OpenAI has experienced periodic outages and a major outage due to ongoing DDoS attacks on its network [2], disrupting access to ChatGPT [2].
Description
The outages were caused by abnormal traffic patterns reflective of a DDoS attack [5], which OpenAI acknowledged and implemented a fix for [5]. However, the disruptions continued [5], indicating that the attacks were ongoing. OpenAI has not disclosed further details about the attack [4], but they are actively working to mitigate the issue. Despite the outages [3] [5], OpenAI assures users that their customer information has not been compromised. It is worth noting that this attack follows a previous outage that affected OpenAI’s tools and services. The outages have also impacted technologies that rely on the ChatGPT API. OpenAI’s first developer conference took place shortly before the outages [3], during which they announced updates to their AI tools [3], including the ability for developers to create custom versions of ChatGPT [3]. OpenAI currently boasts 2 million developers and recently surpassed 100 million weekly active users with the introduction of GPT-4 Turbo.
Conclusion
The ongoing DDoS attacks have had a significant impact on OpenAI’s services, causing disruptions and outages for users. OpenAI is actively working to mitigate the attacks [3], but the specific technique used by the hackers has not been disclosed. It is worth noting that a hacktivist group in Sudan called Anonymous Sudan has claimed responsibility for the attacks [2], citing OpenAI’s cooperation with Israel as the reason [2]. This highlights the potential geopolitical implications of such attacks on AI platforms. Despite the challenges, OpenAI remains committed to providing a secure and reliable platform for its users, and they assure that customer information has not been compromised [1]. The company’s continued growth and popularity, as evidenced by the large number of developers and active users, further emphasizes the importance of addressing and preventing future attacks to ensure uninterrupted access to their AI tools and services.
References
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/09/openai-says-chatgpt-downtime-caused-by-targeted-ddos-attack.html
[2] https://me.pcmag.com/en/ai/20399/openai-blames-chatgpt-outages-on-ddos-attacks
[3] https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/09/business/chatgpt-outage-targeted-attack/index.html
[4] https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/09/openai-blames-ddos-attack-for-ongoing-chatgpt-outage/
[5] https://www.crn.com/news/security/openai-says-chatgpt-outages-likely-caused-by-ddos-attacks
