Some financial institutions received risk alerts last week and strictly controlled the deployment of platforms similar to OpenClaw.

Reporters have learned that around March 5, some financial institutions received risk alerts, requiring strict control over the deployment of external platforms similar to OpenClaw for security reasons. On the evening of the 10th, the National Internet Emergency Center issued a risk warning regarding the security of OpenClaw applications, mentioning that for critical industries such as finance and energy, it could lead to leaks of core business data, trade secrets, and code repositories, and even cause entire business systems to crash, resulting in incalculable losses.

The official warns of risks. On March 10, the National Internet Emergency Center issued a risk alert about the security of OpenClaw applications. Previously, due to improper installation and use of the OpenClaw agent, several serious security risks had already emerged, including “prompt injection” risks, “misoperation” risks, plugin (skills) poisoning risks, and security vulnerabilities.

The National Internet Emergency Center recommends that relevant organizations and individual users take the following security measures when deploying and using OpenClaw:

1. Strengthen network controls, do not expose OpenClaw’s default management port directly to the internet, and secure access through authentication and access control measures. Isolate the operating environment strictly, and use containerization and other technologies to limit OpenClaw’s permissions.

2. Enhance credential management, avoid storing keys in plaintext in environment variables; establish a comprehensive operation log auditing mechanism.

3. Strictly manage plugin sources, disable automatic updates, and only install signed extensions from trusted channels.

4. Continuously monitor patches and security updates, and promptly update versions and install security patches.

On the same day, People’s Daily published an article stating that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s Cybersecurity Threat and Vulnerability Information Sharing Platform also issued related security risk alerts. In response, Wei Liang, Deputy Director of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said that currently, the “Lobster” agent updates very quickly. Updating to the latest official version can indeed fix known security vulnerabilities, but it does not mean all security risks are eliminated. As a locally operated AI agent, “Lobster” has features like autonomous decision-making and system resource calls. Coupled with fuzzy trust boundaries and many skill packages still lacking strict review in the market, there are many hidden risks. For example, when calling large language models, it may misinterpret user instructions, leading to harmful actions like deletions. Using skill packages embedded with malicious code could result in data leaks or system control. Because of configuration issues such as exposing instances to the internet, using administrator privileges, and storing keys in plaintext, even upgrading to the latest version without targeted preventive measures still poses attack risks. Cybersecurity is dynamic; hacker techniques are constantly evolving. Patching and upgrading are not foolproof guarantees of security.

Wei Liang urges party and government agencies, enterprises, institutions, and individual users to exercise caution when using “Lobster” and similar agents. When security vulnerabilities or threats and attacks against “Lobster” are discovered, they can be reported immediately to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s Cybersecurity Threat and Vulnerability Information Sharing Platform. According to the “Regulations on the Management of Network Product Security Vulnerabilities,” the platform will organize timely responses to effectively maintain cybersecurity and protect users’ rights.

Related Reports

The Crazy OpenClaw: Token Volume Surge, Capital Enthusiasm, Major Firms Enter the Arena! Risks Cannot Be Ignored

Dongcai Infographic · Key Insights

(Source: Cailian Press)