Chinese cybersecurity company 360 Security Technology said on Wednesday it has built a domestic alternative to Anthropic's Mythos system, describing the American model as a strategic cyber capability that China could not afford to go without.
As per Reuters, speaking at the ISC.AI 2026 cybersecurity conference in Beijing, 360 founder Zhou Hongyi introduced two new AI security tools under the name "Yitian Tulong," drawn from a classic Chinese martial arts novel.
One tool, called "Tulongfeng," is designed to automatically detect software vulnerabilities and was billed by Zhou as China's answer to Mythos. The second, "Yitianzhen," is intended to automate cyber defence and incident response.
Vulnerability-hunting AI framed as strategic asset
Zhou said capabilities that can find software flaws at scale amount to a national strategic asset, useful both for protecting critical infrastructure and for offensive purposes.
He argued that such tools "cannot be held only by others," warning that China risked one-way exposure if American firms could scan systems worldwide using Mythos-like technology while Chinese companies lacked equivalent tools.
360 said Tulongfeng has already identified 3,432 software vulnerabilities, of which 105 have been confirmed by Chinese authorities. Reuters said it could not independently verify these figures.
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Background on Mythos and export curbs
Anthropic previewed Mythos in April, describing it as a system capable of detecting vulnerabilities in operating systems, browsers and other software, and saying it had already surfaced thousands of major flaws.
Cybersecurity experts have cautioned that the same capability could be turned toward offensive cyberattacks.
Earlier this month, the US government directed Anthropic to halt exports of a less powerful version of Mythos to foreign nationals and overseas destinations, citing national security concerns.
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Acknowledging the capability gap
Zhou conceded that Chinese models still trail US systems by roughly 20-30% in base capability, but said Beijing could not wait for parity before pursuing vulnerability research.
He said 360 was instead pairing AI models with security expertise, vulnerability databases and automation tools to deliver what he called "Mythos-equivalent capabilities" through what he described as a more organised, team-based approach rather than relying on a single highly capable system.
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