Researchers say OpenAI revoked their access to limited cyber program

Several security researchers say OpenAI suddenly revoked their access to a limited-access program that removes some restrictions on using its AI tools for cybersecurity research. OpenAI confirmed that the issue was caused by an error.

On Wednesday, multiple researchers on OpenAI’s official support forums and on X reported having their access to the Trusted Access for Cyber (TAC) program revoked. The people said that when they opened ChatGPT’s Cyber page, a message appeared saying their identity could not be verified or that their account “is ineligible at this time.” 

TAC is a special program through which OpenAI offers vetted researchers access to the company’s most advanced AI models with fewer cybersecurity guardrails than the models that regular users can access. Anthropic offers a similar program called the Cyber Verification Program, or CVP.

The idea behind TAC and CVP is to give trusted defenders better models so they can report bugs and vulnerabilities to companies, with the aim of getting flaws patched faster. The goal is also to prevent cybercriminals and malicious hackers from accessing those models and use them to find bugs and develop exploits to hack companies. 

To get access to TAC, cybersecurity researchers have to submit an ID and be vetted by OpenAI. 

At this point, it’s not entirely clear why these researchers are getting their access to TAC revoked, nor how many people have had this issue. 

TechCrunch spoke to five researchers who said they have had this problem. One researcher said OpenAI sent an email saying that their access to Daybreak Blue, the latest vetted tier of TAC, was revoked “due to a technical issue affecting a limited number of users.” 

“This was an issue on our end, and not the user experience we want to deliver,” read the message, which the researcher shared with TechCrunch.

In a thread on OpenAI’s forums, a researcher wrote that after they reached out to the official support, the company also cited a “recent technical issue” that caused some users to lose access to Daybreak Blue.

In both messages, OpenAI asked the researchers to reapply and complete the verification process.  

All the researchers TechCrunch spoke to said they live outside of the U.S. and Europe, suggesting the revocations may be limited to certain regions.

OpenAI referred TechCrunch to a tweet in which the company said a “limited set of users’ access to Daybreak Blue is no longer active and they will need to re-verify to maintain their access.”

Daybreak Blue is the latest tier for individual researchers that grants access to “frontier general-purpose models, including GPT‑5.6 Sol, with safeguards tailored to authorized defensive security work,” according to OpenAI, which launched it on August 10. “It is the recommended starting point for most defenders, supporting vulnerability discovery, secure code review, malware analysis, incident response, and patch validation.” 

At the same time, the company also introduced a higher tier called Daybreak Red that gives access to models made specifically for cybersecurity research, which allow vetted users to do “authorized vulnerability research, exploit validation, and security testing.”

In recent months, both defensive and offensive security researchers have complained about the guardrails imposed by Anthropic and OpenAI, arguing that the guardrails prevent them from doing legitimate work.

Updated with comment from OpenAI.