ECB urges banks to brace quickly for AI-assisted cyberattacks


European Central Bank Executive Board member Frank Elderson attends an economic conference in Nicosia, Cyprus November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou

FRANKFURT, May 13 (Reuters) - ⁠European Central Bank board member Frank Elderson ⁠on Wednesday urged banks in the euro area ‌to quickly prepare for potential cyberattacks launched with the help of Anthropic's Mythos AI model or similar tools.

Elderson, who is ​Vice Chair of the ECB's bank ⁠supervision arm, said ⁠in an interview in ECB publication Supervision Newsletter that ⁠euro ‌area banks currently do not have access to Mythos.

"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.

Reuters reported this week that large U.S. banks, which have been granted early access to Mythos, ⁠are rushing to fix scores of ​data system weaknesses flagged by the tool.

Mythos is viewed by cybersecurity experts as a significant challengeto the banking ⁠industry and its data technology systems, prompting a series of warnings from regulators and policymakers.

Elderson warned that banks need to brace for future AI models ​that enable even more aggressive ⁠cyberattacks.

"We need to be able to deal with ​ever more capable future models that ‌could be released in relatively ​quick succession," he said.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Reinhard Becker, Editing by Linda Pasquini)

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