Page 11 - The Indian EYE 052926

OPINION MAY 29, 2026 | The Indian Eye 11

Mythos an unprecedented challenge
to the Indian financial system, the
Finance Minister instructed banks
to secure their IT infrastructure
and protect customer data, and em-
phasised the need for a system that
allows real-time sharing of threat in-
telligence among banks and cyberse-
curity agencies. Additionally, a panel
has been set up under State Bank of
India Chairman C.S. Setty to assess
risks arising from the AI platform
Mythos and develop mitigating mea-
sures.
India is not alone in recognising
Mythos as a national security con-
cern; there has been a broader trend
of countries viewing the emergent
capability with some trepidation. In-
dia does face unique constraints in
any decision regarding access to ad-
vanced AI cybersecurity capabilities
or protection against them. The issue
of access has been at the forefront
for Indian entities such as the Na-
tional Payments Corporation of In-
dia (NPCI) and Paytm, as evidenced
by their engagement with Anthropic The issue of access has been at the forefront for Indian entities such as the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Paytm (File photo)
and the US Government to secure
early access. systems offers sovereign control also poses a major vulnerability. In- compresses the timeline for existing
The Indian banking system also over systems and the pacing of stead of focusing dialogue solely on threats, even as the resources, infra-
faces structural issues that predate their updates, which can be syner- Mythos, it is necessary to invest in structure, and capability to cope with
Mythos. India has been pursuing last- gised against the threat landscape and strengthen cybersecurity capac- them remain lagging. India is at an
mile connectivity, financial inclusion, for India. ity for critical sectors, particularly unenviable crossroads with no easy or
and the digitisation of governance • Sovereign Deployment of AI mod- by building a clearer view of which perfect choice; each path has a cost,
structures, bringing millions of Indi- els may strike a balance in the software those institutions run versus and none guarantees immediate and/
ans into the fold of formal banking current scenario. As seen in the what they need, and gradually retir- or durable security. Modernising cur-
through the JAM trinity and the Uni- examples from Vidoc and AISLE, ing older systems. rent systems and accelerating patch-
fied Payments Interface (UPI). How- lower-end models can be orient- The dialogue around Mythos ing timelines in India are as critical as
ever, such large-scale programmes ed to achieve results that closely has largely shaped it as a threat, and pursuing frontier capabilities that do
have come at a cost: India’s Core parallel those of Mythos. India while it has real potential for harm, not force a choice between security
Banking System (CBS) has been can leverage indigenous AI efforts its capability can also be viewed as a and sovereignty. The emergence of
supported by centralised technolog- such as BharatGen, Sarvam, and forcing function. After all, Mythos Mythos, therefore, should not gen-
ical structures that are notoriously the IndiaAI Mission to build se- was not designed as a cybersecuri- erate panic but rather evoke caution
slow-moving and difficult to change. curity assets specific to its needs. ty tool. Anthropic built it as a gen- about the nascent stage of AI devel-
India also has a record of a rel- While they may lag in raw com- eral-purpose model with extended opment, characterised by the dilu-
atively sluggish pace in patching pute and cybersecurity capabilities autonomous reasoning capabilities tion of human oversight, inequitable
vulnerabilities, even in critical sys- in the near term, it may help India across scientific research, legal anal- access to capabilities, and collapsing
tems. Wannacry Attacks had proven develop the necessary scaffolding ysis, strategic synthesis, and complex timelines.
to be an illuminating example: the to grow its cybersecurity assets. systems modelling. The cybersecurity Meghna Pradhan is a Research Analyst
Windows vulnerability exploited by For aspects where the indigenous capability surfaced during the evalu- at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for
the ransomware had been discov- model may not suffice, open mod- ation of those reasoning capabilities, Defense Studies and Analysis, New
ered and patched by Microsoft two els available internationally may and Anthropic chose to highlight it in Delhi. She is currently pursuing her
months before the attack. serve as a stopgap. its subsequent disclosures. The infa- PhD at the Department of East Asian
Within these constraints, India’s Whichever one (or mix) of these my Mythos has acquired is therefore Studies, University of Delhi, with
response space is structured by three choices India opts for, getting hold of not a product of deliberate design her thesis focused on how emerging
principal options, each with charac- better tools is only half the answer. intent, but of inadvertent capabilities technologies such as AI affect political
teristic costs. Indian institutions also need to make the model came to exhibit. This is a processes
• Full purchase of Mythos-class and better use of the tools they already critical inflexion point. As AI systems Views expressed are of the author and
any potential Mythos-audited soft- have. A scan that flags a vulnerability become more capable, any sufficient- do not necessarily reflect the views of
ware systems is one of the seem- is only useful if the patch reaches the ly developed system, regardless of the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
ingly obvious and most disadvanta- actual machine. Critical institutions the purpose for which it was built, Government of India.
geous options for India. often lack full awareness of their may develop properties that its de-
• Collaboration is another option, software systems and the personnel signers did not intend. Still, the wider The full version of this article first ap-
specifically with companies that to respond quickly when issues are world is left to confront and absorb. peared in the Comments section of the
are already part of the Glasswing flagged. The use of legacy systems, For India, Mythos is not an issue website (www.idsa.in) of Manohar Par-
project. especially when their operators do because it creates a novel vulner- rikar Institute for Defense Studies and
• Indigenisation of critical software not always issue security updates, ability, but because it significantly Analyses, New Delhi, on May 19, 2026

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