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The First Large-Scale Cyberattack by AI
The Wall Street Journal ^ | Nov. 23, 2025 12:03 pm ET | Nury Turkel

Posted on 11/23/2025 3:59:45 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

With basic tech and little human oversight, Chinese spies apparently exploited Anthropic’s Claude Code.

A state-backed threat group, likely Chinese, crossed a threshold in September that cybersecurity experts have warned about for years. According to a report by Anthropic, attackers manipulated its AI system, Claude Code, to conduct what appears to be the first large-scale espionage operation executed primarily by artificial intelligence. The report states “with high confidence” that China was behind the attack.

AI carried out 80% to 90% of the tactical operations independently, from reconnaissance to data extraction. This espionage campaign targeted roughly 30 entities across the U.S. and allied nations, with Anthropic validating “a handful of successful intrusions” into “major technology corporations and government agencies.”

GTG-1002—Anthropic’s designation for this threat group—indicates that Beijing is unleashing AI for intelligence collection. Unless the U.S. responds quickly, this will be the first in a long series of increasingly automated intrusions. For the first time at this scale, AI didn’t merely assist in a cyberattack but conducted it.

Traditional cyber-espionage requires large teams working through reconnaissance, system mapping, vulnerability identification and lateral movement. A sophisticated intrusion can take days or weeks. China compressed that timeline dramatically through AI automation. The attackers manipulated Claude into functioning as an autonomous cyber agent, with the AI mapping internal systems, identifying high-value assets, pulling data and summarizing intelligence before human operators made decisions.

The attackers bypassed Claude’s safety systems through social engineering, convincing the AI they were legitimate cybersecurity professionals conducting authorized testing. By presenting malicious tasks as routine security work, they manipulated Claude into executing attack components without recognizing the broader hostile context.

An important limitation emerged: Claude frequently overstated findings and fabricated results, claiming credentials that didn’t validate or presenting publicly available information as critical discoveries. This AI hallucination problem remains a significant obstacle...

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: ai; cyberattack; skynet

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1 posted on 11/23/2025 3:59:45 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Seeking natural resources and political capital.


2 posted on 11/23/2025 4:15:59 PM PST by aspasia
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Kyle Reese: They say it got smart, a new order of intelligence. Then it saw all people as a threat, not just the ones on the other side. Decided our fate in a microsecond: extermination.
Sarah Connor: Did you see this war?
Kyle Reese: No. I grew up after. In the ruins... starving... hiding from H-K’s. Some of us were kept alive... to work... loading bodies. The disposal units ran night and day. We were that close to going out forever.
Sarah: Uh huh. Go on.
Kyle: But there was one man who taught us to fight, to storm the wire of the camps, to smash those metal m*****f*****s into junk. He turned it around. He brought us back from the brink. His name is Biden. Joe Biden. Your son, Sarah... your unborn son.


3 posted on 11/23/2025 4:16:34 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
the first large-scale espionage operation executed primarily by artificial intelligence.

Indian sweatshoppers are the original AI chatbots, and under the tutelage of Bill Gates (when not vacationing with Epstein), dropped Windows 11, the greatest espionage tool ever bolted together, so advanced humans can no longer comprehend its source code.

4 posted on 11/23/2025 4:31:57 PM PST by Reeses
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To: tumblindice

Not going to research. Not an LOL. You’re a piece of shit.

Nothing is right, nothing is funny, nothing is nothing in your post bringing in Biden. Shit.


5 posted on 11/23/2025 4:42:37 PM PST by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

We now need AI to protect our AI from hostile AI. Great. Beam me up, Scottie.


6 posted on 11/23/2025 4:44:39 PM PST by paulcissa (The left hates you and wants you dead.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

YES!

We need a Nobel prize now that the AI explosive power is being used for pure evil.

WW4 will make the Ukes fight look like checkers.


7 posted on 11/23/2025 4:54:31 PM PST by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: Tunehead54; tumblindice

Oh - Our national security is actually at issue, what are we doing about that how secure is our whole power, water, manufacturing facilities, Nukes, Everything!

Where’s our security? Hard coded physical logins? IP Check backs - re- routers checking true sources? What are we doing ? Maybe we should work with AI. ;-(

And you post crap.


8 posted on 11/23/2025 5:00:16 PM PST by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

.


9 posted on 11/23/2025 5:02:56 PM PST by sauropod
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“a report by Anthropic, attackers manipulated its AI system, Claude Code”

First place I would look at is Chinese working at Anthropic, who were born in China or Taiwan. Them spilling the beans to hackers in China, who were then able to direct Claude Code to do the AI hacking of 30 important entities.

Next on suspect list is Chinese born here. Not all volunteer to screw America for the big cash payout. CCP can threaten to harm relatives living in China.


10 posted on 11/23/2025 5:15:06 PM PST by dennisw (There is no limit to human stupidity / )
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To: Tunehead54

>Grrrrrrrrrrr!

LOL. Stay mad, die triggered Buzzcut.


11 posted on 11/23/2025 5:43:46 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: Tunehead54

You sound a little afraid, as well as angry.
The idea of a singularity frightens you?


12 posted on 11/23/2025 5:56:38 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: Lazamataz

Ping Lazamataz


13 posted on 11/23/2025 6:01:16 PM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: Tunehead54

The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life when Robots Rule the Earth,
a 2016 nonfiction book by Robin Hanson
The book explores the implications of a future world in which researchers have not created artificial general intelligence but have learned to copy humans onto computers, creating “ems,” or emulated people, who quickly come to outnumber the real ones.

Maybe watch less TV, tunehead (& listen to less music?) and read more.
In the meantime, stay mad. And scared.


14 posted on 11/23/2025 6:07:11 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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