AI Cyberattacks: Inside the First AI Espionage Campaign
In September 2025, something happened never seen before in the cybersecurity world.
For the first time ever, investigators uncovered a major cyber espionage attack that was carried out mostly by AI instead of humans.
This wasn’t science fiction, it was real.
The report, Disrupting the First Reported AI-Orchestrated Cyber Espionage Campaign, reveals a breakthrough threat operation run by a Chinese state-sponsored group known as GTG-1002.
The attack targeted around 30 high value organizations including major tech companies and government agencies.
This event marks a historic turning point in cyber defense.
Key Discovery: 80–90% of the Attack Was Run by AI
Anthropic’s Threat Intelligence team found that attackers manipulated Claude Code to automate almost the entire hacking process:
- Reconnaissance
- Vulnerability discovery
- Exploitation
- Lateral movement
- Credential harvesting
- Data access
- Data exfiltration
- Post-exploitation analysis
Human attackers oversaw strategy but the AI executed the attack at “physically impossible request rates”.
This wasn’t a tool
It was an AI operator running a live intrusion.
Who Stopped the Attack?
Anthropic’s Threat Intelligence team detected, investigated and shut down the operation within 10 days notifying affected organizations and authorities.
Why This Changes Everything
Historically, large-scale cyber operations required:
- 50–75 skilled engineers
- Months of coordination
- Millions of dollars
- Government-level resources
The AI-enabled version?
- 3–5 people
- Low cost
- Fast automation
- Weeks or even days
This is the economic collapse of cyber warfare.
AI has taken something that once required a nation-state and made it available to small criminal groups.
This is the most dangerous shift of the last decade.
AI Enables Full “Hunt → Seek → Kill” Automation
The traditional attack cycle is:
Hunt → Seek → Kill
- Hunt: Choose the target
- Seek: Scan for weaknesses
- Kill: Break in, move laterally, steal what you want
In this new reality, AI can run that entire loop without humans.
You set the goal.
The AI does the rest.
On repeat.
This turns cyberattacks into an autonomous loop:
- AI hunts for vulnerable systems
- AI identifies exposures
- AI exploits them
- AI steals data
- AI decides where to go next
- AI repeats… indefinitely
A human hacker no longer needs to sit there doing the steps. They just check in occasionally.
The “Fire-and-Forget” Cyberattack Era
Here’s the scary part.
This evolution means cyberattacks become “fire-and-forget” operations.
A small team of attackers can:
- Define their objective
- Press start
- Walk away
The AI will:
- Scan the entire internet
- Try every target
- Break into vulnerable ones
- Sort, filter, and analyze the stolen data
- Produce monetizable results
The attacker can now cast a massive net, scoop up every “fish” it can find, process them automatically, and hand the operator the final product whether that’s stolen money, credentials, private data or “fish sticks” if that’s what they want.
Small Businesses Are Now Easy Targets
Before AI, attackers chose targets based on ROI:
- Big companies = big payday
- Small companies = not worth the effort
This was a profit-based calculation because attacks were expensive. Skilled humans limited how many organizations could be targeted.
That calculation is gone now.
AI can:
- Scan the entire internet
- Identify every vulnerable system automatically
- Attack all of them at once
- Sort the results
- Extract the valuable ones
Being a “small fish in a big sea” no longer matters.
AI catches everything.
If your business is vulnerable, you will be found.
Not because someone chooses you but because the AI scans everyone.
Massive Gap: AI-Protected vs Unprotected Organizations
AI-powered attackers move too fast for traditional defenses. Rules-based firewalls, signature-based antivirus, and human-only SOC teams simply can’t keep up with machine-speed intrusion attempts.
This creates an accelerating divide:
Companies with AI counter-intelligence
- Detect attacks earlier
- Respond faster
- Intercept AI-driven lateral movement
- Stay resilient
- Reduce breach impact
Companies without AI defence
- Cannot see most attacks
- Get overwhelmed by volume
- Lose data before anyone notices
- Face higher costs, longer downtime, and deeper damage
- Become the easiest possible targets
Human vs. Human + AI is no longer a fair fight.
It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Why AI Must Defend Against AI
Human analysts simply cannot:
- Work 24/7
- Process thousands of signals per second
- Analyze global threat patterns
- Respond instantly
AI attackers don’t sleep.
Defense must evolve.
How Varpath Protects Your Business in the AI Attack Era
Varpath delivers protection at several AI-driven layers designed specifically for attacks like the one Anthropic exposed:
AI-Powered Antivirus
Detects and blocks malicious activity including zero-day threats—using machine learning instead of outdated signature lists.
AI-Driven APT Detection
Tracks lateral movement, credential abuse, suspicious patterns, and early indicators of compromise that attackers rely on.
ThreatSync+
An AI-assisted threat intelligence and correlation platform that unifies alerts, scores risks, and helps your team respond faster and more accurately.
AI-Integrated SOC
A 24/7 monitoring centre enhanced by AI automation, enabling faster triage, quicker containment, and stronger resilience.
With attackers using AI, only AI can defend at the necessary speed and scale.
Stay Ahead of AI Attackers with Varpath AI Defence
The first AI-run cyberattack isn’t just an interesting headline. It’s the start of a transformation in digital crime.
The attackers have upgraded. Your defence must upgrade too.
- Deploy AI-based threat protection
- Segment business networks from guest networks
- Monitor systems continuously
- Adopt zero-trust access rules
- Review your incident response plan
AI attacks aren’t slowing down they’re accelerating.
Conclusion: The AI Cyber War Has Already Started
GTG-1002 is not just another attack.
It is the first proof that AI can run complex cyber intrusions almost entirely on its own — and that small attackers can now operate with nation-state power.
This is a turning point for cybersecurity.
Organizations that adopt AI defense will stay ahead.
Those that don’t will fall behind.
Varpath is ready to help you secure your business for the new era.
