US-based cybersecurity giant cloud strike Cyberattacks from China-based organizations aimed at stealing artificial intelligence to close the technology gap with the United States are on the rise, it warned on Tuesday.
According to the CrowdStrike report, Chinese companies account for more than 58% of targeted state-sponsored cyberattacks targeting tech companies, particularly AI assets.
“China-linked adversaries are escalating their espionage efforts against technology companies, stealing AI capabilities and intellectual property that they cannot build fast enough on their own,” CrowdStrike said in a statement.
The analysis covered events in the 12 months ending March 31st. U.S. restrictions on China’s access to AI training chips have limited the Chinese government’s ability to develop the technology, but homegrown AI models aim to lower operating costs while providing much the same intelligence.
CrowdStrike said the China-linked cyberattack targeted government communications in Southeast Asia and used vulnerabilities to “maintain persistent access” to high-tech organizations in North America.
The Cyberspace Administration of China did not immediately respond to CNBC’s faxed request for comment.
Earlier this year, US AI giants Anthropic and OpenAI complained that Chinese companies were extracting competitive information from US tech companies. Analysts at the time warned that the lines between illegal activities could become blurred.
Over the past few weeks, Anthropic has been touting the cyber capabilities of its latest Mythos model and rolling out the technology to CrowdStrike and other companies. Anthropic released a public version of the model called the Claude Fable 5 on Tuesday. Ranking firm Artificial Analysis says the model “outperforms the best models from other institutes by nearly 5 points.”
CrowdStrike said it also found that North Korea-related groups were attempting to infiltrate IT talent across North America, Europe and Asia, primarily to generate revenue for the regime.
