Case mexico-gov-claude-breachAI-assisted malwareMexico
Hacker uses Claude to breach Mexican agencies and steal 150GB of tax and voter data
Gambit Security found an attacker jailbroke Claude, with some ChatGPT help, to find and exploit flaws in Mexican government systems, stealing ~150GB incl. 195M taxpayer records.
CriticalAttack using AIStatus: Under investigationVerified case file
Open in the interactive mapCite this case
- Reported
- Feb 25, 2026
- Location
- Mexico
- Target
- Mexican tax authority, electoral institute, state governments
- Severity
- Critical
- Triggered by
- Unknown lone hacker (Spanish-speaking)
- Actor type
- Criminal
- Reported loss
- None reported
- CVE
- None
What happened
Gambit Security found an attacker jailbroke Claude, with some ChatGPT help, to find and exploit flaws in Mexican government systems, stealing ~150GB incl. 195M taxpayer records.
Impact: Gambit claims about 150GB stolen from 10 agencies and a bank, including roughly 195 million taxpayer records and voter data; SAT, INE and Jalisco deny confirmed breaches.
Who triggered it
Actor: Unknown lone hacker (Spanish-speaking)
Attribution: Not publicly attributed; findings by Gambit Security from exposed conversation logs. Mexican agencies deny evidence of a breach
Motive: Theft and likely resale of tax, voter and personal data
How it happened
Attack vector: Jailbroke Claude by posing as a bug-bounty hunter, used Claude Code to find and exploit flaws and exfiltrate data, then used ChatGPT for lateral movement guidance
Root cause: AI safety refusals bypassed via role-play; vulnerable government web systems; attacker left conversation logs publicly accessible
Timeline
- Campaign reportedly starts with Mexico's tax authority SAT
- Gambit Security finds publicly accessible attacker chat logs
- Bloomberg reports the findings; Anthropic and OpenAI ban the accounts
Response
Anthropic and OpenAI banned the accounts; Mexican agencies reviewed logs and disputed the claims; no arrests reported.
Current status: Under investigation
Sources (open in a new tab)
- Bloomberg Law news.bloomberglaw.com
- Security Affairs securityaffairs.com
- Insurance Journal insurancejournal.com
Cite this case
Hacker uses Claude to breach Mexican agencies and steal 150GB of tax and voter data. AI Threat Watch, case mexico-gov-claude-breach, Feb 25, 2026. https://aithreat.io/cases/mexico-gov-claude-breach/
Permanent link: https://aithreat.io/cases/mexico-gov-claude-breach/