Japan launches financial task force amid AI security fears

Japan will form a financial-sector task force to tackle cybersecurity risks after Anthropic said a preview of its Mythos AI model uncovered “thousands” of major vulnerabilities across major operating systems and browsers. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said the Financial Services Agency, Bank of Japan, National Cybersecurity Office, the country’s top three banks and Japan Exchange Group will participate. While there have been no reported breaches tied to the model, regulators worldwide have urged banks to review defenses. Katayama warned that Japan’s interconnected, real-time financial systems could allow cyberattacks to spread quickly and trigger market disruption and confidence losses. The move raises the risk of increased regulatory scrutiny and prompts operational resilience measures that could cause short-term volatility in Japanese equities (Japan 225) and financial stocks, while supporting precautionary risk-off flows until vulnerabilities are addressed.