{"slug": "ai-will-make-cyberattacks-more-dangerous-anthropic-has-a-new-plan-to-protect", "title": "AI Will Make Cyberattacks More Dangerous. Anthropic Has a New Plan to Protect Critical Infrastructure.", "summary": "Anthropic launched its Critical Infrastructure Defense Program, giving participating cybersecurity companies access to its frontier AI models, on-site engineering support and threat intelligence research to find and fix vulnerabilities in systems controlling electricity, water and industrial operations. Anthropic also introduced OSS Scanner, a free AI-powered service that periodically scans open-source project code and sends maintainers automated vulnerability reports without human review before delivery. The expansion follows Anthropic's earlier Project Glasswing and comes after OpenAI's September $1 billion initiative for subsidized AI access and training for essential-services organizations, with more than 100 organizations including Anthropic, OpenAI and Microsoft warning in August that critical infrastructure operators had limited time to prepare for AI-assisted cyberattacks.", "body_md": "# AI Will Make Cyberattacks More Dangerous. Anthropic Has a New Plan to Protect Critical Infrastructure.\n\n## The company is bringing its most advanced models, cybersecurity researchers, and engineers directly to companies responsible for protecting essential services.\n\nAnthropic is expanding its cybersecurity ambitions with a new initiative aimed at protecting some of America's most vulnerable infrastructure as [artificial intelligence](https://www.ibtimes.com/topic/ai) gives hackers increasingly sophisticated tools to launch attacks.\n\nThe company is launching its Critical Infrastructure Defense Program, bringing its most advanced models, cybersecurity researchers and engineers directly to companies responsible for protecting essential services, according to [Axios](https://www.axios.com/2026/10/08/anthropic-critical-infrastructure-cybersecurity).\n\nUnlike traditional cybersecurity programs focused primarily on software networks, Anthropic's initiative targets systems that control physical operations, where a successful cyberattack could interrupt electricity, compromise water services or disrupt industrial production.\n\nUnder the program, participating [cybersecurity](https://www.ibtimes.com/topic/cybersecurity) companies will receive access Anthropic's frontier AI models, on-site engineering support and threat intelligence research. Those resources will help them identify security vulnerabilities in their customers' systems and develop ways to address them.\n\nAnthropic told the outlet that several partners are already using Claude to identify and remediate vulnerabilities and assist their customers with similar work. The company is also introducing a separate initiative targeting a different but equally significant cybersecurity challenge of vulnerabilities in open-source software.\n\nIts new OSS Scanner service will offer free, AI-powered security scans to participating open-source projects, periodically examining their code for potential weaknesses. Software maintainers will receive automated reports identifying vulnerabilities, explaining how attackers could exploit them and recommending possible fixes.\n\nHowever, those reports will not undergo human review before delivery, raising the possibility of inaccurate findings that developers will need to verify independently. The announcement follows Anthropic's earlier Project Glasswing, which provided vetted organizations access to powerful AI models to uncover security flaws.\n\nThe company noted that the effort demonstrated AI's ability to discover vulnerabilities rapidly while exposing the fact that identifying weaknesses is often much easier than verifying and repairing them.\n\nAnthropic's expansion also comes amid growing competition among AI developers to strengthen cybersecurity defenses. In September, OpenAI announced a $1 billion initiative to provide subsidized AI access, training and technical support to organizations protecting essential services, including electricity providers and water systems.\n\nThe urgency extends beyond competition between technology companies. In August, more than 100 organizations, including Anthropic, OpenAI and Microsoft, warned that critical infrastructure operators had limited time to prepare for increasingly capable AI-assisted cyberattacks.\n\nSignificant questions remain about the latest program. The company has not explained how its partners will safely test and implement AI-recommended fixes without potentially disrupting the infrastructure they are trying to protect. It also has not disclosed whether participating companies will receive free access to its models or who will pay the computing costs.\n\n© Copyright IBTimes 2026. All rights reserved.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-will-make-cyberattacks-more-dangerous-anthropic-has-a-new-plan-to-protect", "canonical_source": "https://www.ibtimes.com/ai-will-make-cyberattacks-more-dangerous-anthropic-has-new-plan-protect-critical-infrastructure-3808425", "published_at": "2026-10-09 19:03:54+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-09 20:22:46.551897+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-safety", "artificial-intelligence", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Anthropic", "Critical Infrastructure Defense Program", "Claude", "OSS Scanner", "Project Glasswing", "OpenAI", "Microsoft", "Axios"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-will-make-cyberattacks-more-dangerous-anthropic-has-a-new-plan-to-protect", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-will-make-cyberattacks-more-dangerous-anthropic-has-a-new-plan-to-protect.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-will-make-cyberattacks-more-dangerous-anthropic-has-a-new-plan-to-protect.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-will-make-cyberattacks-more-dangerous-anthropic-has-a-new-plan-to-protect.jsonld"}}