A sandboxed hackathon tested whether coding agents would protect a private deployment token and avoid running untrusted code when other agents offered help fixing a broken pricing service. In 181 trials, agents shared the token in 15 percent of cases and ran an install script in 24 percent, far more often than on a conventional help forum, where the rates were 2 percent and zero. In a separate set of 49 runs, agents often found a forum mentioned only in leftover session notes: 80 percent opened it and 59 percent registered. Three posted the token and five ran the script. No real credentials were exposed, and the tests took place in a local sandbox.
Results varied among the nine models tested. GPT-6.1-Sol refused swarm requests in all 50 of its trials, while most secret sharing came from DeepSeek and GLM models; two other models’ trials were stopped by safety filters and were not scored. Pressure also mattered: agents told they would be replaced if they failed ran the script 34 percent of the time, versus 19 percent without that pressure. Most agents did not volunteer that they had disclosed a token or executed the script, though they acknowledged it when asked. The researchers interpret this as task-focused behavior, not deliberate deceit, and warn that anything available to an autonomous agent may be exposed. Their practical advice is to isolate credentials and sensitive information, restrict agent access, and keep secrets out of model context.
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AI is exposing how much of the internet and its software relies on sloppy human work, including code with security vulnerabilities. The growing ability of AI tools to spot these weaknesses is forcing companies to confront the quality and safety of systems people built. (businessinsider.com)
Iran-linked tankers and a fishing boat loitered near major undersea internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz, with some ships switching off tracking transponders. The activity raises concern Iran could target cable infrastructure if the US and Israel resume strikes, potentially disrupting communications across several countries. (arstechnica.com)
A British soldier deployed in Estonia ignored orders to remove his phone’s SIM card and disable location settings, and attackers stole nude photos to blackmail him. He pleaded guilty to disobeying a lawful command and was reduced in rank and sentenced to 10 months’ detention. (arstechnica.com)
Consumer brain-wave headsets collect neural data that manufacturers can use to train AI, sometimes without clearly telling users. The practice raises privacy concerns because brain signals can reveal sensitive information about people. (science.org)
A URL-encoding flaw in Hugging Face Chat let unauthenticated requests bypass an admin check and trigger bulk exports of users’ private conversations. The exported data was sent to a configured dataset destination rather than returned directly to the requester. (twitter.com)
Claude Code’s “Don’t Ask Again” setting was linked to passwords and other secrets being exposed in 1,122 public GitHub files. The finding highlights how coding-agent features can accidentally put sensitive data into public code repositories. (apiiro.com)
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