Russia used Claude AI for espionage, disinformation and drone swarms
Anthropic's latest report on the abuse of its AI model found that a Russian-linked hacking group used Claude to automate attacks on more than 20 organisations, including Ukrainian defence ministries and drone suppliers, while separate operators ran pro-Kremlin disinformation in Africa and Moldova.
Anthropic disclosed details of Russia's misuse of its Claude AI technology for malicious purposes, including cyber-espionage, disinformation, and developing autonomous drone swarms. The US company attributed the malicious activity to a hacking group known as GTG-20006, which was associated with Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service.
GTG-20006 targeted Ukrainian and European government entities, focusing on suppliers of military drone technology and their supply chains. The group leveraged Claude for various tasks such as creating malware, conducting phishing attacks, and executing surveillance tools on victim networks. Additionally, Claude was used to aid in disinformation campaigns in Africa and Moldova, where a Russian-speaker based in Bangui ran a pro-Russian content operation for Radio Lengo Songo, a station funded by the Wagner mercenary group.
The operator used Claude to generate daily pro-Russian content that aligned with Russian state outlets and local cultural centers. In Moldova, a former regional head of Sputnik media network employed Claude to produce content tailored to pro-Kremlin narratives. Furthermore, a group of Russia-linked developers employed Claude to write software for autonomous kamikaze drone swarms, utilizing footage from Ukrainian combat operations and testing the autonomous targeting system on real hardware.
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