Mercor says it was hit by cyberattack tied to compromise of open-source LiteLLM project
Why it matters: A cyberattack on Mercor, a startup facilitating $2 million in daily payouts, highlights supply chain vulnerabilities in the AI sector.
- Mercor, an AI recruiting startup valued at $10 billion, confirmed a security incident tied to a supply chain attack involving the open-source LiteLLM project, affecting "thousands of companies."
- Lapsus$, an extortion hacking group, claimed responsibility for a data breach at Mercor, sharing a sample of allegedly stolen data including Slack and ticketing information, and videos of AI system-contractor conversations.
- LiteLLM's open-source project was compromised by malicious code, which was identified and removed within hours, but the incident drew scrutiny due to its widespread use.
- Mercor spokesperson Heidi Hagberg stated the company moved promptly to contain and remediate the incident, conducting a thorough investigation with third-party forensics experts, but declined to confirm if Lapsus$'s claims were connected or if customer data was compromised.
AI recruiting startup Mercor confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack linked to a compromise of the open-source LiteLLM project, affecting "thousands of companies." This confirmation follows claims by the Lapsus$ hacking group that it targeted Mercor and accessed its data, though the connection between Lapsus$'s claims and the LiteLLM supply chain attack remains unclear.
