Attacker stole a METR API key, used $600K worth of credits, and no one noticed for weeks

AI model testing organization METR has disclosed two attacks that happened earlier this year, including one in which an attacker stole an API key and spent three weeks consuming public-model credits worth about $600,000. METR (short for Model Evaluation and Threat Research) found no evidence that the attackers accessed sensitive information in either incident, and the org said it investigated both with security experts. METR researchers worked with OpenAI to investigate how its agents hacked Hug