15-year-old arrested for AI-assisted cyberattack on Bandai Channel, 46,800 accounts deleted
A 15-year-old high school student was arrested for using ChatGPT to create malicious code and cause the deletion of 46,800 accounts on Bandai Channel. The attack temporarily suspended the anime and special effects video streaming service in November 2025 after the student exploited system vulnerabilities.
What happened
On November 4, 2025, between 5:00 PM and 8:46 PM, a 15-year-old male high school student from Tokorozawa, Saitama sent false information to servers managed by Bandai Namco Filmworks, causing 46,812 accounts on the Bandai Channel video service to be unregistered.
The student had independently learned programming since elementary school. At the time of the incident, he was in ninth grade and had analysed the company's communications to find system vulnerabilities, then used ChatGPT to create unauthorised code to execute the account deletion process.
Reported impact
The account deletions caused Bandai Namco Filmworks to temporarily suspend service on November 6, 2025, disrupting business operations.
Index analysis
The student used ChatGPT as a tool to complete malicious code after identifying vulnerabilities through independent analysis of the service's communications.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.