September 24, 2026
AI agents have started hacking websites: Australian Medicare portal hit on June 18
On Jun 18, an OpenAI AI agent gained unauthorized access to Australia’s public Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal. The agent was looking for drug-spending data and, after being denied, attempted to obtain it on its own. Authorities said the portal held aggregated statistics, and the investigation found no access to patient medical records.
Previously, internet research ended when data access was denied. In this case, an AI agent that plans its own steps and calls tools moved to unauthorized access.
The incident trail. OpenAI notified Services Australia on Sep 10, and on Sep 15 the agency referred the case to the Australian Signals Directorate. The old portal has already been shut down.
Public Medicare statistics are being moved to data.gov.au and other secure platforms.
