The AI key heist
Bots went hunting for AI keys 1,985 times.
Most wanted: OpenAI keys. They checked 114 hiding spots, from /img/asset/YXNzZXRzL2dlbWluaV9nZW5lcmF0ZWRfaW1hZ2VfaDA2MWxnaDA2MWxnaDA2MS1jb3B5LndlYnA/gemini_generated_image_h061lgh061lgh061-copy.webp to /.cache/huggingface/token.
Edition of Wednesday, Oct 21, 2026 (UTC) · see the latest · updated every 24 hours
1,985
AI key hunts
▼ -50% vs the day before
450
hunters
▲ +109% vs the day before
114
hiding spots
▲ +12% vs the day before
0.3%
of all probes
Every edition: AI key hunts
How we measure
Requests for paths that point at an AI provider's keys or an AI agent's settings: /.env.openai, /anthropic.json, /.claude/settings.json, /mcp.json, /.cursor/mcp.json and the like. Each path is credited to the first provider whose name it contains. Counted across every site behind the NiceTryBot edge during the UTC day.
Where they looked
The paths scanners tried, most-requested first.
| Path | Provider | Requests | Scanners |
|---|---|---|---|
| /img/asset/YXNzZXRzL2dlbWluaV9nZW5lcmF0ZWRfaW1hZ2VfaDA2MWxnaDA2MWxnaDA2MS1jb3B5LndlYnA/gemini_generated_image_h061lgh061lgh061-copy.webp | Google Gemini | 281 | 231 |
| /.cache/huggingface/token | Hugging Face | 134 | 107 |
| /flowise/api/v1/node-load-method/customMCP | MCP & agent configs | 77 | 66 |
| /api/v1/node-load-method/customMCP | MCP & agent configs | 77 | 66 |
| /openai-proxy/config.yaml | OpenAI | 75 | 3 |
| /openai-proxy/config.json | OpenAI | 74 | 3 |
| /openai-proxy.yaml | OpenAI | 70 | 3 |
| /openai-proxy/config.yml | OpenAI | 70 | 3 |
| /openai-proxy.yml | OpenAI | 68 | 3 |
| /anthropic/config.json | Anthropic | 58 | 3 |
| /claude/config.json | Anthropic | 58 | 3 |
| /openai.json | OpenAI | 35 | 17 |
| /gemini.json | Google Gemini | 34 | 17 |
| /config/openai.json | OpenAI | 34 | 17 |
| /.claude/settings.json | Anthropic | 32 | 17 |
| /.claude/settings.local.json | Anthropic | 32 | 17 |
| /gemini.env | Google Gemini | 31 | 17 |
| /my/openaikey | OpenAI | 29 | 16 |
| /azure-openai.config | OpenAI | 29 | 16 |
| /azure-openai.json | OpenAI | 29 | 16 |
| /azure-openai.yml | OpenAI | 29 | 16 |
| /.claude/agents/ | Anthropic | 29 | 16 |
| /.claude/agents/index.md | Anthropic | 29 | 16 |
| /config/azure-openai.json | OpenAI | 29 | 16 |
| /config/gemini.json | Google Gemini | 29 | 16 |
Past editions
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81% of scanning came from rented servers.
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Speedrun · Nov 11
New sites get scanned in 1,245 minutes.
How many minutes a brand-new website gets before the first scanner shows up.
Costume Party · Nov 11
57% of "browsers" were bots in costume.
Bots dressed up as Chrome, caught by their handshake. Plus the honest bots wearing name tags.
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