The European Central Bank is sounding the alarm. Board member Frank Elderson warned Wednesday that euro area banks must immediately prepare for a new wave of cyberattacks powered by advanced artificial intelligence, specifically citing Anthropic's Mythos AI model.
Elderson, vice chair of the ECB's bank supervision arm, acknowledged that most euro banks lack direct access to Mythos, but stressed that is no excuse for inaction. "Lack of access is not an excuse for inaction. On the contrary, it makes it even more critical that banks step up and act now," he said in the ECB's Supervision Newsletter.
Large U.S. banks, granted early access to Mythos, are already scrambling to patch data system vulnerabilities identified by the tool. Elderson warned that future AI models will enable even more aggressive attacks, requiring banks to adapt quickly.
ECB President Christine Lagarde earlier this month said the central bank is studying defenses against Mythos-guided threats, despite its own lack of access. The global divide is widening: Japan's three largest banks are expected to gain Mythos access within two weeks.
Elderson urged banks and their contractors to fix even minor software weaknesses immediately, rather than waiting for regular update cycles.