#cybersecuritythreat

Anthropic’s advanced AI model, Mythos, has emerged as a double-edged sword in cybersecurity, rapidly identifying software vulnerabilities far faster than human teams or traditional methods. This capability, while revolutionary for defense, poses severe risks to Indian enterprises, especially those reliant on legacy systems in banking, telecom, and critical infrastructure. As Mythos scans code and uncovers zero-day flaws in hours, it outpaces patch cycles that often stretch weeks, leaving systems exposed to exploitation.

India Inc faces a reckoning, with experts warning of structural cyber risks amplified by slow remediation in sectors like finance. HDFC Bank, India’s largest private lender, is actively engaging the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) and Anthropic to assess impacts, highlighting the urgency for major players. CERT-In has issued high-severity advisories to MSMEs, cautioning that frontier AI like Mythos lowers barriers for cybercriminals by automating reconnaissance, phishing, and multi-stage attacks. These models can generate exploit code and plan assaults with minimal human input, threatening the $260 billion IT sector.

The fallout extends to India’s $250 billion IT services industry, where Mythos represents a “step-jump” in automating coding, testing, and security tasks. Kotak Institutional Equities reports potential disruptions in application development, sparking sell-offs in IT stocks like TCS amid earnings concerns. Tech policy analyst Subimal Bhattacharjee notes India’s frameworks, designed for human-speed threats, are mismatched against AI’s pace, risking simultaneous breaches in interdependent infrastructure.

Government response has been swift: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman formed a panel under SBI Chairman C S Setty to mitigate risks, while regulators in Delhi, London, and Washington raise alarms. Anthropic is in talks with Indian authorities to safeguard Critical Information Infrastructure (CII), including energy and banking. As AI accelerates vulnerability discovery, enterprises must invest in AI-driven defenses, faster patching, and updated regulations to close the gap.

This crisis underscores the need for proactive adaptation. Indian firms should prioritize AI security audits, collaborate with global developers like Anthropic, and build resilient architectures.