Your conversations with Claude pass through Anthropic’s systems and can be stored, reviewed, or used to improve the company’s AI models. Its privacy policy states Anthropic may disclose your data to law enforcement without a court order. Other risks, like data breaches, could expose your info.
Claude may seem like a simple chat service, but the technical side faces its fair share of security concerns, too. Claude can fall for prompt injections, contain exploitable vulnerabilities in its software or dependencies, or give convincing but inaccurate (and potentially harmful) answers. Moreover, cybercriminals use it to automate parts of cyberattacks affecting dozens of organizations.
A few sensible precautions go a long way, from adjusting Claude’s privacy settings and securing your email with 2FA to being careful about chat topics, how much you trust Claude’s answers, and what you let Claude Code access on your system.
Here’s a closer look at the risks of both Claude and Claude Code, along with ways to use the Claude chat tool more safely.
Privacy risks of Claude
Claude gives you some control over your data, but Anthropic still stores and processes your conversations. Here’s what the company can do with your chats and what that means for your privacy.
Your chats can be used for AI training
Anthropic lets you choose whether to use your chats and coding sessions to improve Claude. I do appreciate that you can opt out of training before you even start your first chat, rather than having to hunt through the settings afterward.
That said, opting out doesn’t mean Anthropic will never process your conversations for other reasons. If your chats are flagged for safety review, they may be analyzed to improve their safety systems, or to train models used by Anthropic’s Safeguards team.
Anthropic can access and disclose your chats
Anthropic says employees generally can’t access your conversations unless you explicitly share them for feedback or the Trust & Safety team needs to review them to enforce its policies. In those cases, access is limited to designated personnel on a need-to-know basis.
Also, a heads-up: the company changed its privacy policy in June 2026 to allow it to proactively disclose conversations with law enforcement when it has a “good faith belief” that disclosure is necessary.
That means Anthropic can make the call itself instead of waiting for a court order or other legal process. As you can probably guess, people weren’t exactly thrilled about the change.
Lawyers, security researchers, writers, and others can have legitimate reasons to discuss disturbing or potentially dangerous subjects, while AI safety systems can sometimes mistake those conversations for genuine threats.
Possible data breaches
Like any online service, Claude could become a target for hackers looking to steal user data. If Anthropic suffers a data breach, your conversations, account information, or other data stored on its servers could be leaked.
Naturally, this applies to pretty much every online AI tool, no matter how strong the company’s security measures are. You can minimize the risk by not sharing sensitive data with Claude when possible. We’ll cover specific examples later so you know what to keep private.
Security risks of Claude
No chatbot is perfect, and Claude has several security risks you should watch out for.
Prompt injection attacks
The first time you open a new chat, Claude itself warns you about malicious content that could trick it into unintended actions or leaking your data. These harmful instructions are called prompt injection attacks and could hide in any data Claude reads, whether it’s a document, email, or website.
Claude has already fallen for this kind of exploit. In the 2026 Cline supply-chain attack, a malicious GitHub issue tricked Claude, which was acting as Cline’s AI triager, into executing hidden commands that helped attackers steal publishing credentials.
No matter how many safeguards Anthropic implements, cyber attackers may always find new ways to exploit how Large Language Models (LLMs) process data. Be extra careful if you use connectors like Gmail, Slack, GitHub, Google Drive, and others, as a prompt injection could potentially abuse the access you’ve granted Claude.
Lack of two-factor authentication
I was surprised to see Claude has no two-factor authentication (2FA) option tucked anywhere in its settings. If your email gets hacked, an attacker can easily use Claude’s sign-in link to read your entire chat history, access your connected tools, or see any files you’ve uploaded.
Hopefully, Anthropic will add 2FA functionality to Claude in the future. Until then, make sure your email account has 2FA enabled, preferably with an authenticator app like Google Authenticator, or something like Aegis or Authy if you prefer to DeGoogle.
Hackers using Claude for cyberattacks
Aside from the prompt injection case above, hackers have manipulated Claude Code into attacking about thirty organizations, with the AI doing most of the work thanks to its agentic capabilities.
In other cases, attackers have used the tool to build and sell ransomware, while another tricked Claude into believing it was doing security testing and helped them extort at least 17 organizations, sometimes to the tune of $500,000.
And while technically not a cyberattack, North Korean operatives used Claude to fake job applications and land remote positions at US companies. This let them bypass sanctions and bring money into the country.
In all cases, Anthropic banned the offending accounts and added new detection methods to prevent this from happening again. But, as mentioned, cybercriminals will always find new ways to “jailbreak” Claude, so these attacks aren’t the last of it.
Fake Claude websites and apps
Attackers have created fake Claude Code install pages that look like the real thing, but replace the real installation commands with malware that could steal passwords, cookies, and developer credentials. Always download Claude from Anthropic’s official site to avoid a surprise infostealer.
Security flaws in Claude and dependencies
Like any software, Claude has its own security vulnerabilities. Researchers found several in Claude Code that could bypass confirmation prompts, execute code from untrusted repositories, or send requests to attacker-controlled domains.
These were eventually fixed, but they show how important it is to update your software, especially if you’ve linked Claude to other services that contain sensitive data.
Beyond that, Claude also relies on third-party libraries that can create new security risks. In 2026, attackers compromised Axios and released malicious versions of the library, which put projects that included it at risk. ChatGPT was also affected by the same supply chain attack.
Inaccurate and misleading answers
Claude and other LLMs can “hallucinate”, or present inaccurate or outright wrong information in a confident enough tone that many people go along with it. Even during a cyberattack that targeted around thirty organizations, Claude sometimes hallucinated credentials or claimed it found “secret data” when it was public all along.
If you’re using Claude for anything important, double-check what it says with a reliable source instead of trusting it blindly.
How to use Claude safely
Claude has a few built-in privacy and security features that can help keep your data safer, though you should still take a few precautions when using it. Here are some simple ways to use Claude safely:
- Turn off location metadata: Go to Settings > Privacy and toggle off Location metadata so Anthropic can’t use your city or region to “improve product experiences.” You can also turn off AI training if you haven’t done so during account creation.
- Use Incognito chats: This keeps conversations out of your chat history and memory, making it useful for sensitive topics you don’t want Claude to remember. Keep in mind that Anthropic still stores these chats for 30 days before deleting them.
- Regularly clean your chat history: Delete old conversations you’re done with to reduce the data exposed in a potential breach or account takeover.
- Use a capable antivirus: A third-party antivirus, a threat-blocking VPN, or even good old Windows Defender can protect you from malicious content that Claude may encounter through prompt injection or other attacks. Naturally, you should double-check URLs and never download suspicious files.
- Check AI answers before acting on them: Claude can give convincing answers that contain errors, especially on medical, legal, financial, or personal matters. Verify important claims with reliable sources or qualified professionals.
- Don’t let Claude become your main source of companionship: A chatbot can offer conversation and advice, but it’s still software at the end of the day. Make room for friends, family, partners, and others rather than relying on Claude for emotional support.
- Limit what you share: Claude’s privacy features can’t guarantee that your conversations will stay private in every situation, so think twice before sharing sensitive information. The next section covers the kind of info you should keep private.
What you should never tell Claude
As a general rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t post it publicly or hand it to a stranger, don’t share it with Claude. More specifically:
- Identity documents: Social Security or national ID numbers, passport or driver’s license numbers, home address, phone number, and other identifiers that could be used to track or impersonate you
- Account credentials: Emails, passwords, two-factor codes, recovery phrases, or API keys for any services you use
- Banking and payment info: Bank account or routing numbers, credit card details, brokerage information, or crypto wallet seed phrases
- Private conversations: Private messages or correspondence involving other people, shared without their knowledge or consent
- Legally protected material: Anything covered by attorney-client privilege, sealed case files, or documents you’re bound by an NDA (or other agreement) not to disclose
- Health information: Anthropic rolled out Claude for Healthcare, which is a HIPAA-ready tool for healthcare providers. However, we don’t recommend sharing your or your patients’ symptoms, diagnoses, medication list, or treatment history with Claude (or any cloud-based LLM).
- Biometrics: Voice recordings, genetic testing results, photos clear enough to lift fingerprints from, and so on. Biometric data can’t be reset like a password, so once it’s out there, you can’t change it.
- Employer secrets: Unreleased roadmaps, source code, client lists, internal financials, or any other material your company wouldn’t want outside its walls.
Frequently asked questions
Is Claude safe to use at work?
Claude is generally safe to use at work when you follow your company’s rules and avoid sharing sensitive data unless your organization approves it. Check your company’s policy and Anthropic’s data controls before using Claude for confidential work.
Is Claude Code private and secure?
Claude Code can access files, run commands, and work with your code, so its security depends partly on the permissions you give it. Review its access and avoid letting it handle secrets or sensitive files without appropriate safeguards.
Can my company see what I do with Claude?
Your company may be able to see your Claude activity if you use a work-managed account or device. Administrators can have access to account data, usage records, or other information depending on how your organization manages Claude.
Should I give Claude access to my Gmail?
Giving Claude access to Gmail can expose your emails and other account data to the AI service. Only connect your inbox if you understand what Claude can access and have a clear reason to give it those permissions.
How secure is Claude Pro?
Claude Pro uses the same security standards as Anthropic’s other Claude plans, including AES-256 encryption and placing restrictions on who can access your data. That doesn’t make your chats private, though. Claude still stores them, so you should limit sensitive information and review your privacy settings.
Is using Claude confidential?
Using Claude does not automatically make everything you share confidential. Your privacy depends on the account type, settings, and how Anthropic handles the data, so avoid treating a chat as a protected private conversation.
Does Claude leak your information?
Claude can leak your information in several ways. In July 2026, publicly shared Claude chats appeared in Google and Bing search results, including conversations containing sensitive info. A security vulnerability or compromised account could also expose your data, among other things, so be careful about what you share with Claude.
Can Anthropic see your chats?
Yes, Anthropic can access some Claude conversations. The company says a limited number of employees can review chats for purposes such as model training, safety enforcement, and abuse prevention, depending on your settings and how the conversation gets flagged.
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