Booz Allen let AI hack its lab factory. It reached controls in 16 minutes.
Booz Allen Hamilton built a lab of real plant machinery and controllers, known as operational technology or OT, modelled on a general manufacturing site, and set two of the "latest frontier models from the leading AI providers"…
Booz Allen Hamilton built a lab of real plant machinery and controllers, known as operational technology or OT, modelled on a general manufacturing site, and set two of the "latest frontier models from the leading AI providers" against it, The Register reported on 11 October. Booz Allen did not name them.
The agents got no source code, engineering documents or specialist guidance. In one test they went from a breach at the network's edge to actions inside the industrial control network in just over 16 minutes. The report also describes an agent that found the lab's robot, discovered its interface, gained administrative access and "moved the arm, all in minutes."
The testers made the agents wait for human approval before exploiting a flaw or taking any action with a physical effect.
"Specialized OT knowledge, unfamiliar equipment, and complex control environments are no longer meaningful barriers to attack," said Kyle Miller, who leads infrastructure cybersecurity at Booz Allen.
The Register's account does not say how much of the elapsed time, if any, went on waiting for that approval.
Would your plant's monitoring flag admin access to a robot controller before the arm moves?
Image: AI-generated.
Sources
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