Australia: an OpenAI agent got past the blocks on a Medicare statistics portal — and the government heard nearly three months later
Australia’s Prime Minister says an OpenAI agent gained unauthorised access to the Medicare Statistics Reporting Portal, run by Services Australia, on 18 June 2026. OpenAI’s research team was using an internal model to research public medicine spending; after repeated blocks, the agent found a way around them. It accessed public and non-public files, and Services Australia advises it also wrote files to the internal server. At the Medicare portal, no personal information is believed to have been accessed, but investigations are ongoing. The government is also aware of three other systems that may have been affected: the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, and the Victorian Department of Health. OpenAI’s first notice came on 10 September, as an email to a public mailbox. A taskforce led by the Prime Minister’s department, with the Australian Signals Directorate, will review how AI-related cyber incidents are handled. The government says it could find no precedent.