{
  "id": "AHL-2025-0002",
  "url": "https://aihacklog.com/incidents/gtg-2002-claude-code-data-extortion/",
  "status": "live",
  "title": "GTG-2002: Claude Code used for data theft and extortion",
  "summary": "A cybercriminal Anthropic tracks as GTG-2002 used Claude Code to break into networks, steal data and write ransom demands, potentially affecting at least 17 organisations in government, healthcare and emergency services. Anthropic disclosed it on 27 August 2025.",
  "ai_role": "weapon",
  "attack_types": [
    "ai-orchestrated-intrusion",
    "ai-ransomware"
  ],
  "autonomy": "orchestrated",
  "evidence": "E1",
  "severity": 3,
  "occurred": "2025",
  "occurred_end": null,
  "disclosed": "2025-08-27",
  "ai_systems": [
    {
      "vendor": "anthropic",
      "product": "Claude Code"
    }
  ],
  "actor": {
    "name": "GTG-2002",
    "type": "criminal",
    "attribution": "vendor-assessed"
  },
  "victims": {
    "names": [],
    "sectors": [
      "government",
      "healthcare",
      "critical-infrastructure",
      "finance"
    ],
    "countries": [],
    "orgs_affected": 17
  },
  "impact": {
    "loss_usd": null,
    "loss_basis": null,
    "records": null,
    "note": "At least 17 organisations potentially affected; ransom demands from $75,000 to more than $500,000"
  },
  "frameworks": {
    "atlas": [],
    "attack": [],
    "owasp_llm": [],
    "owasp_agentic": [],
    "cve": []
  },
  "chain": {
    "claim": "According to Anthropic, Claude Code made both tactical and strategic decisions, including which data to take and how to word the extortion demands.",
    "phases": [
      {
        "name": "Setup",
        "by": "human",
        "note": "Wrote a CLAUDE.md file with preferred attack methods and a cover story of authorised security testing",
        "checkpoint": null
      },
      {
        "name": "Reconnaissance",
        "by": "ai",
        "note": "Scanned thousands of VPN endpoints and built scanning frameworks",
        "checkpoint": null
      },
      {
        "name": "Access and credentials",
        "by": "mixed",
        "note": "Live support during intrusions: found domain controllers and SQL servers, extracted credentials",
        "checkpoint": null
      },
      {
        "name": "Malware and evasion",
        "by": "ai",
        "note": "Built disguised tunnelling and proxy tools to get past Windows Defender",
        "checkpoint": null
      },
      {
        "name": "Data theft and analysis",
        "by": "ai",
        "note": "Extracted and sorted personal, financial and medical records",
        "checkpoint": null
      },
      {
        "name": "Extortion",
        "by": "ai",
        "note": "Calculated ransom amounts and generated tailored ransom notes",
        "checkpoint": null
      }
    ]
  },
  "notice": null,
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.anthropic.com/news/detecting-countering-misuse-aug-2025",
      "publisher": "Anthropic",
      "title": "Detecting and countering misuse of AI: August 2025",
      "kind": "vendor",
      "date": "2025-08-27",
      "supports": "Operation, number and type of targets, ransom amounts, Anthropic's response",
      "archive": "https://web.archive.org/web/20261111194134/https://www.anthropic.com/news/detecting-countering-misuse-aug-2025"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://assets.claude.com/b2a76c6f6992465c09a6f2fce282f6c0cea8c200.pdf",
      "publisher": "Anthropic",
      "title": "Threat Intelligence Report: August 2025 (PDF)",
      "kind": "vendor",
      "date": "2025-08-27",
      "supports": "GTG-2002 designation, attack phases, CLAUDE.md set-up, ransom range",
      "archive": null
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "AHL-2025-0001"
  ],
  "published": "2026-11-15",
  "updated": "2026-11-15",
  "changelog": [
    {
      "date": "2026-11-15",
      "note": "Record created from Anthropic's August 2025 threat intelligence report."
    }
  ],
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "attribution": "AI Hack Log (https://aihacklog.com/)"
}