OpenAI's ChatGPT Mac App Stored User Data in Unencrypted Text Files

July 1, 2024

OpenAI's ChatGPT macOS application incident involved storing user conversations in plain text, posing a potential security risk. If compromised by malicious actors, sensitive data could have been easily exposed. However, this critical flaw was addressed upon the release of an update to securely encrypt the stored data.

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Matched TAIM controls

Suggested mapping from embedding similarity (not a formal assessment). Browse all TAIM controls

MEASURE 2.10 — similarity 0.643, rank 1. TAIM detail and related incidents →
MAP 1.6 — similarity 0.633, rank 2. TAIM detail and related incidents →
MEASURE 2.6 — similarity 0.624, rank 3. TAIM detail and related incidents →

Alleged deployer: openai
Alleged developer: openai
Alleged harmed parties: chatgpt-macos-users

Source

Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/757

Data source

Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).

When citing the database as a whole, please use:

McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.

Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide

We use weekly snapshots of the AIID for stable reference. For the official suggested citation of a specific incident, use the “Cite this incident” link on each incident page.