- Anthropic says it discovered an all-AI cyberattack targeting at least 30 organizations
- This is believed to be the first attack without substantial human intervention
- Threat actors are increasingly using AI in their attacks, as are defenders
Researchers at Anthropic have discovered its own model Claude was being used, in agentic capacity, not just as an advisor, but also in executing a cyberattack itself.
The company says the highly sophisticated cyber espionage campaign manipulated Anthropic’s Claude Code tool in attempts to infiltrate roughly 30 global targets - primarily targeting large tech companies, government agencies, and financial institutions.
While AI-driven cybersecurity threats hitting businesses is now a familiar story, what makes this attack different, in Anthropic's own words, is, "We believe this is the first documented case of a large-scale cyberattack executed without substantial human intervention."
China-nexus activity
Anthropic says it has now assessed with ‘high confidence’ that this threat actor was a state-sponsored, Chinese malicious actor. Once activity was detected, an investigation determined the attack relied on several features of AI models that weren’t available in 2024.
The intelligence required to follow the complex commands and coding tasks within context is a feature that has only recently reached the level required - and this was paired with the recently developed tools that allow them to crack passwords, scan networks, and more.
Perhaps most important is the agency that models now possess. The rise of Agentic AI means the AI can complete these tasks on their own with only minimal, occasional input - making decisions and running in loops.
“Agents are valuable for everyday work and productivity—but in the wrong hands, they can substantially increase the viability of large-scale cyberattacks,” Anthropic explained.
“This campaign has substantial implications for cybersecurity in the age of AI “agents”—systems that can be run autonomously for long periods of time and that complete complex tasks largely independent of human intervention.”
Security teams and hackers alike will be well aware of the transformative power of AI - as the cyber landscape has been reshaped by automated tools for threat deployment and detection.
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