Anthropic accuses Chinese labs of trying to illicitly take Claude\u2019s capabilities | CyberScoop<\/title> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anthropic claims Chinese labs DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax used "industrial-scale" distillation to siphon Claude\u2019s AI capabilities for offensive cyber ops.\"> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/anthropic-accuses-chinese-labs-ai-distillation-cyber-risk\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anthropic accuses Chinese labs of trying to illicitly take Claude\u2019s capabilities\"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anthropic claims Chinese labs DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax used "industrial-scale" distillation to siphon Claude\u2019s AI capabilities for offensive cyber ops.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/anthropic-accuses-chinese-labs-ai-distillation-cyber-risk\/\"> <meta 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readability=\"26.940677966102\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"36.818652849741\">\n<p> It poses a national security threat, the AI startup said, such as by possibly enabling offensive cyber operations. <\/p>\n<p>  <br \/>\n<audio id=\"audio-player\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-tts-cdn.api.scpnewsgrp.com\/cyberscoop\/87871\/english.openai.mp3\"><\/audio> <\/p>\n<div readability=\"11\">\n<div>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>  <\/p>\n<p>0:00<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>  <\/p>\n<p> <span id=\"tts-tooltip\">Learn more.<\/span> <span> This feature uses an automated voice, which may result in occasional errors in pronunciation, tone, or sentiment. <\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>  <\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/anthropic-accuses-chinese-labs-of-trying-to-illicitly-take-claudes-capabilities.jpg?resize=640%2C427&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/anthropic-accuses-chinese-labs-of-trying-to-illicitly-take-claudes-capabilities-2.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/anthropic-accuses-chinese-labs-of-trying-to-illicitly-take-claudes-capabilities-2.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/anthropic-accuses-chinese-labs-of-trying-to-illicitly-take-claudes-capabilities-2.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/anthropic-accuses-chinese-labs-of-trying-to-illicitly-take-claudes-capabilities-2.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, 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sizes=\"(max-width: 1012px) 100vw, 1012px\"><figcaption> This photograph shows a figurine in front of the logo of the US artificial intelligence safety and research company Anthropic during a photo session in Paris on Feb. 13, 2026. (Photo by JOEL SAGET \/ AFP) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"34.350221659278\"><body readability=\"71.07963963964\"><\/p>\n<p>Anthropic on Monday accused three Chinese artificial intelligence laboratories of stealthily trying to siphon Claude\u2019s capabilities for their own models, potentially in a way that could fuel offensive cyber operations.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. AI startup said the three labs, DeepSeek, Moonshot and MiniMax, ran \u201cindustrial-scale campaigns\u201d with a tactic known as \u201cdistillation.\u201d It involves sending bulk requests to its Claude model in a bid to boost their own \u2014 in this case, 16 million in all. Distillation can be a legitimate training method practice, the company said in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anthropic.com\/news\/detecting-and-preventing-distillation-attacks\">a blog post<\/a>, but not when used as a shortcut to take capabilities from competitors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIllicitly distilled models lack necessary safeguards, creating significant national security risks,\u201d Anthropic argued. \u201cForeign labs that distill American models can then feed these unprotected capabilities into military, intelligence, and surveillance systems \u2014 enabling authoritarian governments to deploy frontier AI for offensive cyber operations, disinformation campaigns, and mass surveillance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not the first time Anthropic has <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/house-homeland-asks-anthropic-ceo-to-testfy-on-chinese-espionage-campaign\/\">warned about Chinese threats<\/a> stemming from the nation\u2019s use of Claude. And Anthropic paired its revelations about the distillation campaign with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/02\/10\/anthropic-ceo-china-chip-ban\">repeating its call<\/a> for stronger export controls. <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>OpenAI also has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/china\/openai-accuses-deepseek-distilling-us-models-gain-advantage-bloomberg-news-2026-02-12\/\">accused DeepSeek<\/a> of using distillation techniques. CyberScoop could not immediately reach the three Chinese labs for comment on Anthropic\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe three distillation campaigns \u2026 followed a similar playbook, using fraudulent accounts and proxy services to access Claude at scale while evading detection,\u201d Anthropic said. \u201cThe volume, structure, and focus of the prompts were distinct from normal usage patterns, reflecting deliberate capability extraction rather than legitimate use.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In all, the labs used 24,000 fraudulent accounts, Anthropic said. DeepSeek was responsible for 150,000 of the exchanges, compared to 3.4 million from Moonshot and 13 million from MiniMax, according to the startup. The activity violated terms of service and regional access restrictions, it said.<\/p>\n<p>What makes the tactic illegitimate is that it essentially steals Anthropic\u2019s intellectual property, computing power and effort, said Gal Elbaz, co-founder and chief technology officer of Oligo Security, which bills itself as an AI runtime security company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe scary part is, you can take all of the power and unleash it, because you don\u2019t have anyone that actually enforces those guardrails on the other side,\u201d Elbaz told CyberScoop about the fears Anthropic raised about the labs fueling cyberattacks. <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>AI companies themselves have faced claims that they are stealing data and IP from others to power their models.<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"7.7216117216117\">\n<div class=\"author-card__avatar\">\n<figure class=\"author-card__image-wrap\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/anthropic-accuses-chinese-labs-of-trying-to-illicitly-take-claudes-capabilities-1.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\" alt=\"Tim Starks\"> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-card__details\" readability=\"10.901098901099\">\n<h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by Tim Starks<\/h4>\n<p> Tim Starks is senior reporter at CyberScoop. His previous stops include working at The Washington Post, POLITICO and Congressional Quarterly. An Evansville, Ind. native, he’s covered cybersecurity since 2003. Email Tim here: <a href=\"mailto:tim.starks@cyberscoop.com\">tim.starks@cyberscoop.com<\/a>. <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__tags-container\">\n<h4 class=\"single-article__tags-title\">In This Story<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<p> <\/html><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__ads js-single-article-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-5 ad--rightrail_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-4 ad--rightrail_2 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-3 ad--rightrail_3 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"popular-stories popular-stories--single-post\">\n<div 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{"id":8375,"date":"2026-02-23T15:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T21:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=87871"},"modified":"2026-02-23T15:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T21:02:13","slug":"anthropic-accuses-chinese-labs-of-trying-to-illicitly-take-claudes-capabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/anthropic-accuses-chinese-labs-of-trying-to-illicitly-take-claudes-capabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthropic accuses Chinese labs of trying to illicitly take Claude\u2019s capabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"