OpenAI has announced a targeted partnership with security firm Hacktron to probe third-party integrations and other high-priority areas where its systems interact with external services. The collaboration brings together OpenAI engineers and Hacktron’s security researchers to jointly select and test the most critical targets, with the stated aim of uncovering and fixing vulnerabilities at the boundaries between OpenAI systems and outside services.
According to OpenAI, the teams will concentrate on the intersection of its systems and third-party services — an area the company identified as increasingly important as AI agents connect disparate services in new ways. The partnership expands Hacktron’s access to OpenAI’s frontier models through the Daybreak Red program, enabling deeper testing against the latest capabilities that OpenAI offers to trusted security partners.
OpenAI described the working arrangement as a coordinated effort: engineers from OpenAI and researchers from Hacktron will jointly identify the highest-priority targets for assessment and then conduct tests focused on service integrations and interaction points with external infrastructure. This joint selection process is intended to align both organizations on the most consequential risks and to ensure testing resources are focused where they can have the greatest impact.
The collaboration is positioned as complementary to a series of other security measures OpenAI has recently announced. In the same week, OpenAI said researchers from Cathedral would join its teams for an upcoming security sprint, and the company has increased rewards in its bug bounty program to encourage independent researchers to surface issues that internal testing might miss. OpenAI framed the Hacktron partnership as part of a broader strategy to deepen external engagement and strengthen defenses through coordinated red teaming and public coordination with the research community.
OpenAI said it first encountered Hacktron through its Security Bug Bounty program and was impressed by the impact of the vulnerabilities the team had reported. The company highlighted Hacktron’s capabilities: the firm builds AI-driven agents for code review, penetration testing and red teaming, and its public research has documented issues in how applications, cloud infrastructure and identity systems interact. OpenAI noted these strengths as part of the rationale for selecting Hacktron as a partner for this focused testing effort.
The emphasis on third-party integrations reflects an industry-wide recognition that as AI agents become more capable of orchestrating tasks across multiple services, security risks can emerge at integration points. Vulnerabilities at service boundaries — for example, in how systems authenticate, exchange data, or invoke external APIs — can create disproportionate risk if left unaddressed. OpenAI said the partnership aims to more thoroughly probe such connections and feed findings back into engineering and mitigation efforts to better protect users.
OpenAI also reiterated its appreciation for independent researchers and external teams who report weaknesses. The company pointed researchers and security teams to its Security Bug Bounty program for information about in-scope systems and for submitting findings. The announcement underscores OpenAI’s approach of combining internal engineering, external red teaming, and incentivized disclosure to build a layered security posture.
While the public notice does not enumerate specific systems or testing methods, OpenAI framed the initiative as an iterative, collaborative process that will help prioritize and remediate the most pressing vulnerabilities discovered at the junction of its services and third-party infrastructure. The Daybreak Red access granted to Hacktron will allow the firm to test against frontier models under controlled conditions, a capability OpenAI said is important for assessing how newer model capabilities interact with external services.
This move follows a pattern among major AI developers of broadening engagement with external security experts, increasing bug bounty rewards, and creating structured programs for trusted testing. By bringing Hacktron into a more formal testing relationship and expanding its model access, OpenAI aims to accelerate the discovery and remediation of integration-related issues that could affect users as agents connect services in novel ways.
OpenAI directed interested researchers to its Security Bug Bounty program for additional information and provided the original announcement on its site. The company expressed gratitude to Hacktron and other independent researchers whose reports have helped identify weaknesses and inform defenses. As AI systems continue to expand their external connections, partnerships like this one will likely play a central role in hardening service boundaries and reducing systemic risk.
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