Anthropic: AI Lowers Bar for Hackers, Boosts Cyber Threats

AI is making it harder to tell the difference between high and low-skilled cyber criminals. New research from Anthropic shows that hackers are using AI to make their attacks more effective, especially in the more complex stages. Anthropic banned 832 accounts for malicious cyber activity between March 2025 and March 2026. Of these, 560, or 67%, used AI to write malware. Seven percent used AI to help with lateral movement within systems. What's interesting is that attackers are increasingly applying AI deeper into the attack lifecycle. For example, the use of AI for account discovery rose by 9%, while AI-assisted phishing fell by a similar amount. Researchers say AI can now perform complex post-compromise techniques for less sophisticated actors. The bottom line: AI is lowering the bar for up-and-coming hackers, making it more challenging to identify and counter threats.