New Delhi: India is undertaking tests of some of its most sensitive public-facing financial and government application software to better understand their vulnerabilities to Anthropic PBC’s next-generation Mythos AI model, according to Indian officials familiar with the matter.
Indian technology giants Infosys Ltd. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. are among companies carrying out the tests of their software for vulnerabilities in a secure environment to Mythos, the officials said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. Infosys in particular is looking to devise patches to its widely used Finacle banking software, they said.
Separately, India’s state-run cybersecurity agency CERT-In is undergoing tests of key digital infrastructure including the Aadhaar national ID program and government login systems, said the officials. The companies, which don’t currently have access to Mythos, are using Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.7 AI software to patch vulnerabilities, they said.
Infosys and TCS didn’t respond to requests for comment. India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Global Worries
India’s risk assessments are the latest sign of unease among governments and corporate boardrooms around the world over Mythos, the powerful AI software developed by Anthropic to root out cybersecurity vulnerabilities, but which has raised global alarm over its own extraordinary ability to power potential cyberattacks.
So far, Anthropic has limited access to Mythos to a select few companies including Apple Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., allowing them to use the technology to test their own cyberdefenses under an initiative called Project Glasswing. Governments and other companies around the world have petitioned the US for access to Mythos to help sniff out their own vulnerabilities.
India is home to some of the world’s biggest software companies that provide numerous back-office functions to banks and tech firms globally, adding urgency to the need to identify cyber-vulnerabilities. At the same time, India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has undertaken a vast expansion of its digital infrastructure, including working to onboard its 1.4 billion citizens onto its Aadhaar national ID program.
Many provide services for both the Indian government and private firms, with Infosys running the country’s service-tax system and TCS running its passport system. Infosys’s Finacle provides software to financial firms globally.
India’s central bank has already held multiple rounds of meetings with Indian banks to apprise them of the potential threats from Mythos, said the officials. Last month, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India was closely monitoring the potential threats posed by Mythos and asked banks to step up vigilance to secure IT systems, safeguard customer data, and protect financial resources.
US Cooperation
Also last month, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh told analysts that Mythos was “exposing more vulnerabilities than one thought possible previously.” He also said it could lead to new opportunities for the company to help clients address vulnerabilities. “We are looking at it both ways,” he said.
Anthropic has told Indian authorities that it’s for the US government to decide if they would like to share the advance Mythos with any company or country, and if so when, according to the Indian officials familiar with the matter.
India is seeking access to Mythos in a secure setup preferably based within the country, according to one of the people, with those talks being led by the Ministry of External Affairs engaging with US government officials. New Delhi has identified a facility to test the model with sensitive data and shortlisted sectors and experts to assess its capabilities, the official said.
India sees closer cooperation with the US as key to protecting sensitive infrastructure and government networks, while also reducing reliance on rivals such as China, another official said.
In an interview last week with Bloomberg News, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said Washington was reviewing some of India’s requests but declined to provide specifics. “They have requested access to various things, and as a trusted partner, those are some things that we are definitely looking at,” he said in a phone interview.
–With assistance from Sankalp Phartiyal and Eric Martin.