February 26, 2026
Fighting AI Cyberattacks Starts with Knowing They’re Happening
This article was originally published in Lawfare.
Anthropic reported in November 2025 that Chinese threat actors used its Claude model to launch widespread cyberattacks on companies and government agencies. More specifically, Chinese actors jailbroke Anthropic’s coding tool, Claude Code, and used it to target 30 companies and government agencies around the world, marking the first known large-scale cyber campaign executed with minimal human involvement. This reported development is certainly unsettling, but far more alarming are future attacks that might go undetected. Anthropic caught this attack only because it happened on its platform where it has internal threat intelligence teams monitoring for abuse. The vast majority of AI-enabled attacks, however, won’t be so visible. To address this issue, artificial intelligence (AI) developers and policymakers must establish the mechanisms to better observe and understand this emerging threat landscape—before it’s too late.
The U.S. government currently has no systematic way to identify whether a cyberattack resulted from novel AI capabilities or more conventional methods.
The advent of AI agents—systems capable of performing tasks autonomously—enhances the capabilities of both cyberattackers and defenders. AI agents can enable faster and more widespread attacks. But these same capabilities can also significantly enhance defenders’ ability to detect intrusions and respond more rapidly. The challenge is that offensive adoption is likely to be faster and less constrained, driven by attackers’ willingness to take risks and accept collateral damage—making incidents like this an early warning rather than an anomaly.
Read the full article in Lawfare.
More from CNAS
-
Commentary
Indo-Pacific Security / Technology & National Security
Sharper: China's AI RiseArtificial intelligence has become a strategic priority for Beijing and Washington, yet both countries continue to pursue dramatically different strategies in their bid for gl...
By Charles Horn & Cadence Barker
-
Video
Technology & National Security
UN, Red Cross Call for Rules on Fully Autonomous WeaponsPaul Scharre, executive vice president at the Center for a New American Security, joins CNN to discuss the advent of fully autonomous weapons, the dangers of handing over targ...
By Paul Scharre
-
Commentary
Technology & National Security
Beneath the Surface: Overlooked Cyber Security ThreatsThis article was originally published in War on the Rocks. Cyber security remains a persistent concern for public and private sector organizations alike. Given the potential i...
By Caleb Withers
-
Commentary
Technology & National Security
Why Empowering Private Companies to Fight Cybercrime Had to HappenThere is no question that the government needs to adapt to the reality of the evolving civilianization of the security environment. It should do so boldly, quickly, but carefu...
By Gary Corn
