China-Linked Hacking Group TA419 Impersonates Anthropic Executive in Targeted Phishing Campaign Against U.S. AI Policy Experts

Proofpoint has disclosed a sophisticated phishing campaign by China-aligned hacking group TA419 that impersonated a senior Anthropic employee and well-known U.S. policy figures to target fewer than ten AI experts at American think tanks, universities, and law firms. The group deployed targeted social engineering beginning in February 2026, when it posed as an Anthropic executive contacting a policy analyst with the subject line "Request for Feedback on Military Integration of Claude," exploiting the ongoing public debate over military applications of the AI company's models.