ChatGPT Global Breach Exposes Conversations of Millions of Apple Users

In the last few hours, a user 'Threads' clarified that the desktop application ChatGPT on Mac computers presents a serious security problem by storing user conversations unencrypted and in an insecure location on the computer.

This could mean that any malicious person, through a virus, could access users' interactions with the chatbot.

The problem was revealed by data and electronics engineer Pedro José Pereira in the Vieito threads, who noted that the chats were stored in the following path: ~/Library/Application\Soporte/com.openai.chat/conve… {uuid}.

“So basically any other application/process/malware running can read your ChatGPT conversations without any permission,” Perera wrote.

And he added: “macOS Mojave 10.14 (6 years ago!) macOS blocked access to any user's personal data. , etc.) Now transparent user access was required.

Another tech expert also commented on the post, commenting that the vulnerability is “a macOS problem” because an operating system should avoid this type of situation.

Pereira responded by promising that MacOS Mojave 10.14 will allow users to explicitly accept or decline the processing of personal data. Further, He said that OpenAI has decided to go sandbox-free and store conversations in plain text in an unsecured environment, thereby disabling all built-in protections.

The app isn't available on the Mac App Store, but Perera found the app only on the OpenAI page. However, the data engineer did make some good news.

“The new version of ChatGBT now encrypts local chats. I still hope that in the future they will put the app in a test environment to improve security,” he said.

Daniela Lararte Azad

Digital Scope Editorial

Time