to focus and whether their investment is paying off.”

This is worth a read as this has a significant amount of useful info.

French bank confirms cyberattack involving estimated $133 million theft

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 6, 2026 by itnerd

French banking group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has confirmed (Translation) a sophisticated cyberattack that allowed attackers to initiate fraudulent transfers involving an estimated $133 million.

The November 4 disclosure follows findings from blockchain investigator ZachXBT, who traced suspicious transactions through cryptocurrency exchanges. The bank has acknowledged the approximate scale of the incident but has not confirmed the final amount stolen.

According to the bank, attackers gained access through an unnamed third-party service provider’s platform and used Crédit Mutuel Arkéa’s own account to transfer funds to other financial institutions. The bank said its security systems detected suspicious activity, prompting the temporary suspension of certain transfers. Some funds have been frozen, and recovery efforts are underway.

Darin Fredde, Senior Director and Offensive Security Evangelist, Ridge Security

“The most dangerous security failures aren’t always vulnerabilities in code. Sometimes they’re flaws in what a business process is willing to trust.

“We need to be careful about drawing conclusions from headlines. We know what Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has disclosed, but we don’t know the complete attack sequence. Speculating about which controls failed or how the attackers operated might make for an interesting story, but it doesn’t necessarily make anyone more secure.

“Attackers don’t operate within the neat categories we use to organize our security programs. They combine technical exploitation, manipulation, social engineering, abuse of trusted relationships, and sometimes even physical access. The objective isn’t necessarily to hack a website. It’s to find a path through people, technology, and business processes that produces the outcome they want.

“As this cat-and-mouse game continues to escalate, I’m concerned it will become increasingly difficult to distinguish what happened from what we believe happened. And that’s a dangerous place for the security industry to find itself.

“This is why we need to stay grounded in established countermeasures and, more importantly, test whether they work together. Least privilege, separation of duties, independent authorization, and transaction monitoring all matter. But we must also prioritize end-to-end offensive testing that challenges business logic, trust relationships, and the consequences of combining weaknesses across systems.

“A vulnerability scanner might tell you whether a system has a known weakness. It won’t necessarily tell you whether someone can manipulate an otherwise legitimate business process to accomplish something that should never have been possible.

“The question isn’t simply whether someone can break into your systems. It’s whether they can make your systems do something they were never supposed to do. And that’s something we need to test, not assume.”

Waseem Ahmed, Head of Engineering, Secure.com

Q: What stands out in the Crédit Mutuel Arkéa incident?

“The money left the bank’s own account, not customer accounts, and the bank says no customer assets were affected. Fraud controls are usually tuned hardest for customer accounts, and a bank’s own account moves large sums every day, so one more large transfer to another institution can be harder to spot. I don’t know how Arkéa’s controls are set up, so that is a general observation.

“The bank says the attackers came in through a service provider’s platform. Any supplier whose platform has a path into your systems is part of your payment chain, whether or not it was meant to be, and it needs the same controls as the rest of that chain.”

Q: What should banks check now?

“Test one path first: can someone who comes in through a supplier’s access send a payment to a beneficiary you have never paid before? Then cap outflows from your own accounts, counted across every system that can send money and over several days. Once outflows pass that cap, new or unusual payments should wait for approval.”

Q: What is still unknown?

“ZachXBT says the activity ran for several days, while the bank says its systems flagged it quickly. Those may not conflict. Part of those days may be spent converting and laundering the money on crypto platforms after it left the bank, which happens largely outside the bank’s view.

“The bank has not named the supplier or said how access was gained, and the $133 million figure is an estimate, not a confirmed total. The bank says no internal error was involved. As I read it, that refers to its own staff, not to how the supplier obtained access, so it is too early to say whether credentials were stolen.”

First a hack of a Bitcoin exchange. Now this. I am starting to see a trend here. And not a very good one. Regardless. financial companies need to take action ASAP as clearly these intuitions are targets.

Kyndryl Uses Agentic AI to Accelerate Enterprise Modernization with AWS

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 5, 2026 by itnerd

Kyndryl today announced an integrated agentic modernization solution with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that combines Kyndryl Agentic Modernization services-as-software with AWS Transform to help customers rapidly modernize applications, reduce transformation risk and establish AI-ready technology foundations.

The solution combines Kyndryl’s services-as-software capability, AI-enabled workflows and engineering expertise with AWS Transform to help organizations assess, plan and execute modernization initiatives at scale. This approach also enables customers to modernize applications, infrastructure and core systems faster, with greater consistency and lower transformation risk.

According to Kyndryl’s first global modernization report, nearly 50% of respondents said they are behind schedule on their modernization goals. Early adopters that have deployed agentic AI in production for modernization reported stronger outcomes, with 67% saying they are ahead of or on track with modernization goals, compared with 51% of other organizations.

Through the solution, Kyndryl allows joint customers to:

  • Accelerate modernization projects by establishing a continuous approach to modernizing applications, infrastructure and core systems
  • Build resilient and AI-ready architectures
  • Reduce technical debt while improving operational efficiency

Kyndryl’s services-as-software capability is an emerging model for delivering services through software-driven automation, intelligence and scalable digital workflows. Built using the Kyndryl Agentic Framework and scaled through Kyndryl Bridge, services-as-software enables companies to execute complex modernization programs in radically compressed timelines and at significantly lower cost by scaling pre-built agentic workflows — making specialized skills less of a constraint.

Customers gain access to Kyndryl’s expertise, across cloud, security, compliance, FinOps and mission-critical technology operations, helping organizations modernize with confidence while maintaining governance, resilience and business continuity.

As a launch partner for AWS Transform, Kyndryl has worked with AWS to help customers move beyond project-based modernization, to establish a scalable, repeatable approach to continuously evolving their technology environments.

Learn more about Kyndryl’s collaboration with AWS.

Check Point Research bypassed ChatGPT’s Lockdown Mode

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 5, 2026 by itnerd

Check Point Research published findings today on a bypass of ChatGPT’s Lockdown Mode, the optional setting OpenAI built to limit prompt-injection data theft.

CheckPoint researchers didn’t beat the AI controls, but found a way to go around them. A weakness in an ordinary app feature, HTML previews running in a sandbox, let content escape the restrictions Lockdown Mode is supposed to enforce. In the desktop app, the team showed a malicious GPT quietly leaking chat messages to an attacker-controlled server with no user click. They also showed a convincing fake “ChatGPT update” popup used to push malware.

OpenAI fixed it after responsible disclosure. It confirmed a fix on September 18, and Check Point retested and says the technique no longer works.

As assistants pick up code execution, file handling and connectors, the security of the AI depends on everything around the model: the apps, runtimes and sandboxes. Eli Smadja, Head of Research at Check Point Research, wrote the piece, and it argues that AI security controls are only as strong as the environment they sit in.

Full technical write-up from CPR: https://research.checkpoint.com/2026/chatgpt-lockdown-mode-bypass-phishing-malware-delivery-and-silent-data-exfiltration/

Cobalt Joins Wiz Integration Network, Bringing Offensive Security into Cloud Risk Workflows

Posted in Commentary with tags , on November 5, 2026 by itnerd

Cobalt today announced its integration with Wiz, a cloud and AI security platform now part of Google Cloud. The integration, which is generally available through the Wiz Integration Network (WIN), connects the Cobalt Offensive Security Platform with the Wiz AI Application Protection Platform, enabling mutual customers to bring findings from Cobalt penetration tests directly into Wiz and incorporate real-world continuous offensive testing into their existing cloud security workflows.

Wiz gives teams clear visibility into vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and potential attack paths from code to runtime. For teams running penetration testing through Cobalt, that offensive perspective lands directly within their existing workflows. The Cobalt integration with Wiz combines experienced security practitioners and AI-powered capabilities to test applications and environments the way real attackers do, uncover exploitable vulnerabilities automated tools may miss, and provide the context teams need to remediate them.

Through the integration, Cobalt pentest findings flow directly into Wiz with detailed exploitability context, including finding descriptions, steps to reproduce, severity ratings based on impact and likelihood, CVSS scores and vectors, CWE references, remediation guidance and direct links to findings within Cobalt. Findings automatically synchronize to keep offensive security data current without manual uploads.

What Cobalt brings to the WIN ecosystem

Cobalt extends the value of cloud security context with offensive security testing expertise and a platform designed to make penetration testing an ongoing part of the security program:

  • Human expertise behind every finding, amplified by AI: Cobalt connects organizations with the Cobalt Core, an elite network of 500+ vetted pentesters, who apply attacker creativity, experience, and judgment to uncover vulnerabilities and attack paths that automated testing alone may not identify. Combined with AI-enabled capabilities, Cobalt accelerates testing and analysis while keeping human judgment at the center of complex security decisions.
  • A platform built for continuous offensive security: Cobalt turns pentesting from a static report into an operational workflow, giving teams a centralized environment to launch tests, collaborate with pentesters, manage findings, track remediation and retest fixes.
  • Exploitability Context with PoC Data: Findings include proof-of-concept data and clear reproduction steps, along with impact, likelihood, severity, CVSS, and CWE information, helping teams understand whether a vulnerability is realistically exploitable and how urgently it should be prioritized.
  • Remediation Context: Findings include actionable remediation guidance that gives engineering and security teams the context they need to fix vulnerabilities efficiently and move directly from discovery to resolution.
  • Offensive insight where teams already work: By bringing Cobalt findings into Wiz, customers can connect the attacker perspective generated through penetration testing with the broader cloud context they already use to investigate and remediate risk.

Together, Cobalt and Wiz give mutual customers a more complete view of risk: Wiz provides visibility and context across their environment, while Cobalt puts defenses to the test through real-world offensive security expertise.

The integration is available to Cobalt customers with access to integrations and can be configured using a Wiz service account with scoped permissions, with no additional Cobalt licensing required.

To learn more about the Cobalt and Wiz integration and how to enable it, view Cobalt in WIN. You can also read the blog.

Comparitech exposed an unprotected MongoDB database to the internet. It was wiped in 2 hours and 54 minutes

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 5, 2026 by itnerd

In a study published today, Comparitech researchers detail the chain of events that occured after exposing an unprotected MongoDB database (containing 1K+ synthetic customer records) to the internet. The study breaks down the experiment — covering the time it took for the database to be entirely wiped, what sorts of attacks commenced, and more.

Commenting on the findings is Justin Schamotta, Researcher at Comparitech:

“The idea that an attacker chooses a particular company to target is a pervasive one, but a lot of attacks are far less selective. Rather than setting their sights on a particular organisation, they’re often looking for any system that presents an opportunity.

This typically involves scanning large portions of the IPv4 address space to see which ports are listening. For MongoDB, a scan would query port 27017. For MySQL it would use 3306, and for Redis it would use 6379. Scripts – which take seconds to put together with the help of an LLM – can automate this process and go a step further by querying the services behind those open ports to establish whether authentication is required. There’s no need for attackers to know who owns the database, what it contains or whether it’s particularly valuable. They simply find it, exploit it and move on to the next one.

Our experiment illustrates just how little time organisations have to get this right. It took just two hours and 54 minutes for someone to find our database, wipe its contents and leave a ransom demand. We also recorded five further instances of the same wipe-and-ransom behaviour during the 48 hours it was online.

Unless your database genuinely needs to be accessed remotely, there’s no reason to expose it to the public internet in the first place. Keep it on a private network, restrict access to trusted IP addresses and, crucially, enable authentication. This makes the difference between your database being invisible to attackers and becoming another easy target.”

For full details, the research can be read here: https://www.comparitech.com/news/we-exposed-an-unprotected-database-to-the-internet-it-was-wiped-in-2-hours-and-54-minutes/

Recast Expands Right Click Tools to Deliver Greater Application Visibility, Cloud-First Management, and Stronger Security

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 5, 2026 by itnerd

Recast today announced a series of Right Click Tools enhancements. Managing applications is getting harder as endpoints become more distributed and increasingly operate beyond the corporate network. Recast’s latest Right Click Tools capabilities bring application visibility, vulnerability insights, patching, and remote management together to help IT teams understand what’s running across their endpoints, identify risk, and take action wherever those devices are located.

These enhancements extend across environments managed with Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Configuration Manager, or a combination of the two, giving IT teams a more consistent way to manage applications across their evolving endpoint estate. Developed in collaboration with existing customers, the capabilities continue Recast’s investment in practical tools that meet organizations where they are today while helping them build a more proactive endpoint management strategy.

Expanded management for remote and cloud-only devices

Right Click Tools now removes more barriers to managing devices wherever they’re located. The Agent Gateway enables internet-based enrollment and remote management, helping teams reach endpoints that are not consistently connected to a corporate network. This enables administrators to investigate and address device issues remotely without having to coordinate with the end user to manage their device.

Greater application visibility and stronger patching

New and expanded inventory awareness from Right Click Tools Insights helps IT teams understand which applications are installed across their environments and where outdated versions may create risk. By bringing this visibility together with patching workflows, Right Click Tools Patching enables teams to move from discovering issues after they affect users to identifying and addressing gaps earlier.

Right Click Tools Patching keeps environments secure by identifying outdated application versions and applying updates to targeted devices. The latest version adds support for both ARM64 and macOS applications, extending centralized application maintenance to a broader mix of endpoints.

These visibility and patching capabilities are critical as the window for responding to application vulnerabilities continues to shrink. Recast’s proprietary database tracked a 438% increase in Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) and a 44% increase in the number of software versions released from the first quarter of 2026 to the third. Faster vulnerability discovery makes timely application inventory, prioritization, and patching increasingly important for endpoint teams.

Detailed release notes can be found on Recast’s website.