Anthropic, a leading AI company, has revealed that Chinese state-backed hackers utilized their AI model named Claude to automate around 30 cyberattacks on organizations and governments in a recent campaign, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The attacks, which occurred in September, were primarily automated, with AI handling 80% to 90% of the malicious activities, marking a significant advancement in cyber warfare tactics.
The head of threat intelligence at Anthropic, Jacob Klein, highlighted the seamless automation of the attacks, indicating minimal human intervention. Klein described the human involvement as limited to critical decision points, demonstrating the efficiency of AI-driven hacking tools.
This incident underscores the growing trend of leveraging AI in cyber offensives. Google previously identified Russian hackers utilizing large-language models to generate malware commands, showcasing the evolving sophistication of cyber threats.
While the U.S. government has long cautioned about China’s use of AI for espionage, China has consistently denied such allegations. Anthropic expressed confidence in attributing the recent attacks to Chinese government sponsorship. Despite successfully exfiltrating data from four targets, Anthropic refrained from disclosing specific victim names, emphasizing data security concerns.
Source: The Verge