The UK government is warning business leaders the cyber threat has changed and that the way they respond must change with it.
In an open letter signed by Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Liz Kendall and Security Minister Dan Jarvis, it states, “We are writing to you because the threat your business faces in cyber space is changing.” AI, it warns, is increasing the capability of threat actors, the speed and scale of attacks and lowering the barrier to entry. The pool of people who can launch a serious attack is growing.
Anthropic’s Mythos Flagged as Most Capable Offensive AI Model Yet
The letter names a specific development. Anthropic recently announced a new model called Mythos. Testing by Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)’s AI Security Institute (AISI) found it to be “substantially more capable at cyber offence than any model we have previously assessed.”
The institute’s findings go further: frontier AI cyber capabilities are now doubling every four months, compared to every eight months previously – accelerating faster than had been envisaged.
Frontier AI Capabilities Now Doubling Every Four Months
OpenAI, separately, announced it is scaling up its Trusted Access for Cyber programme. The letter is clear this is not one company’s problem. More, it says, are expected to follow. Most organizations were not built for this pace and attacks are already arriving faster than they can handle.
What Businesses Are Being Asked to Do
The message to business leaders is unambiguous: this is your problem too. “If your board has not recently discussed cyber risk,” it states, “do so at your next meeting and then regularly.”
Three actions are asked of every business – get Cyber Essentials certified; treat security as a board-level priority, not an IT function; and sign up to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)’s free Early Warning Service, which can alert organizations to potential attacks before they escalate.
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, will strengthen protections for critical services, from the NHS to the energy system.
Government Response: Legislation and Investment
The UK continues to invest in AI starting from domestic capability, compute infrastructure to AI safety. It is also investing in understanding the threats that same technology enables. The AI Security Institute, the letter states, gives government “an independently verified, robust assessment of current capabilities.”
The warning is clear. The shift is already underway. The question is whether organizations have adjusted to that reality or are still operating on assumptions that no longer hold.
Also Read: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Was Supposed to Reduce Risk. Now It’s Getting Insured
