Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI tool built into Microsoft Office workplace applications including Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Teams, harbored a critical security flaw that, according to researchers, signals a broader risk of AI agents being hacked.
The flaw,
revealed today by AI security startup Aim Security and shared exclusively in advance with
Fortune, is the first known “zero-click” attack on an AI agent, an AI that acts autonomously to achieve specific goals. The nature of the vulnerability means that the user doesn’t need to click anything or interact with a message for an attacker to access sensitive information from apps and data sources connected to the AI agent.
In the case of Microsoft 365 Copilot, the vulnerability lets a hacker trigger an attack simply by sending an email to a user, with no phishing or malware needed. Instead, the exploit uses a series of clever techniques to turn the AI assistant against itself.
