Executive Summary
Recently, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a popular AI-powered chatbot, experienced outages for 24 hours due to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks orchestrated by Anonymous Sudan. These attacks affected the service’s availability and connectivity, impacting millions of users.
OpenAI confirmed the attacks and promptly worked to mitigate them. The incident has now been resolved, and OpenAI’s services have returned to normal.
This incident highlights the vulnerability of widely used platforms like ChatGPT to cybercriminals and hacktivists.
The Hack
Anonymous Sudan claimed responsibility for the DDoS attacks on OpenAI’s infrastructure.
The ChatGPT outages had a significant impact on users, causing inconvenience and disruption to their experience. Many users were unable to access ChatGPT at all during the attacks, while others experienced intermittent outages. This disrupted their ability to utilise the AI-powered chatbot for various purposes, including assistance, information, and entertainment.
Response and Resolution
OpenAI addressed the periodic outages caused by the abnormal traffic pattern resulting from the DDoS attack. They implemented fixes and closely monitored the situation. The incident has been resolved, and OpenAI’s services have returned to normal. Users can access ChatGPT and other services as before.
OpenAI also provided regular updates about the incident. Please refer to the incident timeline in their advisory:
Resolved
The incident has been resolved and status of our services have returned to normal. Posted 13 hours ago. Nov 09, 2023 – 13:21 PST
Update
We are dealing with periodic outages due to an abnormal traffic pattern reflective of a DDoS attack. We are continuing work to mitigate this. Posted 1 day ago. Nov 08, 2023 – 19:49 PST
Update
We are seeing periodic outages across ChatGPT and the API still. Posted 1 day ago. Nov 08, 2023 – 17:23 PST
Update
We are continuing to monitor for any further issues. Posted 2 days ago. Nov 08, 2023 – 12:56 PST
Monitoring
A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Posted 2 days ago. Nov 08, 2023 – 12:41 PST
Investigating
We are currently investigating this issue. Posted 2 days ago. Nov 08, 2023 – 12:03 PST
OpenAI’s efforts to address the attacks and restore full service reflect their commitment to minimising the impact on users. However, the incident underscores the vulnerability of widely used platforms like ChatGPT to cyberattacks, emphasising the need for robust security measures and proactive mitigation strategies.
Threat Actor
Anonymous Sudan, a self-proclaimed hacktivist group associating themselves with the Anonymous collective, took responsibility for the DDoS attacks on OpenAI. However, cybersecurity experts suggest that Anonymous Sudan may be associated with other Russian hacktivist groups.
The group targeted American companies, and OpenAI, being an American company, became one of their prime targets. They also cited OpenAI’s association with Israel and its investment plans in Israel as reasons for the attacks. Anonymous Sudan expressed support for the Palestinians and emphasised this as a motivation for targeting OpenAI and ChatGPT.
The group has previously targeted various organisations, including those in Sweden, Denmark, and the United States.
