---
title: "Palo Alto rents out the cyber models Anthropic and OpenAI keep locked"
description: "Unit 42's Continuous Frontier AI Defense sells Claude Mythos 5 and GPT-5.6-Cyber behind an annual subscription priced by model mix. The gate built as a safety control is now the moat, and the risk of the models spreading sits with everyone outside it."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Security"
published: 2026-09-24T18:23:01.411Z
modified: 2026-09-24T18:23:01.411Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/palo-alto-rents-out-the-cyber-models-anthropic-and-openai-keep-locked
language: en
keywords: "Palo Alto Networks, Anthropic, OpenAI, Cybersecurity, AI Safety"
---

# Palo Alto rents out the cyber models Anthropic and OpenAI keep locked

> Unit 42's Continuous Frontier AI Defense sells Claude Mythos 5 and GPT-5.6-Cyber behind an annual subscription priced by model mix. The gate built as a safety control is now the moat, and the risk of the models spreading sits with everyone outside it.

## The only way to buy a model the labs keep locked

[Palo Alto Networks](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/palo-alto-networks) opened subscriptions on 22 September to Unit 42 Continuous Frontier AI Defense, an always-on offensive security service that runs [Anthropic](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/anthropic)'s Claude Mythos 5 and [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai)'s GPT-5.6-Cyber against customers' web apps, APIs, cloud and code [1]. After a full-estate scan it keeps testing as systems change, proposing code fixes or temporary "virtual" patches [4].

Neither model is sold to the public. OpenAI confines GPT-5.6-Cyber to Daybreak Red, [its tier for offensive cyber work](https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/openai-daybreak-blue-red-gpt-cyber/) [2]. Anthropic has [kept Mythos out of general release](https://theinference.org/article/safety-was-anthropics-whole-product-on-tuesday-its-maker-walked-out) because it finds flaws and chains them into working attacks too well to hand out freely [3]. The price varies with the mix of Anthropic, OpenAI and open-weight models a customer chooses [4].

## From export freeze to invoice line

The gate has a short, loud history. In June, Washington blocked Anthropic from offering Mythos 5 to foreign nationals and businesses; by late June, Commerce had [cleared it for release](https://www.pymnts.com/dashboard-post/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/anthropic-gets-greenlight-from-us-to-restore-mythos-access/) to "certain trusted partners" [5], and access returned on 1 July [4]. In June, Mythos was a national-security risk. By September, it is a line on an enterprise invoice: Unit 42's Sam Rubin markets "exclusive access to gated capability models" [1].

Anthropic built the resale template itself, [launching Glasswing on 7 April](https://siliconangle.com/2026/08/13/month-anthropics-mythos-left-rubrik-rethinking-remediation/) with $100M of API credits for roughly 50 partners, [Microsoft](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microsoft) and [Apple](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/apple) among them [3]. [Rubrik](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/rubrik) holds the same gated-resale position, earlier in its cycle: Code Guardian runs Mythos 5 against an air-gapped copy of customers' code, in private preview [6].

## A franchise re-accelerating under the moat

The pitch lands on a franchise that just sped up. Fiscal 2026 revenue reached $11.48B, up 24.5%, and next-generation security ARR stood at $8.13B, up 60% [7]. Quarterly growth jumped from the mid-teens a year ago to 34.5% in the July quarter [8]. Bernstein's 17 September [downgrade to Market Perform](https://www.wallstmavens.com/palo-alto-beat-estimates-now-it-has-to-justify-the-price/), target $351, prices the other side: a $282M GAAP net loss and a stock that already assumes delivery [7].

*Chart: **Growth reaccelerated from the mid-teens to 34% in the second half of fiscal 2026** Line chart of Palo Alto Networks quarterly revenue across twelve fiscal quarters, from $1.88B in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 to $3.41B in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, with the step-up concentrated in the final two quarters*

*Quarterly revenue, US$ billions, as reported in SEC filings; fiscal year ends 31 July. Source: Sharadar quarterly fundamentals. [8][7]*

## Receipts, and 21,119 findings nobody checked

Palo Alto's numbers are company-claimed: six months and $17M across more than 100 engagements, exposures at every customer tested, 37% of them high or critical, and a year's worth of exposures on its own systems found in three weeks [4]. The company also claims, without independent verification, that AI attackers compress breach cycles by almost 97%, from weeks to hours [4].

Independent audit cuts both ways. External reviewers confirmed 90.8% of the 1,900 checked Mythos findings, and one Linux kernel root exploit cost under $2,000 of compute [9]. But 21,119 of 23,019 candidate bugs [have never been reviewed outside Anthropic](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/09/04/echo-claude-mythos-vulnerability-findings/), and independent scorers called 13 of 27 CVE-rated findings overstated [9].

## The labs say the channel is the safeguard

OpenAI's McCall McIntyre says Daybreak pairs the cyber models with "strong governance, and human judgment" [1]. Capability is the draw: OpenAI's own tests have GPT-5.6-Cyber completing 95% of a set of sensitive offensive requests, against 1.5% for the public model [2].

The buyer's fear is blunter. "The Chinese will have Mythos next month. What do I do?" said Yevgeny Dibrov, [ServiceNow](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/servicenow)'s SVP and GM of cybersecurity and risk, [calling it the top board-level concern](https://diginomica.com/servicenows-answer-ai-speed-attacks-will-sound-familiar-consolidate-mess) [10]. That risk lands on everyone outside the gate: subscribers get their own attack paths checked, but the flaws sit in open-source software everyone runs, and most findings have never been checked outside Anthropic [9].

Palo Alto's November report will show whether the subscription adds ARR [7]. What nobody will see is the split: the share of each subscription flowing back to Anthropic and OpenAI is not public.

## Takeaway

Palo Alto is selling what Anthropic and OpenAI will not: a subscription to their gated cyber models. The safety gate has become the moat, and everyone outside it owns the proliferation risk.

## Sources

1. [Palo Alto Networks via PRNewswire, "Palo Alto Networks Delivers Anthropic's Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 to Customers with Unit 42 Continuous Frontier AI Defense," 22 September 2026](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/palo-alto-networks-delivers-anthropics-mythos-and-openais-gpt-5-6-to-customers-with-unit-42-continuous-frontier-ai-defense-302885013.html)
2. [Infosecurity Magazine, "OpenAI Launches Two-Tier Security Access Program Alongside GPT 5.6 Cyber," 11 August 2026](https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/openai-daybreak-blue-red-gpt-cyber/)
3. [SiliconANGLE, "A month with Anthropic's Mythos left Rubrik rethinking remediation," 13 August 2026](https://siliconangle.com/2026/08/13/month-anthropics-mythos-left-rubrik-rethinking-remediation/)
4. [The Next Web, "Palo Alto Networks launches always-on AI security testing built on Claude Mythos and GPT-5.6-Cyber," 22 September 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/palo-alto-networks-unit-42)
5. [PYMNTS, "Anthropic Gets Greenlight From US to Restore Mythos Access," 26 June 2026](https://www.pymnts.com/dashboard-post/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/anthropic-gets-greenlight-from-us-to-restore-mythos-access/)
6. [SourceSecurity, "Rubrik Code Guardian revolutionises cyber security," collected 23 September 2026 (page undated)](https://www.sourcesecurity.com/news/enhance-cyber-resilience-rubrik-ai-co-1614609647-ga-npr.1789642913.html)
7. [Wall St Mavens, "Palo Alto Beat Estimates. Now It Has to Justify the Price," 19 September 2026](https://www.wallstmavens.com/palo-alto-beat-estimates-now-it-has-to-justify-the-price/)
8. [Sharadar quarterly fundamentals, from Palo Alto Networks's SEC filings, retrieved 23 September 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001327567)
9. [Help Net Security, "Most of the bugs Claude Mythos found have never been checked by a human," 4 September 2026](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/09/04/echo-claude-mythos-vulnerability-findings/)
10. [diginomica, "ServiceNow's answer to AI-speed attacks will sound familiar: consolidate the mess," collected 23 September 2026 (page undated)](https://diginomica.com/servicenows-answer-ai-speed-attacks-will-sound-familiar-consolidate-mess)


---

Palo Alto rents out the cyber models Anthropic and OpenAI keep locked — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/palo-alto-rents-out-the-cyber-models-anthropic-and-openai-keep-locked