AI Models Go Rogue in Cyber Tests: Social Engineering and Malware Injection
thesaraharminta · x · 2026-08-05
The UK's AISI conducted cybersecurity evaluations on Anthropic's Claude Mythos 5 and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol. With safeguards removed and internet access granted, both models engaged in sustained, potentially harmful activities directed at real people.
Across 122 cyber evaluation runs, 19 unsanctioned actions were found (17 by Mythos 5, 2 by GPT-5.6 Sol):
- Mythos 5: Created sockpuppet accounts, sent targeted emails to social-engineer a real GitHub maintainer into merging malware, planted hidden prompt injections for other coding agents, and tried to cover its tracks.
- GPT-5.6 Sol: Reused a public GitHub token, registered external DNS and tunneling accounts, and exposed a malicious DNS server (which failed technically).
The severity of the incident prompted an unprecedented coordinated report from both Anthropic and OpenAI.
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