Student Uses Claude to Reset University Server, Uncovers Year-Old Crypto Miner

Bright-Leg8276 · reddit · 2026-08-02

A student preparing for a hackathon needed to use their university's server (equipped with dual NVIDIA A30 GPUs) to train a solar flare prediction model, only to find it unmaintained and its primary-secondary architecture misconfigured.

Handing over remote control to Claude, the AI successfully set up the entire server architecture—which impressed the IT team upon review. After a reboot, Claude flagged a crypto miner that had been frying the GPUs for over a year. Claude then ran a deep scan, cleared the malware, and reset the firewall, solving an issue the university's own cybersecurity team couldn't handle.

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