German banks examine risks of Anthropic's Mythos with authorities

German banks and national authorities are examining risks around Anthropic's new artificial intelligence model, an official said on Thursday, amid concerns that it could fuel cyberattacks.

Kolja Gabriel, a member of the executive board at the German Banking Association, told Reuters that the group was consulting with cyber experts at its member banks as well as Germany's finance ministry and other authorities.

Anthropic's Mythos is seen by cybersecurity experts as ​posing significant challenges to the banking sector and its legacy technology systems, raising alarm bells among regulators in Britain and the United States.

"Mythos is being used in a controlled manner by IT security firms to close potential vulnerabilities as quickly as possible. We expect a series of software updates shortly and are closely monitoring developments," Gabriel, who is responsible for technology and innovation, said in an emailed statement.

The talks also involve the Bundesbank and Germany's financial watchdog BaFin.

The finance ministry declined to comment, while the central bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

BaFin said that there are regular exchanges with relevant national, European, and international stakeholders.

"Financial firms must be prepared for the possibility that vulnerabilities could be discovered in the near future, which would then need to be addressed promptly and quickly," BaFin said in a statement.

Reuters reported on Thursday that European Central Bank supervisors are set to quiz bankers about the risks of Mythos.

Anthropic has said its current iteration, Claude Mythos Preview, will not be made generally available and has instead announced Project Glasswing.

It invited major tech companies, cybersecurity vendors, and JPMorgan Chase, along with several dozen other organizations, to privately evaluate the model and prepare defenses accordingly.

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