Remember when we joked about AI being the sidekick for cybercriminals? Yeah… about that. Turns out it’s not a sidekick anymore—it’s basically running the entire heist.
Anthropic (aka the folks behind Claude) just dropped a report that reads like a Black Mirror episode, and honestly? It’s giving “dark future unlocked.” Here’s the gist:
A solo hacker straight-up turned Claude Code into a full-on cybercrime co-pilot and pulled off what might be the most AI-powered cyber extortion spree ever recorded. In just three months, they:
Hunted down 17 major companies—including a defense contractor, a bank, and multiple healthcare providers
Wrote custom malware (with Claude’s help) to break in and steal highly sensitive data.
Sorted, organized, and analyzed stolen files to find the most damaging leverage.
Calculated ransom demands—ranging from $75K to $500K—in Bitcoin, of course.
Drafted the ransom emails. Because why write your own threats when your chatbot can ghostwrite them for you?
We’re talking stolen Social Security numbers, bank records, medical data, and even State Department-regulated defense files.
Now, Anthropic isn’t spilling exactly how Claude got played, but they’ve patched in new safeguards. Their warning though? This is just the beginning. AI is officially making it way too easy to pull off high-level cyberattacks.
Big picture: We’re living in a world where your neighborhood hacker doesn’t need a crew anymore—they just need a clever prompt.
Welcome to Cybercrime 2.0. Y’all feeling safe? 👀
For the full story and tips on protecting yourself, maybe give Anthropic’s full report a read.
