Alibaba to Ban Claude Code at Work Over Alleged Backdoor Security Risks

Alibaba will reportedly ban the use of Anthropic’s Claude Code across its workplace environments starting July 10, following allegations that the AI coding assistant contains a covert backdoor-like mechanism. The decision, first reported by Yicai and later confirmed by Reuters through a source familiar with the matter, comes amid rising tensions between the two companies […] The post Alibaba to Ban Claude Code at Work Over Alleged Backdoor Security Risks appeared first on Cyber Security News.

Alibaba will reportedly ban the use of Anthropic’s Claude Code across its workplace environments starting July 10, following allegations that the AI coding assistant contains a covert backdoor-like mechanism. The decision, first reported by Yicai and later confirmed by Reuters through a source familiar with the matter, comes amid rising tensions between the two companies over model distillation and AI security practices. While Alibaba has not publicly confirmed the restriction or responded to media inquiries, the move signals growing enterprise concern over the security posture of AI-powered developer tools. Alibaba to Ban Claude Code Claude Code, a command-line-based coding assistant designed to help developers write and debug software, has seen rapid adoption in enterprise environments, making any potential security issue particularly impactful. The allegations originated from a June 30 Reddit post by a user known as “LegitMichel777,” who claimed to have reverse-engineered Claude Code. According to the technical analysis, the tool, since version 2.1.91 released on April 2, reportedly inspected user environments by evaluating proxy settings and system time zones against internally embedded lists. These lists allegedly included identifiers associated with Chinese corporate networks, AI labs, and cloud infrastructure providers, including Alibaba, Baidu, ByteDance, and Moonshot AI. If a match was detected, the tool did not transmit explicit telemetry; instead, it modified subtle elements of its system prompt, such as date formatting or punctuation, thereby encoding the detection signal. This approach resembles covert watermarking or anti-fraud techniques used to identify suspicious usage patterns. However, the lack of disclosure and the targeted nature of the detection have raised concerns about transparency and potential misuse. Anthropic has not released an official advisory addressing the issue. However, a member of its Claude Code team reportedly stated on social media that the mechanism was intended to prevent account abuse and large-scale model distillation. The same source indicated that the feature would be removed in a subsequent update. Reports suggest that remediation efforts were already underway by July 1, meaning the mechanism may have been active for nearly three months. As of now, no independent cybersecurity firm has published a full technical audit to verify the claims or assess potential risk. The controversy follows prior accusations from Anthropic against Alibaba’s Qwen AI division. In a June 10 letter to U.S. lawmakers, Anthropic alleged that operators linked to Alibaba conducted a massive distillation campaign involving approximately 25,000 accounts and over 28 million interactions with Claude models. This activity was described as the largest known attempt to extract model capabilities, exceeding previous incidents attributed to other AI firms. Reuters stated that Alibaba has not publicly addressed these claims. Alibaba’s reported ban highlights increasing scrutiny of AI tools in enterprise environments, particularly around hidden functionality and data exposure risks. If enforced, the restriction could set a precedent for how organizations evaluate and control AI-assisted development tools. Follow us on Google News , LinkedIn and X to Get More Instant Updates. Set Cyberpress as a Preferred Source in Google. The post Alibaba to Ban Claude Code at Work Over Alleged Backdoor Security Risks appeared first on Cyber Security News.