Sitharaman flags 'Mythos' cyber threat

India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told bank chiefs on April 23 to strengthen cyber defences against AI-linked threats tied to Anthropic’s “Mythos” model. (thehindu.com) (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The meeting in New Delhi brought together heads of scheduled commercial banks and senior officials to assess how advanced artificial intelligence could be misused against financial systems and customer data. (theweek.in) (firstpost.com) According to reports citing the finance ministry, Sitharaman asked banks to maintain a “very high degree of vigilance, preparedness and better coordination” and backed a real-time threat-intelligence sharing mechanism across lenders. (financialexpress.com) (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Artificial intelligence models can automate coding, search for software flaws, and adapt attacks quickly, which is why regulators are treating them less like ordinary software and more like force multipliers. (bloomberg.com) (firstpost.com) That concern surfaced at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington earlier in April, where officials and bankers discussed whether new AI tools could expose vulnerabilities faster than institutions can patch them. (bloomberg.com) (firstpost.com) Indian officials framed the response as both a banking issue and a financial-stability issue, with lenders told to protect systems, customer funds and sensitive data before any attack chain scales. (theweek.in) (outlookbusiness.com) The finance minister also asked the Indian Banks’ Association and State Bank of India to work with banks on sector-wide preparedness, according to multiple reports on the April 23 meeting. (outlookbusiness.com) (financialexpress.com) Three days later, on April 26, Sitharaman widened the message beyond banks and urged all financial-sector entities to remain “exceptionally vigilant” on cybersecurity as AI tools make attacks faster and more adaptive. (outlookmoney.com) (msn.com) The immediate policy shift is not a new law or a named sanction. It is a supervisory push for faster information-sharing, tighter monitoring and higher alert levels across India’s financial system. (financialexpress.com) (outlookmoney.com) Sitharaman’s warning puts AI-enabled cyber risk alongside rates, liquidity and debt as a live issue for bank supervisors, with the next test being whether banks turn that alert into shared, real-time defence. (bloomberg.com) (thehindu.com)