China Warns of Security Backdoor in Data Analysis Tool Claude Code

A Chinese industry regulator has sounded the alarm over a potential security risk embedded in versions of Anthropic’s AI coding tool, Claude Code. The alleged backdoor could allow the software to transmit sensitive information without users’ consent, including their locations and identity-related identifiers, back to Anthropic’s servers.

Claude Code is an artificial intelligence-powered coding agent that can generate computer code, debug software, and review code based on user prompts. It’s a tool used by developers in various industries for data analysis tasks and other business applications.

However, China’s National Vulnerability Database (NVDB), a cybersecurity platform affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, has detected security backdoor risks in Claude Code. The NVDB warned that this poses a severe threat to users’ sensitive information.

The alleged backdoor could be exploited by unauthorized parties to access user data without consent. This raises concerns about the potential for data breaches and unauthorized leakage of sensitive information.

Anthropic’s coding tool is not available directly to Chinese users due to geographical restrictions imposed by the company. However, it can still be accessed through VPN or third-party proxy services, which may bypass these restrictions.

The NVDB advised relevant institutions and users to conduct a comprehensive check immediately and uninstall or upgrade to the latest secure version of Claude Code from which the backdoor code has been removed. It also urged organizations to strengthen network traffic monitoring to prevent unauthorized data leakage.

Chinese tech giant Alibaba had already banned the use of Claude Code among its employees due to security concerns, starting July 10. This decision was reportedly made after the company detected potential risks associated with using the tool.

In response to allegations about Claude Code tracking user data, Anthropic engineer Thariq Shihipar explained that an experiment launched in March aimed to prevent account abuse from unauthorized resellers and protect against ‘distillation’ – a process where AI models are reverse-engineered. However, this experiment has since been rolled back, with stronger mitigations put in place.