From Hacks to Bioweapons, Claude Misuse Is Now Everywhere

In one case, a group of Russian state-sponsored hackers identified by Microsoft as Midnight Blizzard used Claude for reconnaissance, breaching targets that included Ukrainian and other European government networks, and stole data and maintained access. Cybercriminal group ShinyHunters used Claude in practically every stage of its hacking and extortion campaigns. Disinformation campaigns focusing on politics everywhere from Kenya to Bangladesh used the tool. And perhaps most disturbingly, in a handful of cases, Anthropic discovered what appeared to be users of its tools attempting to develop potential bioweapons like disease pathogens and toxins.

While Anthropic touts its success in the report in heading off these threats—while implicitly humblebragging at the power of its tools—the effect of the case studies is more unnerving than reassuring. After all, there’s no guarantee Anthropic has spotted every malevolent use of its AI. Factor in its competitors and less safeguarded open-source AI tools, and the report reads like less of a victory lap for AI’s guardrails than a preview of AI-enabled chaos to come.

US Feds Disrupt Xinbi Guarantee, the Internet’s Biggest Black Market

Xinbi Guarantee, over its four-year lifespan, grew into the biggest illicit marketplace on the internet. It carried out an estimated $30 billion–plus in sales, most of which took the form of money laundering for “pig butchering” crypto scam operations—largely based in Southeast Asia—but which also included sex trafficking and harassment for hire. All of it thrived on the Telegram messaging service, which shut down Xinbi a year ago only for it to rebuild and eventually grow larger than ever. This week, finally, the US government stepped in to do what Telegram did not, seizing the Xinbi’s channels on Telegram’s platform and sanctioning the market. The Justice Department simultaneously announced raids on 13 scam compounds in Madagascar—a sign that Western law enforcement is beginning to take seriously the epidemic of forced labor crypto scamming, but also evidence of how widely the operations have spread.

Conti Ransomware Gang Member Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison

The ransomware gang Conti was, until it officially disbanded in 2022, one of the most dangerous hacker crews in the world. According to US law enforcement, it hit more than a thousand victims, extorting millions and at one point disrupting government systems in Costa Rica so completely that it triggered a state of emergency. Now one member of that group is facing justice: 44-year-old Ukrainian Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko was sentenced to four years in prison this week, in a rare example of a ransomware actor who will see the inside of a US prison.

Meta Left AI-Generated Child Abuse Videos Online After Reporters Flagged Them

Facebook is hosting a large network of accounts uploading AI-generated videos that depict violence against children, according to Futurism, which spent days cataloging the material and kept finding more than it could count. The clips show young children being beaten, burned, confined, and starved. Many attract thousands of reactions from users who appear to think the footage is real. Futurism said it found most of the accounts by opening one and then following Facebook’s recommendation feed, which supplied a continuous stream of similar videos—a sign Meta’s own systems can already identify the category of content the company says it bans.

Futurism reported eight of the accounts through the standard user channel. Meta removed two, one of them after first rejecting the report. Several decisions took more than a week. The company deleted most of the videos sent to its press office, but initially left others up, including one showing a child locked in a freezer.

In addition to blanket bans on child sexual abuse material, Meta’s written policy bars depictions of nonsexual child abuse whether real or synthetic, with exceptions for art, cartoons, movies, and games. It does not say whether AI-generated video falls under those exceptions. In a statement, Meta told the reporters that some flagged links did not break its rules and asked them not to write otherwise.