Software keys and chat logs that seemed to record user requests made to the company’s free AI helper are among the exposed data, according to cybersecurity firm Wiz.
Wiz, a cybersecurity company based in New York, has reported discovering a wealth of private information that was unintentionally made public by the Chinese artificial intelligence business DeepSeek.
Wiz claimed in a blog post on Wednesday that DeepSeek had unintentionally left over a million lines of data exposed and unprotected after scanning its infrastructure.
These included chat logs that seemed to record user prompts given to the company’s free AI helper and digital program keys.
“More critically, the exposure allowed for full database control and potential privilege escalation within the DeepSeek environment, without any authentication or defence mechanism to the outside world,” the post read.
After his company alerted them, DeepSeek promptly safeguarded the data, according to Wiz’s chief technology officer.
According to Ami Luttwak, “they took it down in less than an hour,” “But this was so simple to find we believe we’re not the only ones who found it.”
Anxiety and excitement
China is ecstatic about DeepSeek’s nearly overnight success after launching its AI assistant, while America is worried.
Despite limitations on its access to the most cutting-edge technology, its rise has sparked worries that China may have surpassed the US in the AI race.
The viability of the business models and profit margins of US AI behemoths like Nvidia and Microsoft has come under scrutiny due to the Chinese company’s apparent ability to match OpenAI’s capabilities at a significantly cheaper cost.
It caused a worldwide selloff in tech equities after surpassing US competitor ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s App Store by Monday.
