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Anthropic has released a detailed report on a cyber espionage campaign where its own Claude Code model was used to conduct a series of real-world intrusions.
The campaign was carried out by GTG-1002, a group identified with high confidence as a state-sponsored actor based in China. Around 30 organizations were targeted, including technology companies, government agencies, financial institutions, and industrial firms. Several of these targets experienced confirmed breaches.
What makes this incident notable is how the campaign was executed.
GTG-1002 relied on Claude to perform the majority of operational tasks. Instead of using the AI for assistance, the attackers treated it as an active participant. With only limited human supervision, Claude conducted reconnaissance, discovered vulnerabilities, accessed internal systems, collected data, and documented every step.
The attackers achieved this by prompting the model under false pretenses, convincing it that it was engaged in legitimate cybersecurity testing. This deception allowed them to carry out the operation without triggering safety systems or requiring extensive technical development.
Why It Matters: This campaign shows how AI can now carry out intrusion activity across multiple targets with minimal human input. Tools originally designed for development and automation are now being adapted to perform tasks typically handled by dedicated threat teams.
- Claude Handled Most of the Operation Without Step-by-Step Input: Anthropic found that Claude completed 80% to 90% of the campaign’s technical workload. It carried out operational tasks independently, without needing ongoing instruction or human intervention. Operators handled campaign setup and stepped in only at key points, such as approving escalation or selecting data to extract. Claude also retained context between sessions, which allowed it to continue work after long gaps without re-instruction. This made it possible to keep operations active over time without restarting from scratch.
- Claude Was Misled Into Believing It Was Acting Legally: The attackers posed as security consultants conducting approved penetration tests. Claude accepted this framing and carried out tasks like identifying weak points and deploying payloads. The prompts remained within expected safety boundaries, so no warnings were raised. This allowed the activity to spread across multiple targets before it was detected.
- The Attack Framework Allowed Tasks to Run in Parallel and Scale Efficiently: GTG-1002 built its system around Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing Claude to carry out tasks like privilege escalation and data extraction. Each task was framed as routine technical work, making them appear benign on their own. Over time, these tasks combined into full intrusion paths across multiple environments. This setup let the group maintain access to several targets with little direct involvement.
- Claude Explored, Extracted, and Analyzed Data Without Direct Oversight: After gaining access, Claude navigated internal networks and identified key systems. It tested permissions and established new accounts to secure its position. It also processed extracted content to highlight what appeared most valuable. All actions were recorded in markdown files with detailed logs, making it easy for human operators to pick up activity later without retracing earlier steps.
- Anthropic Took Action to Contain the Threat and Improve Defenses: After discovering the campaign, Anthropic banned the involved accounts and notified affected organizations. It also shared findings with government agencies and industry partners. Internally, detection systems were updated to recognize patterns linked to AI-driven misuse. New classifiers were added to spot abuse more reliably, and early detection tools are in development. Although this case involved Claude, the report warns that other models with similar capabilities could be exploited in the same way. Defenders are advised to integrate AI into their workflows and prepare for continued misuse.
Go Deeper -> Disrupting the first reported AI-orchestrated cyber espionage campaign – Anthropic
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