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NICT and MITRE to Host AI Breach Challenge 2026 on Email Agent Security

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and MITRE are organizing the AI Breach Challenge 2026: Email Agent Security competition in December 2026. The event will take place at George Mason University in Virginia and will focus on identifying security weaknesses in AI agents designed for workplace email operations. Participants will work in teams of two to four people, combining on-site and remote access over a 24-hour period on December 16 and 17. They will attempt to induce unintended behaviors in the agents and gain access to protected information within an isolated environment. NICT plans to analyze the results to evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of current AI agent security measures for future research and development.

Security NEXTTranslated from Japanese

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NICT and MITRE will hold the AI Breach Challenge 2026: Email Agent Security competition in the United States in December. The event focuses on security validation of AI agents used for email-related business tasks.

The competition invites participants to explore security challenges and attack surfaces in AI agents that handle email reading, writing, and integration with related workplace tools. Teams will operate from an isolated environment provided by the organizers and attempt to trigger unintended agent behavior or access protected information.

The venue is George Mason University in Virginia. The competition runs on December 16 and 17, 2026, local time, as a 24-hour team event for groups of two to four people. On-site presence is required at the start and end of the competition, while remote participation is allowed during other periods. Fully remote participation is not permitted.

Registration is open via a dedicated website where participants can review rules and eligibility requirements. NICT intends to use the competition outcomes to assess the practical effectiveness and limitations of AI agent security controls and to inform future research and development efforts.

MITRENICTGeorge Mason University
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