{
  "id": 6786541,
  "title": "Russia-linked hackers used Claude agents to target Ukraine and steal military drone technology, Anthropic report finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/russia-linked-hackers-used-claude-agents-to-target-ukraine-and-steal",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-11T19:00:38.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Insider",
    "slug": "the-insider",
    "url": "https://theins.press/en/news/297072"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A Russia-linked hacking group utilized Claude, an AI agent, as part of an extensive espionage operation targeting Ukrainian government agencies, military drone manufacturers, and various organizations across Europe, as revealed by Anthropic in a report titled \"Detecting and countering misuse of AI.\" This hacking operation aligns with public reports on Midnight Blizzard, a Russian state-backed cyberespionage campaign attributed to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) by both the U.S. and the UK. The hacking group targeted over 20 organizations, predominantly in Ukraine and Europe, employing AI agents to carry out reconnaissance, phishing, system access, and data theft. The group's primary focus was Ukraine's drone industry, where they successfully extracted data from at least two drone component manufacturers, attacked a military drone producer, and stole a software development kit for a drone computer-vision system. The hackers meticulously studied the stolen software, gaining insights into its architecture and components, including information about an unreleased product. AI agents played a crucial role in every stage of the attack, from identifying potential targets to executing commands and processing stolen data. The group's operator, who communicates in Russian under the handle JackPoterz, demonstrated a pattern typical of Russian state-backed cyberespionage efforts. In addition to targeting Ukrainian entities, the hackers breached at least three hotel Wi-Fi networks, attempting to infect devices of hotel guests, particularly those connected to Ukraine, including government officials and drone manufacturers. Anthropic's report also disclosed that the hackers gained access to a government technology organization in a North African country, stealing over 300,000 national identity records and registry data for more than 500,000 companies.",
  "summary": "A Russia-linked hacking group used Claude as part of a large-scale espionage campaign targeting Ukrainian government agencies and military drone manufacturers, as well as various organizations in Europe, according to a new report by its creator, Anthropic, titled “Detecting and countering misuse of AI.” The company said its identification of the group is consistent with public reporting on…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 10,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Quartz",
        "title": "Iran-linked operators used Anthropic's AI to build targeting files on U.S. warships",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/iran-linked-operators-used-anthropics-ai-to-build-targeting-files-on",
        "published": "2026-09-11T14:10:36.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Business Insider",
        "title": "Anthropic says Russian and Chinese threat actors used Claude as a weapons engineering assistant for drone swarming and more",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/anthropic-says-russian-and-chinese-threat-actors-used-claude-as-a",
        "published": "2026-09-11T15:30:22.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Le Monde English",
        "title": "Anthropic reveals hacker used Claude to target French far-right organizations",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/anthropic-reveals-hacker-used-claude-to-target-french-far-right",
        "published": "2026-09-11T15:50:44.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Haaretz",
        "title": "Anthropic says Iran-linked actor used Claude to surveil Israelis, diaspora Jews",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/anthropic-says-iran-linked-actor-used-claude-to-surveil-israelis",
        "published": "2026-09-11T16:16:51.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Middle East Eye",
        "title": "Houthis used AI platform Claude to develop ballistic missiles",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/houthis-used-ai-platform-claude-to-develop-ballistic-missiles",
        "published": "2026-09-11T17:15:12.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Jerusalem Post",
        "title": "Iran used AI to develop military, propaganda strategies, Anthropic report reveals",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/iran-used-ai-to-develop-military-propaganda-strategies-anthropic",
        "published": "2026-09-11T17:28:38.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Investing.com",
        "title": "Factbox-How Anthropic says Claude was used for weapons, spying and cyber operations",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/factbox-how-anthropic-says-claude-was-used-for-weapons-spying-and",
        "published": "2026-09-11T19:30:51.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Al-Monitor",
        "title": "Factbox-How Anthropic says Claude was used for weapons, spying and cyber operations",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/factbox-how-anthropic-says-claude-was-used-for-weapons-spying-and-6794841",
        "published": "2026-09-11T19:46:36.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "TechSpot",
        "title": "Anthropic says it blocked state-sponsored attempts to use Claude for bioweapons research",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/anthropic-says-it-blocked-state-sponsored-attempts-to-use-claude-for",
        "published": "2026-09-11T20:18:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}