AI
Regular ChatGPT users dodged a bullet in latest AI security breach
OpenAI’s analytics partner, Mixpanel, hit a speed bump with a security incident that exposed developer info—names, emails, and locations—for a select group of API users
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If you woke up to yet another OpenAI “breach alert” in your inbox, congrats, you’re living in 2025.
But before you go resetting your ChatGPT password (again), here’s the real story: OpenAI wasn’t breached, according to the company.
Instead, caution lights started flashing when its analytics partner, Mixpanel, suffered a security incident that spilled developer information — not consumer secrets, just enough to make a hacker’s day moderately more interesting, according to the OpenAI blog.
The incident went down on November 9, 2025, when an attacker pulled off a “smishing” attack (that’s dystopian shorthand for SMS phishing).
As first reported by Business Insider, Mixpanel’s breach gave up names, email addresses, and rough locations for a limited set of OpenAI API users.
If you just use ChatGPT in your browser, relax — this exposure didn’t touch regular users, chat histories, passwords, or payment details.
Meanwhile, OpenAI was quick to point out that its own systems never blinked.
Mixpanel has a lot explaining to do
Mixpanel is now talking to law enforcement about the “external incident” and reaching out to the organizations affected, as Datamation reports.
It’s a numbers game with nearly all the stats redacted. How many API accounts were really affected? Nobody’s saying.
The one clear consensus: this wasn’t a catastrophic exposure — but it does open a window for sophisticated phishing campaigns.
Security advisors warn that even “low sensitivity” metadata in the hands of a clever scammer can be weaponized into surprisingly convincing messages, according to Business Insider.
So, what happens to Mixpanel and OpenAI?
OpenAI has already booted Mixpanel from its services, and is in the process of emailing organizations, administrators, and independent developers with more details — and a warning to treat any unexpected communications with caution.
As 9to5Mac explains, this is a vendor security mishap, not a full-blown OpenAI breach.
If you want the polished official word (and a timeline of events), OpenAI’s blog post lays it all out.
At the end of the day, your deepest ChatGPT confessions are still locked up — but if you’re an API dev, you might want to double-check that your inbox anxiety is justified.
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