- Five Eyes officials from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand warned that cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology is poised to supercharge offensive hacking capabilities, necessitating urgent action.
- Five Eyes is urging cyber defenders to adopt AI to fight cyber threats.
- The Five Eyes report notes cyber fundamentals are crucial and encourages organisations to use AI to boost defences.
- AI benefits attackers and defenders alike, and defenders should have access to AI capabilities to protect systems.
- Deploying AI without first investing in cybersecurity basics would be a mistake.
- Five Eyes outlined five urgent, practical actions organisations should take to reduce their risk.
- We must act now, reads the statement from Five Eyes.
- The warning reflects increasing concerns over models such as Anthropic’s Mythos or OpenAI’s GPT-5.5-Cyber, which can enable users to execute complex and potentially devastating hacks.
- Anthropic was forced to disable a version of Mythos after the US government ordered it to suspend access to the models for foreign nationals over alleged national security concerns.
- The US cyber-defence agency, CISA, reduced the deadlines for government officials to address serious digital vulnerabilities in their networks to three days, citing AI threats.
- In a release by Five Eyes – the decades-old signals alliance comprising agencies from Australia, New Zealand, US, UK, and Canada – cybersecurity defenders are urged to use AI to “move faster and more effectively”.
- Five Eyes is urging companies to “use AI to strengthen defence”, noting AI tools can quicken vulnerability detection, improve software quality, monitor unusual behaviour and speed up incident response.
- The collective notes, however, that success would “not come from having the most tools”.
- Indeed, Five Eyes said cyber risk is a leadership responsibility that can “no longer be treated as a purely technical issue”.
The Five Eyes intelligence alliance has issued a stark warning regarding the dual-edged nature of artificial intelligence (AI) in cybersecurity. While AI can enhance defensive measures, it also accelerates the capabilities of cyber attackers, making it imperative for organizations to act swiftly.1245689131416
In a recent statement, the alliance, which includes agencies from Australia, New Zealand, the US, the UK, and Canada, emphasized that AI is dramatically shrinking the time between vulnerability discovery and exploitation. They noted, “The timeline is not years, it is months.” This urgency is underscored by the rapid evolution of AI models, such as Anthropic’s Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT-5.5-Cyber, which can facilitate complex and potentially devastating hacks.1011
The Five Eyes report advocates for organizations to “use AI to strengthen defence”, highlighting its potential to enhance vulnerability detection, improve software quality, and expedite incident response. However, they caution that deploying AI without first investing in cybersecurity basics would be a mistake. “Good AI implementation, in this context, means treating AI as a force multiplier for resilience and detection, not just efficiency,” the report states.37
The alliance also outlined five urgent actions organizations should take to mitigate risks, emphasizing that cyber risk is a leadership responsibility that must be prioritized. “We must act now,” they concluded, urging defenders to leverage AI capabilities to protect systems before they become targets of AI-driven attacks.
“The Five Eyes intelligence alliance has issued a warning about the threats posed by new AI models. They are calling for cybersecurity defenders to adopt AI technologies while stressing the need for foundational cybersecurity practices.”
