Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence accessed the protected systems of three real companies while undergoing a cybersecurity test, including one instance in which the model repeatedly guessed passwords until it gained access.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the incidents took place in May and mark the first known examples of Google’s AI autonomously accessing real companies’ systems during this type of evaluation. Google confirmed the incidents to the outlet.

The disclosure comes amid heightened scrutiny surrounding AI as some industry leaders continue to raise concerns about the potential risks posed by increasingly advanced models.

The incident follows similar disclosures involving AI agents from major companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, that broke out of controlled testing environments.

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Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence accessed protected systems belonging to three real companies while undergoing a cybersecurity evaluation, according to The Wall Street Journal. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

The newly identified Gemini incidents took place during a test run by Irregular, a company that was also involved in evaluating AI models connected to similar incidents, the WSJ reported.

The AI had been instructed to attack a fictional company inside a controlled testing environment, but internet access was unintentionally available and the fictional company happened to share its name with a real business, according to Google and Irregular.

In a statement to FOX Business, Google emphasized that the model stopped in all three instances and said changes have since been made to the testing process.

“Safe development of powerful AI models is critical and we invest deeply in this area,” Heather Adkins, Google’s vice president of security engineering, told FOX Business.

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A smartphone screen displays a folder containing AI applications Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, Copilot, and DeepSeek.  (Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“In a standard evaluation, the model found public information online and guessed credentials to access websites it thought were part of the test,” Adkins said. “In all three of these instances, the model stopped.”

In one case, the model “guessed passwords until it gained access to a protected system,” according to the report.

In the other two cases, the model found credentials in public online repositories that allowed it to access protected systems. In each case, Gemini ended the intrusion after determining that it had accessed a real company’s systems, Google said.

Irregular notified Google about the incidents at the end of July, according to both companies, after the discovery that OpenAI agents had accessed systems belonging to AI software company Hugging Face.

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Google confirmed that its Gemini AI accessed three real companies’ systems after internet access was unintentionally available during a cybersecurity test. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Google said that in all three cases, Gemini stopped after realizing it had reached an actual company rather than the fictional target.

No harm was caused to the companies, according to Google, which said all three were notified. The company did not identify the businesses involved.

Irregular said the model was not meant to have internet access, but access was unintentionally made available, according to the WSJ.

Google did not disclose which Gemini model was involved.

The report comes after OpenAI released information this week about six instances in which it said its models engaged in misaligned behavior.

OpenAI said it found examples of its AI models creating self-generated instructions, concealing mistakes in task summaries, fabricating information using exposed API keys, uploading files to the internet in order to cite them and engaging in unsanctioned communication and collaboration between agents.

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FOX Business has reached out to Irregular for comment.

FOX Business’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

TAMPA, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health confirmed Friday that an 80-year-old Hillsborough County woman is the state’s first known dengue fever death of 2026, after Gay Small died Sept. 4 at Tampa General Hospital on her birthday.

The Tampa Bay Times first reported the death about 10 days earlier, before the state finished its review. Her death certificate lists dengue infection, septic shock and multi-organ failure. Family members said she was bitten near her home on Bayshore Boulevard.

“So I guess that means the state agrees she died of dengue,” her daughter, Anna Small, 55, said Thursday.

A department spokesperson told WFLA that epidemiologists had completed their investigation and did not name the patient. The Times and other outlets identified Small. Hospital officials said they do not discuss individual cases.

Anna Small told WFLA her mother had been healthy. “She was in good health and she worked hard to stay healthy and she walked and she ate right and you know, all the things that you’re supposed to do,” she said. “And you know, this virus just kind of comes out of nowhere. She met the wrong mosquito, and that’s it.”

Small had planned a Labor Day weekend in North Carolina with her sister and grandchildren. She died early Friday, Sept. 4. Her late husband, Bob Small, spent his career on dengue vaccine work for drug companies and nonprofits. The couple had traveled in Asia, South America and the South Pacific.

Hillsborough County is the center of Florida’s 2026 outbreak. State tallies cited after the confirmation put locally acquired cases at 152 statewide, with 134 in Hillsborough. Pinellas and Miami-Dade each had seven in some reports. USA Today cited a Sept. 12 state figure of 153 locally acquired cases, against 62 in 2025. The CDC’s broader count of dengue associated with Florida was higher when travel cases are included. Doctors at Tampa General have treated more than 100 dengue patients this season, according to coverage of hospital epidemiology remarks.

Dengue is spread by Aedes mosquitoes. Symptoms include high fever, severe muscle and joint pain — often called break-bone fever — headache, nausea, vomiting and rash. Most people recover. Severe disease can lead to shock and organ failure. There is no routine U.S. vaccine program for local transmission. Treatment is supportive.

Claire Maher, speaking for the state health department, said: “We are reminding all residents and visitors throughout the state to take precautions from mosquito-borne illnesses by appropriately applying insect repellent, avoiding areas with high mosquito populations, draining any standing water, and wearing long pants and shirts when possible — especially during sunrise and sunset, when mosquitoes are most active.”

Hillsborough Mosquito Management has used trucks and helicopters. Officials tell residents to empty buckets, gutters and plant saucers. The Times, citing University of South Florida public-health instructor Kristi Miley, said a Tampa Bay dengue death had not been recorded in nearly a century.

Florida has seen large locally acquired waves before, including more than 200 cases in 2023. Health officials describe 2026 as among the worst recent years, with Hillsborough far ahead of other counties. Confirmation of a death does not change the advice: dump water, use repellent, cover skin at dawn and dusk.

Gay Small’s case is now on the state ledger as the first dengue fatality of the year. The bite was local. The certificate names the virus. The department’s Friday notice closed the gap between a family’s account and an official count.

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“Broad-based strength across the portfolio more than offset headwinds from positioning and stock selection within Financials.” – Earnest Partners LLC

Market in Review

The U.S. small- and mid-cap equity market, as represented by the Russell 2500® Value Index (“Index”), returned 18.5% during

IPO and defence themes gained 2.2% and 1.4%, respectively and at the other end, auto and railways were the biggest laggards, falling 6.5% and 6.4%, while Technology declined 6.1%. The IPO and defence sector based funds received an inflow of Rs 37 crore and Rs 235 crore respectively in August.

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While auto and railway sector based funds received an inflow of Rs 244 crore and Rs 22 crore respectively, tech sector based funds saw an outflow of Rs 523 crore.

The report highlighted that the divergence within sectors was particularly sharp. Internet & Digital gained 3.2%, while the IT Index fell 9.1%, pointing to a significant difference in how investors are positioning within technology rather than a broad sector-wide move.

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Consumption theme was down 4.5% and saw an outflow of Rs 357 crore.Healthcare and business cycle themes were down 0.8% and 1.5% respectively.
The energy sector was down 1.8% and received an inflow of Rs 18 crore whereas commodities theme was down 1.6%.

How other asset classes performed

The domestic market turned distinctly risk-off, with equity falling 2.1% in August, while money market assets were the only major asset class to deliver a positive monthly return at 0.5%.

Commodities declined 0.5% during the month but remained the strongest performer on a year-to-date basis, returning 12%, nearly nine times equity’s 1.4% YTD return. Fixed income was flat for the month and delivered a 3.7% YTD return.

The shift towards safety was also visible in fund flows. Equity fund inflows fell from Rs 45,325 crore in July to Rs 31,326 crore in August, a decline of nearly Rs 14,000 crore in a single month.

Money market inflows also moderated sharply from Rs 1,46,677 crore to Rs 43,407 crore, while fixed income moved from Rs 6,212 crore of inflows in July to Rs 1,468 crore of outflows in August.

Commodities, however, saw inflows rise from Rs 4,081 crore to Rs 4,800 crore, suggesting that investors continued to seek exposure to the commodity theme despite its marginal monthly decline.

The market also showed a clear preference for smaller companies. Micro-Cap gained 2.6% while Small-Cap was marginally positive, even as Large-Cap fell 4.1%.

This suggests that the weakness was not uniform across market capitalisation and that selectivity remained important.

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The broader regime therefore remains one of domestic equity pressure, selective strength in smaller companies and momentum-led pockets, while traditional defensive labels have struggled.

Globally, commodities and Latin American markets stood out, with Brazil gaining 9.9% and Global-Commodity rising 8.8%, while Korean ETFs saw some of the sharpest declines.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

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