China’s 360 says it has developed tools to match Anthropic’s Mythos

Published Jun 24, 2026

BEIJING – Chinese cybersecurity firm 360 Security Technology has developed what it calls a domestic answer to Anthropic’s Mythos, it said on June 24, casting the US model as a strategic cyber capability that China could not afford to lack.

Mythos, previewed in April, is a system that detects software vulnerabilities, but cybersecurity experts have warned that it could supercharge cyberattacks.

Speaking at the ISC.AI 2026 cybersecurity conference in Beijing, 360 founder Zhou Hongyi unveiled two AI security tools under the banner “Yitian Tulong”, a name drawn from a classic Chinese martial arts novel meaning “Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber”.

Zhou said one tool, “Tulongfeng”, was designed to automatically discover software vulnerabilities, calling it “China’s version of Mythos”, while a second system, “Yitianzhen”, was built to automate cyber defence and incident response.

“This kind of powerful weapon that can change the landscape of cyber offence and defence cannot be held only by others,” Zhou said in a speech, according to a transcript published by 360.

He described vulnerability-finding AI as a national strategic asset that could be used both to defend critical infrastructure and to gain offensive advantage.

360’s release marks the most high-profile Chinese answer yet to Anthropic’s Mythos model, which has triggered alarm in Washington and other capitals, as well as across the cybersecurity industry, over its ability to discover vulnerabilities in sensitive systems.

Anthropic said in April that Mythos Preview had found “thousands” of major vulnerabilities in operating systems, web browsers and other software.

The US government in June ordered the company to suspend exports of a less powerful version of Mythos to destinations worldwide and all foreign nationals due to national security concerns.

Zhou argued that China faced a risk of “one-way transparency” if US entities could use Mythos-like models to scan software and critical systems while Chinese companies were denied comparable capabilities.

360 said Tulongfeng had found 3,432 software vulnerabilities, including 105 confirmed by the Chinese authorities. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.

Zhou said 360 would not simply copy the US approach, which he described as relying on “the strongest model, the strongest computing power and the strongest chips”.

“Objectively speaking, domestic models still have a 20 per cent to 30 per cent gap in base capability,” Zhou said. “China cannot wait until model capabilities have fully caught up before starting vulnerability discovery, because we cannot afford to wait.”

Instead, Zhou said his company was taking an “agent” route, combining models with security expertise, vulnerability databases and automated tools, an approach he claimed only 360 had successfully deployed, giving Tulongfeng “Mythos-equivalent capabilities”.

“If Mythos is a top-end chip, what we are building is a complete machine that can run stably, work 24 hours a day and make fewer mistakes,” he said. “If the US route is to cultivate a genius hacker, 360’s route is to organise a professional attack-and-defence team.”

Zhou, a veteran Chinese internet entrepreneur and outspoken technology commentator, founded 360, which became one of China’s best-known cybersecurity companies through antivirus software and later expanded into enterprise and government security.