Expanding the Cyber Verification Program (www.anthropic.com)

Anthropic has launched an expanded Cyber Verification Program (CVP) aimed at enhancing cybersecurity for qualifying professionals by offering access to advanced models under three distinct tiers. This expansion addresses the dual-use nature of cybersecurity tools, ensuring that while advanced capabilities are available to defenders, safeguards remain in place to prevent misuse. The new tier system includes Defense Access for general defensive work, Red Team Access for authorized penetration testing, and Specialized Access for critical infrastructure testing. Organizations must meet specific verification and security criteria to qualify for these tiers. The significance of this program lies in its potential to bolster cybersecurity defenses by providing advanced tools to a broader range of security professionals. In trial evaluations, models under each tier demonstrated varied capabilities; for example, Claude Opus 5.5 succeeded in 34 out of 50 tasks without blocks in the Red Team Access tier, equating to a success rate similar to the Specialized Access tier. This rollout aims to build on the successes of Project Glasswing, which already showcased substantial gains in identifying software vulnerabilities, reporting at least 129,000 critical vulnerabilities uncovered by partners. With this enhanced CVP, Anthropic is set to empower more defenders in the ongoing battle against cyber threats.