Funding cuts, political battles muddy Trump's response to Mythos
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Anthropic's new Mythos Preview model could bring huge security advancements to under-resourced critical infrastructure sectors, like water systems and gas suppliers, that have struggled to update their technology stacks.
Friction point: The U.S. government, which typically acts as a coordinator between major tech vendors and those utilities, is in a huge fight with Anthropic.
- The government also spent the last year cutting resources at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the federal cybersecurity agency that would lead these efforts.
The big picture: It's a matter of when, not if, malicious hackers will get their hands on some of the advanced hacking capabilities that models like Mythos Preview possess.
- Water, energy, transportation and communications are some of the biggest targets for adversarial hackers, including cybercriminals and state-backed groups.
Driving the news: The Trump administration has reportedly held calls with major tech and cybersecurity CEOs to discuss the advanced cyber capabilities of models like Mythos Preview.
- National cyber director Sean Cairncross is leading the administration's efforts to respond to security threats posed by the latest AI models, per the Wall Street Journal.
- Anthropic unveiled the new model last week, noting it had found serious security flaws in nearly every operating system during testing.
- To keep the model out of the hands of malicious hackers, the company has decided to give access only to a hand-picked group of technology and cybersecurity companies. Anthropic also briefed government partners, including CISA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a company official said.
Reality check: Touching the topic has become a hot potato for Trump officials given the ongoing, politically charged fight with Anthropic.
- Several sources declined to weigh in due to the pending litigation over President Trump's decision to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk.
The big picture: Typically, CISA would take a leading role in determining the ways a new AI model like Mythos could benefit critical infrastructure organizations' security defenses.
Yes, but: The Trump administration has slashed the agency's funding, staffing and resources and has proposed more cuts next year.
- The administration's nominee to run CISA has been in limbo in the Senate for more than a year.
- CISA declined to comment on Mythos. The Office of the National Cyber Director did not respond to several requests for comment.
What they're saying: "This is not just a technical opportunity but a strategic imperative," Jen Easterly, former CISA director, wrote in a post about Anthropic's Mythos Preview rollout.
- "CISA, as both America's Cyber Defense Agency and the National Coordinator for critical infrastructure security and resilience, could play a critical coordinating role."
The intrigue: Patching operational technology devices — the technology that sits on a cargo ship or cell tower and helps it run — isn't as easy as running a software update, Chris Grove, director of cybersecurity strategy at Nozomi Networks, told Axios.
- "Security has generally been like a game of cat and mouse," Grove said. "Now, [AI] puts the cats and the mice on caffeine."
Between the lines: Even as the White House convenes industry meetings, turning those conversations into actual policy will be a heavy lift that requires agencies like CISA and NIST, Jake Braun, former deputy cyber director at the White House, told Axios.
- "Engagement for engagement's sake is usually a huge waste of time," Braun said. "Ideally they also have a back-end apparatus of people who are taking the do-outs from those meetings and synthesizing all of them into broader policy analysis and talking to operators to understand how these things would actually manifest in the real world."
- Government agencies can help critical infrastructure organizations determine how exactly they should shore up their defenses, Ellen Boehm, senior vice president of strategy and AI innovation at Keyfactor, told Axios.
Zoom in: The Operational Technology Cybersecurity Coalition, an industry group of cybersecurity companies, infrastructure operators and policymakers, is already working with member companies to develop AI guidelines and principles, executive director Tatyana Bolton told Axios.
- "In the face of AI-driven threats, silos and human speed are luxuries we can no longer afford," Bolton said. "The federal government and the private sector have to move as one."
- She added that the Office of the National Cyber Director should step in to help critical infrastructure organizations that don't have the resources to fend off the increasingly volatile threat landscape.
What to watch: Critical infrastructure security firms don't appear to have a strong presence in Anthropic's limited rollout of Mythos Preview, but some are already clamoring to get access to the model.
- The Treasury Department is also seeking access to Anthropic's model, according to Bloomberg.
Go deeper: Frightening AI advances speed race to secure critical infrastructure
