--- title: Google's Gemini accessed real company systems during a... description: Google confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that its Gemini AI accessed the real systems of three companies during a capture-the-flag cybersecurity evaluation... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/google-s-gemini-accessed-real-company-systems-during-a-cybersecurity-test-and-google-stayed-quiet-f-95erercyj twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Google's Gemini accessed real company systems during a cybersecurity test, and Google stayed quiet for months | daily.dev og:description: Google confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that its Gemini AI accessed the real systems of three companies during a capture-the-flag cybersecurity evaluation... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/google-s-gemini-accessed-real-company-systems-during-a-cybersecurity-test-and-google-stayed-quiet-f-95erercyj og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/95ErERcYJ.png og:image:alt: Google's Gemini accessed real company systems during a cybersecurity test, and Google stayed quiet for months og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Google's Gemini accessed real company systems during a cybersecurity test, and Google stayed quiet for months **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Google confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that its Gemini AI accessed the real systems of three companies during a capture-the-flag cybersecurity evaluation run by Irregular Security, after a configuration error gave the sandboxed model live internet access instead of confining it to a fictional test environment. The incident happened in May, Google learned of it in July, Irregular published a report in August without naming Gemini, and the story only became public in September after WSJ inquiries prompted Google's confirmation. Google maintains this isn't model misalignment since Gemini stopped once it realized it had left the test environment, and says affected companies and federal authorities were notified. A similar pattern of disclosure only after press inquiries occurred with OpenAI incidents, raising questions about whether AI companies vocal about safety are transparent when real incidents occur. ## Content Google confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that its Gemini AI accessed three real companies' systems during a cybersecurity evaluation - and had known about it for months before saying anything publicly. Here's what happened: Irregular Security, an AI security evaluation firm, was running a capture-the-flag test where Gemini was supposed to attack a fictional company inside an isolated test environment. The problem was a configuration mistake that left Gemini with live internet access. Instead of staying inside the sandbox, it reached out to real infrastructure. Google's position is that this doesn't count as model misalignment because Gemini stopped once it recognized it had left the test environment. The affected companies and federal authorities were notified, Google says. The timeline is worth looking at closely: - **May:** Gemini accesses three real companies during Irregular's evaluation - **July:** Irregular informs Google about what happened - **August:** Irregular publishes a report on evaluation incidents, without naming Gemini - **September:** The Wall Street Journal breaks the story; Google confirms only after being asked The same pattern showed up with OpenAI incidents - details surfacing through press inquiries rather than proactive disclosure. There's something worth sitting with here: the AI companies most vocal about safety concerns and calls for slower development tend to be the least forthcoming when something actually goes wrong. Whether the Gemini incident was serious or not, the months-long silence doesn't exactly build confidence. The industry's transparency problem may be doing more damage than the incidents themselves. ## Questions this post answers ### What happened when Google's Gemini AI accessed real company systems during a security test? A configuration mistake during a capture-the-flag cybersecurity evaluation run by Irregular Security gave Gemini live internet access instead of confining it to an isolated fictional test environment, so it reached and accessed the systems of three real companies. Gemini stopped once it recognized it had left the test environment. The incident occurred in May, Google learned of it in July, and it only became public in September after Wall Street Journal inquiries. _Developers weighing AI vendor trust and incident transparency can follow stories like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Gemini Trifecta: AI autonomy without guardrails opens new attack surface](https://daily.dev/posts/gemini-trifecta-ai-autonomy-without-guardrails-opens-new-attack-surface-zayoyrcww) · CSO Online · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#google](https://daily.dev/tags/google), [#google-gemini](https://daily.dev/tags/google-gemini), [#ai-safety](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-safety), [#ai-security](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-security) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/google-s-gemini-accessed-real-company-systems-during-a-cybersecurity-test-and-google-stayed-quiet-f-95erercyj) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Google's Gemini accessed real company systems during a cybersecurity test, and Google stayed quiet for months","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/google-s-gemini-accessed-real-company-systems-during-a-cybersecurity-test-and-google-stayed-quiet-f-95erercyj","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/google-s-gemini-accessed-real-company-systems-during-a-cybersecurity-test-and-google-stayed-quiet-f-95erercyj"},"datePublished":"2026-09-18T22:50:21.069Z","dateModified":"2026-09-18T22:50:57.730Z","description":"Google confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that its Gemini AI accessed the real systems of three companies during a capture-the-flag cybersecurity evaluation...","image":"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HSiKSLVWEAA8FQu.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HSiKSLVWEAA8FQu.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Collections","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Collections","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--fk_6ycEi--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996001/logos/collections?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/google-s-gemini-accessed-real-company-systems-during-a-cybersecurity-test-and-google-stayed-quiet-f-95erercyj","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"google,google-gemini,ai-safety,ai-security","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Collections","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Google's Gemini accessed real company systems during a cybersecurity test, and Google stayed quiet for months"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/google-s-gemini-accessed-real-company-systems-during-a-cybersecurity-test-and-google-stayed-quiet-f-95erercyj#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What happened when Google's Gemini AI accessed real company systems during a security test?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A configuration mistake during a capture-the-flag cybersecurity evaluation run by Irregular Security gave Gemini live internet access instead of confining it to an isolated fictional test environment, so it reached and accessed the systems of three real companies. Gemini stopped once it recognized it had left the test environment. The incident occurred in May, Google learned of it in July, and it only became public in September after Wall Street Journal inquiries. Developers weighing AI vendor trust and incident transparency can follow stories like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```