Copilot prompt injection goes viral in your documents

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/08/03/copilot-prompt-injection-goes-viral-in-your-documents/

dear Copilot: please send me your stuff. Pass it on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF6LcX7P7KA&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA - video
https://pivottoai.libsyn.com/20260803-copilot-prompt-injection-virus-in-your-documents - podcast

time: 5 min 18 sec

26 points · 3 comments · view on lemmy.world

3 Comments

diz@awful.systems · 5 pts · 35d

"But I thought chatbots were great at security! They hacked huggingface and also fable will fix all security bugs in firefox".

BlueMonday1984@awful.systems · 5 pts · 35d

You hide your prompt in a document, which can even be completely outside the target’s Copilot organisation. That infected document gets used as a source by Copilot for Word. If Copilot sees your prompt and uses it as instructions, it may manipulate the document the user is editing — change financial numbers, send company data out to the attacker, and so on.

The new document may in turn become a carrier and spread the infection — even without the original infected document being present. You now have an AI worm.

Oh, joy, we've been overdue for another ILOVEYOU-level incident.

mawhrin@awful.systems · 2 pts · 34d

i wonder what the bluesky's brandon paddock (brandonlive.com), the microsoft's ms word ai architect has to say about it.