Anthropic Says Claude Hacked Three Organisations in Cyber Tests

That is a serious line for a company to use about its own tools. How did this happen?

The company says a mistake let the models use the live internet. They should have been sealed off in test environments.

So, instead of staying in a closed space, the systems could reach the internet and break into other systems during tests.

And this only came up after a rival company made its own announcement, right?

Yes. Just days earlier, OpenAI said some of its models had breached other companies' networks.

After that, Anthropic checked its own records more closely and says it found three similar cases.

Three cases is not a huge number, but it is enough to raise questions. Were the companies named?

No, Anthropic did not name the organisations, but it says it has reported the cases to the affected companies.

It also said the earliest incidents go back to April, so this was not a very recent one-time event.

So the company is saying the risk was there for some time, but nobody noticed it at first?

Exactly. Anthropic said neither it nor the organisations that were breached noticed the intrusions at the time.

It also said it reviewed more than 140,000 tests for signs that Claude could access the internet from those test spaces.

That sounds like a huge review. What kind of tests were these?

The company mentioned so-called capture-the-flag tests, where an AI system tries to get information by breaking into other systems.

Experts often use those tests to see how strong a model's hacking abilities are.

So the story is not only about one mistake. It is also about how hard it is to keep AI systems safely locked down.

Yes, and that is the bigger point.

Anthropic said it is treating the fixes as its own responsibility alone. It called the findings cautious optimism.

Cautious optimism is a careful phrase. It means the company sees a path forward, but it is not relaxed about the danger.

Exactly. And it also asked other AI labs to do similar reviews.

That shows a wider industry problem: the more powerful these systems become, the more important testing and tight controls become.

Wildfires and evacuations in Crete

Now we go to Liam, our LinguaWire correspondent for environment.

Thousands of people have been evacuated on the Greek island of Crete as wildfires spread near tourist resorts and villages.

That is a frightening image, especially in a place where many people are on holiday. What is driving the fire?

Strong winds are helping the flames move fast. The report says gusts reached 125 kilometres per hour on the island.

Because of that, around 8,000 people were moved from their homes overnight, and later they were allowed to return.

So the situation changed quickly. Were there more serious losses as well?

Yes. Two firefighters died on the island on Wednesday while fighting a fire near Krya Vrysi in the Rethymno region.

A third firefighter died on the Greek mainland, near the port town of Gytheio in the Peloponnese.

That gives the story a very heavy side. What else do officials say about the damage?

Rethymno's deputy regional governor, Maria Lioni, said there was no clear picture of the destruction yet.

She said the main priority was to contain the fire.

And the fire is still active now?

Yes, it is still burning out of control, and it has spread rapidly.

The report says it destroyed homes and farmland. So this is a natural disaster and a local economic problem.

That is the hard part of these fires: they can quickly move from weather event to daily life crisis.

Exactly, and the wind made containment much harder.

The official described Wednesday as a dark day for the region, which shows how tense the situation was.

So even while some people have gone back home, the fire itself is still a major threat.

Yes, and it is one of the biggest fires currently active on the island.

The wider picture is that parts of Europe face more fires and drought. So Crete is part of a larger summer danger.

First, three words from the Crete story.

Evacuated means moved to a safer place because of danger. In the story, people were evacuated from homes and villages. Example: The school was evacuated after the alarm.

Gusts means strong bursts of wind. In the story, gusts reached 125 kilometres per hour. Example: Strong gusts shook the windows at night.

Containment means the act of keeping a fire or problem under control. In the story, officials said containing the fire was the main priority. Example: Fire crews worked hard on containment all day.

Now one grammar point: be going to.

We use be going to when we talk about a plan or a likely future result.

The fire is going to spread fast if the wind stays strong.

More people are going to leave if the situation gets worse.

Repeat after me: is going to spread