- Anthropic claimed it observed an AI cyber attack without significant human intervention
- Experts say this claim is likely inflated with human intervention downplayed
- The reports only outline what security professionals already know: AI tools are speeding up the attack process.
Anthropic recently reported that Chinese hackers had hijacked its Claude platform to launch fully AI-orchestrated cyberattacks — but that claim has since been met with skepticism in the cybersecurity community.
It seems likely that even if the AI ​​did a significant part of the attack (roughly 80-90%), the technology still needed vital human input – since AI can’t ‘think’ for itself, it can only copy.
Some researchers believe this is just a marketing tactic to inflate the perceived capabilities of AI, or perhaps some fear mongering to fuel the narrative surrounding the US vs. China AI race.
Nothing new
“I continue to refuse to believe that attackers are somehow able to make these models jump through hoops that no one else can,” said Dan Tentler, executive founder of Phobos Group. Ars Technica.
“Why do the models give these attackers what they want 90% of the time, but the rest of us have to deal with ass-kissing, stone walls, and acid bursts?”
While it may be true that artificial intelligence has come on leaps and bounds in recent months, it is still unlikely that one can perform a range of complex tasks without human input. The tools are useful, but they enhance human capabilities rather than replace them entirely.
“The implication here is that the attacker used existing tools, but used an AI agent to take the place of the human who would normally operate those tools and move through the phases of the attack much faster,” said Tim Mitchell, Senior Security Researcher, Sophos X-Ops Counter Threat Unit.
“From a defender’s perspective, that means there’s nothing new to defend against here – but the window to spot and defend against the attack is much reduced.”
Another point to note is that, according to Anthropic’s own reporting, only a ‘small number’ of AI’s attempts to infiltrate organizations succeeded – although that would have represented a first step in a rapidly evolving process.
TechRadar Pro has asked Anthropic for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
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