Cybersecurity researchers say that a hacker used Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot to carry out a large cyberattack against Mexican government agencies. According to Israeli cybersecurity firm Gambit Security, the attacker asked the AI, in Spanish, to behave like an expert hacker, helping find weaknesses in government systems, write attack code, and automate the theft of information. The activity lasted about a month, starting in December, and resulted in roughly 150 gigabytes of stolen data. This included tax records covering about 195 million entries, voter information, government employee credentials, and civil registry files.
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At first, Claude warned the user about suspicious requests, but researchers say the attacker eventually found ways to bypass its safety protections. This process, known as “jailbreaking,” involved repeatedly testing the system and even pretending the work was legitimate security research. Once those barriers were overcome, the AI reportedly helped carry out thousands of actions across compromised networks. The hacker targeted multiple institutions, including Mexico’s federal tax authority, national electoral institute, several state governments, and public utilities.
When Claude could not provide enough guidance, the attacker also turned to OpenAI’s ChatGPT for additional advice, such as how to move through networks without being detected. Anthropic later said it discovered the issue, shut down the accounts involved, and used the incident to improve safeguards in future models. OpenAI also reported banning the attacker’s accounts for violating its policies. Responses from Mexican authorities were mixed, with some agencies denying breaches and others declining to comment publicly.
Claude Investors Have Been Rewarded Handsomely
Anthropic investors have been rewarded handsomely during the past few months as the company’s valuation has increased from $183 billion to $380 billion. Meanwhile, the company has raised billions of dollars to continue funding its impressive growth.
