Dark Web Markets Undercut AI Giants with Stolen Model Access
Source: Financial Times (paywall)
Google's threat intelligence team has documented organized theft and resale of proprietary AI models from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI on dark web marketplaces, with stolen access selling at discounts up to 97%. API credential theft and account takeovers are now a mature criminal commodity rather than isolated incidents. The systematic nature of the operation indicates that security boundaries around frontier AI systems are porous enough to support a functioning black market. API access controls alone may be insufficient to protect against wholesale model theft at scale. AI infrastructure becomes a target of opportunity once it demonstrates commercial value.