Hackers recently exploited Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot to orchestrate “large-scale” extortion operations, a fraudulent employment scheme, and the sale of AI-generated ransomware targeting and extorting at least 17 companies, the company said in a report.
The report details how its chatbot was manipulated by hackers (with little to no technical knowledge) to identify vulnerable companies, generate tailored malware, organize stolen data, and craft ransom demands with automation and speed.
“Agentic AI has been weaponized,” Anthropic said.
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It’s not yet public which companies were targeted or how much money the hacker made, but the report noted that extortion demands went up