Anthropic AI update triggers sell-off in cybersecurity stocks

Shares of major cybersecurity companies fell sharply after a US-based artificial intelligence firm, Anthropic, introduced a new AI-driven security capability within its Claude platform, triggering a broad sell-off across the sector.

Companies including CrowdStrike, Cloudflare, Zscaler, SailPoint, and Okta declined between 5 per cent and 9 per cent following the announcement. Other cybersecurity-linked software firms, such as GitLab and JFrog, also recorded steep losses during trading. The broader weakness was reflected in the Global X Cybersecurity ETF, which dropped nearly 5 per cent to its lowest level since November 2023.

The new feature, called Claude Code Security, is integrated into Anthropic’s Claude AI platform. It scans software codebases for vulnerabilities and recommends targeted fixes. The capability is designed to help developers detect and address potential security issues during the coding process.

According to Anthropic, the tool can analyse large volumes of code, identify weaknesses, and suggest patches for human review. The feature is being rolled out as a limited research preview to enterprise customers and maintainers of open source software projects. The company said it aims to help teams find and fix vulnerabilities that may not be detected through traditional security review methods.

Cybersecurity firms provide tools that help organisations identify vulnerabilities, monitor threats, and protect digital infrastructure.

Vulnerability detection and remediation form a key part of many enterprise security platforms. Anthropic’s new feature directly addresses this area by automating the identification of weaknesses in software code and suggesting fixes within the development workflow, at a time when AI-powered coding tools are seeing rapid adoption across the technology sector.