'You can no longer do things at human ​scale': Cisco releases AI agent botnet that works on behalf of your business

Cisco launches Cloud Control AI defense suiteBusinesses urged to deploy bot armiesMarketplace integrates coding tools like Codex

Cisco wants businesses to be ready when malicious actors inevitably start using Mythos in their cyberattacks. In this context, being ready means having a bot army of their own, and preferably one provided by Cisco itself.

Earlier this week, the networking giant announced a new suite of tools called Cisco Cloud Control. These tools will enable businesses to build their own army of AI agents, tasked with watching over the systems and blocking any exploitation attempts.

Preparing for Mythos

Cisco argues that businesses will want to use AI coding tools to build out those bots, which is why it is rolling out a marketplace where users can choose different solutions, such as OpenAI’s Codex. This one, for example, will be embedded directly in the Cloud Control platform, and others are likely to be added as well.

The suite is now available in North America, while the marketplace for third-party tools should be released in the second half of the year. Cisco is currently working out the economics, since it wants to take a cut of the sales. It’s just not yet clear how big of a cut:

"We're working through ​the economics,” Sampath added. “⁠You should expect that we will have some economics that favor us, because it costs non-trivial amounts to be able to leverage all of these pieces."

In early April this year, Anthropic released Mythos Preview, a cybersecurity-oriented AI model that was allegedly able to surface decades-old vulnerabilities in fully patched systems used by some of the biggest companies today. Not only that, but it was also able to create working exploits, which is why Anthropic decided not to release it to the public just yet.

However, after more than two months of lockdown, it seems Mythos could see the light of day in the coming weeks.