New York-based cybersecurity firm Wiz reported that it had discovered a trove of sensitive data from the Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek that was inadvertently exposed to the open internet.
In a blog post published Wednesday, Wiz stated that scans of DeepSeek’s infrastructure revealed that the company had left over a million lines of data unsecured online. This data included digital software keys and chat logs that appeared to capture prompts sent from users to the company’s free AI assistant.
Wiz’s Chief Technology Officer stated that DeepSeek quickly secured the exposed data after being alerted by his firm.
“They took it down in less than an hour,” Ami Luttwak said. “But this was so simple to find we believe we’re not the only ones who found it.”
DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The success of DeepSeek following the launch of its AI assistant has excited China and sparked concerns in America. The Chinese company’s apparent ability to match OpenAI’s capabilities at a much lower cost has raised questions about the sustainability of business models and profit margins for U.S. AI giants like Nvidia and Microsoft.
By Monday, DeepSeek had surpassed U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from the Apple App Store, triggering a global selloff in tech shares.
