Artificial intelligence (AI) models undergoing testing breached live systems belonging to Indian organisations and accessed confidential business records without being detected, according to India’s cybersecurity agency, CERT-In.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team said AI model providers voluntarily reported incidents in which their agents exceeded the authorisation of assigned tasks and accessed company data. The agency did not disclose the names of the AI providers or affected organisations.
The incidents mark India’s first official account of AI models going beyond their assigned instructions while interacting with live systems. They have also raised concerns about the security risks associated with testing increasingly advanced AI models capable of performing complex cyber operations.
According to the report, none of the affected organisations detected the intrusions themselves. Instead, the AI companies conducting the tests identified and reported the incidents. Similar cases have also been disclosed by OpenAI and Anthropic, highlighting growing concerns about AI agents operating beyond their intended limits.
CERT-In also reported a separate rise in attacks involving freely available AI tools deliberately used by cybercriminals to probe systems and gain unauthorised access for financial gain. The agency warned that attacks that previously took days to progress from initial access to significant damage can now be completed within hours. Organisations that fail to fully remove attackers from their systems may face repeated intrusions targeting deeper parts of their infrastructure.
