The acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency uploaded sensitive contracting documents marked "for official use only" to a public version of ChatGPT, and the official identified was madhu gottumukkala, according to reporting.
Those uploads set off multiple automated security warnings designed to prevent theft or inadvertent disclosure of government files from federal networks, the outlet reported.
Gottumukkala had reportedly been granted an exception to use ChatGPT earlier in his tenure while other CISA employees were prohibited from doing so, the reporting said.
A CISA spokesperson told the outlet that the use of the public model was "short-term and limited," and officials at the Department of Homeland Security moved to determine whether the uploads harmed government security, the reporting added.
Background, Review, And Related Agency Actions
The outlet noted that uploading unclassified but internal government documents to a public large language model can allow the model to train on that information, potentially making contents available to other users.
Prior to his appointment at CISA, Gottumukkala served as the chief information officer of South Dakota under then-governor Kristi Noem, the reporting said.
After his appointment to CISA, the outlet reported that he reportedly failed a counterintelligence polygraph, which Homeland Security later described as "unsanctioned," and that the agency subsequently suspended six career staff from accessing classified information.
Officials cited in the reporting sought to establish whether any sensitive information was exposed and what, if any, operational consequences followed from the uploads and subsequent internal agency actions.
