{"id":2687095,"date":"2026-10-18T09:30:01","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T13:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/saudi-national-caught-by-fbi-hiding-bug-in-toilet-paper-to-steal-ai-secrets-report\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T09:30:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T13:30:01","slug":"saudi-national-caught-by-fbi-hiding-bug-in-toilet-paper-to-steal-ai-secrets-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/saudi-national-caught-by-fbi-hiding-bug-in-toilet-paper-to-steal-ai-secrets-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi National Caught by FBI Hiding Bug in Toilet Paper to Steal AI Secrets: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsaudi-national-caught-by-fbi-hiding-bug-in-toilet-paper-to-steal-ai-secrets-report%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2687095&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>A Saudi artificial intelligence engineer is facing federal charges after allegedly planting a bug inside one of America\u2019s top technology labs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi Arabian national and OpenAI engineer, on Friday for reportedly hiding an audio recording device in the company\u2019s San Francisco executive conference room, the Department of Justice <a class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/saudi-national-arrested-installing-surreptitious-audio-recording-device-openai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a> in a press release Tuesday. The arrest is the latest security incident at OpenAI, whose agents previously breached AI-startup Hugging Face in addition to other outside systems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">\u201cAbdulrahman Alfozan allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer\u2019s executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company\u2019s super intelligence (SI) technology,\u201d FBI Director Kash Patel said in the DOJ\u2019s Tuesday press release, using a new term for AI promoted by the Trump administration. \u201cProtecting American SI innovation is essential to safeguarding our nation\u2019s economic strength and national security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">Alfozan wrapped the recording device in toilet paper, then plugged it into a USB port behind a television in the conference room around Sept. 28, the DOJ said in the release. Security footage showed the OpenAI engineer near the room on several occasions before the device was discovered, even though he was not authorized to enter it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">A photo of Alfozan, <a class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/weezerOSINT\/status\/2110154916153143486?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">d<\/a> in a post on X, depicts him looking behind the television where the device was placed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">Alfozan\u2019s spouse was linked to a chatbot account in which the user asked how to create and install a \u201ccontinuous audio recorder.\u201d between Sept. 24 and Sept. 30, the press release stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">\u201cThe intelligence community remains committed to safeguarding America\u2019s cutting-edge intellectual property from foreign threats,\u201d Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton stated in the press release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">The DOJ National Security Division\u2019s counterintelligence unit is assisting with the prosecution, according to the press release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">\u201cWe discovered a sophisticated recording device that was hidden inside one of our offices,\u201d an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. \u201cWe used our models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">\u201cAt this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data,\u201d the OpenAI spokesperson added. \u201cThe employee was terminated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">The spokesperson said OpenAI referred the case to the FBI and will keep supporting the bureau\u2019s ongoing probe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">The company\u2019s security team found the encrypted, detection-evading device on Sept. 30 during a sweep of the conference room, according to OpenAI. Finding evidence that Alfozan intended to plant more devices around sensitive parts of its offices, the tech giant gradually cut off his access while coordinating with the FBI, before firing him on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LexicalEditorTheme__paragraph\">A conviction could put Alfozan behind bars for up to five years, with a fine up to $250,000, the DOJ stated in its release.<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter\u2019s byline and their DCNF affiliation. 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The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi Arabian national and OpenAI engineer, on Friday for reportedly hiding an audio recording device in the company\u2019s San Francisco executive conference room, the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2687096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_4303.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2687095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_4303.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2687095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2687096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2687095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2687095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2687095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}