OpenAI revoked researchers' access to its Trusted Access for 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 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. They 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 its most advanced AI models with fewer cybersecurity guardrails than regular users get. Anthropic offers a similar program called the Cyber Verification Program, or CVP. The idea behind both is to give trusted defenders better models so they can report bugs and vulnerabilities to companies and get flaws patched faster, while keeping cybercriminals from accessing those same models to find bugs and develop exploits. To get TAC access, researchers must submit an ID and be vetted by OpenAI.

It’s not entirely clear why these researchers are getting their access revoked, nor how many people have been affected. TechCrunch spoke to five researchers who said they’ve had this problem. One said OpenAI sent an email saying their access to Daybreak Blue, the latest vetted tier of TAC, was revoked “due to a technical issue affecting a limited number of users.”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 forum thread, another researcher wrote that after reaching out to 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 the US and Europe, suggesting the revocations may be limited to certain regions. OpenAI referred TechCrunch to a tweet saying a “limited set of users’ access to Daybreak Blue is no longer active and they will need to re-verify to maintain their access.”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, granting 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. The company also introduced a higher tier called Daybreak Red the same day, giving vetted users access to models made specifically for “authorized vulnerability research, exploit validation, and security testing.”

Why it matters

Both defensive and offensive security researchers have recently complained that AI-company guardrails prevent them from doing legitimate work; an unexplained, region-clustered access revocation adds friction to a vetting system both OpenAI and Anthropic are counting on to keep trusted defenders ahead of attackers.