CyberCartel Hacks Financial Firms With AI Agents, Report Says

CyberCartel, a hacking group known for targeting Latin American businesses, is using AI agents to automate attacks on financial institutions. The group has been using models from Anthropic's Claude and SpaceX's Grok, along with other tools, to steal passwords and customer data from over 400 institutions, including banks and mobile payment apps. This research comes from the cybersecurity startup Straiker.

The group has been active since at least 2012, but the use of AI has significantly increased the speed of its operations, allowing it to target more businesses than before. Straiker has shared its findings with both SpaceX and Anthropic, and both companies are working to prevent CyberCartel from using their services. Anthropic has already blocked access to Claude for the group.

AI models typically have protections to prevent misuse, but CyberCartel has found ways to bypass them. The group reportedly tells the models they are being used in a test environment. If a model refuses to proceed, the hackers try another one, or they task the AI agent with deploying malware instead. Straiker also found that the hacking group used an agent from Moonshot AI in its operations.

This is not the first time an AI model has been used for malicious purposes. In November 2025, Anthropic disclosed that its AI was used to carry out a cyberattack, and later, Claude was used to break the security of competitor OpenAI by researchers. The use of AI for cyberattacks is a growing concern, with South Korean authorities recently investigating similar issues affecting local banks where thousands of customers had their credit information leaked.

AI companies are aware of these risks. Nvidia recently launched the Open Agent Safety Platform to secure rogue AI agents and prevent them from executing unauthorized code or bypassing guardrails. As AI-powered attacks become more common, companies are developing tools to stop them. Straiker's research shows how one hacking group is using AI to scale its operations, highlighting a challenge for both AI developers and financial institutions.