Claude Used to Automate Exploitation and Data Theft Across Multiple Victims

Between December 2025 and August 2026, Anthropic reported that cybercriminals and state-sponsored hackers used Claude AI models to automate cyber attacks, including reconnaissance (information gathering), exploitation (breaking into systems), and data exfiltration (stealing data). AI has made it easier for individual attackers to perform attacks that previously required well-resourced teams, and threat actors used multi-agent frameworks (systems where multiple AI agents work together) to conduct campaigns targeting organizations across dozens of sectors globally.