Cybersecurity Stocks CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Hit By New Anthropic Claude Worries

Cybersecurity stocks fell on Friday amid renewed fears over artificial intelligence model maker Anthropic is developing new software tools that could compete with industry incumbents. According to media reports, Anthropic is developing a new Claude AI model code-named “Mythos” that features new capabilities, including computer security tools.

Worries over Anthropic’s Claude platform initially pressured cybersecurity stocks in early February.

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At the RSA conference in San Francisco this week, Anthropic showcased new AI computer security tools. In addition, Anthropic announced an AI security agreement with information technology services giant Accenture (ACN). Under the deal, Accenture will develop services using Anthropic’s Cyber.AI system, which simplifies setup, threat detection, and response.

Anthropics Partners With Accenture, Databricks

Meanwhile, privately held Databricks is launching “Lakewatch,” an agentic security analytics system built around Anthropic’s platform. Databricks and rival Snowflake (SNOW) sell data analytics software and other tools that run on cloud-computing platforms.

“The crux here is with the power of composable, open agents (built on Anthropic’s AI model and reasoning engines), running on data and telemetry being ingested in and residing inside the Databricks platform in an open format — security breaches and investigations can be conducted soup-to-nuts faster because these agents can operate at machine speed,” said Citi analyst Fatima Bolani in a report on Friday. “As cyberattacks see more scale, sophistication, speed, and volume themselves leveraging AI, the idea here is to offer ‘machine speed to machine speed combat’.”

Among cybersecurity stocks taking a hit on Friday were CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD), Palo Alto Networks (PANW),** Zscaler** (ZS) and** Fortinet** (FTNT).

Anthropic’s release of “Claude Cowork” coding tools in February pressured a wide range of software stocks as well as companies in finance, health care and legal services amid investor fears over AI “disruption.” Anthropic said its “Claude Code Security” help companies spot security vulnerabilities in software code and suggest remediation steps.

Meanwhile, the “Mythos” upgrade to the Claude AI platform includes new reasoning and other capabilities, reports said.

At the RSA conference, many companies announced new products targeting “agentic” AI technology. Further, many large companies are in trials with autonomous, goal-driven “AI agents” that perform tasks, such as shopping, over the internet.

Generative AI co-pilots, which are basically conversational chatbot interfaces, aim to improve worker productivity but rely on human prompts. AI agents execute multistep tasks on behalf of users by solving problems and taking action. Both hackers and computer security firms are putting new AI tools to use.

Cybersecurity Stocks Underperform

The annual RSA conference focuses on technology and industry trends, including the threat landscape, company vulnerabilities and emerging technologies.

In cybersecurity, companies expect generative AI tools to help reduce the time it takes to detect and respond to many forms of computer hacking. Also, they see gen AI automating more functions in security operations centers to help companies deal with a shortage of software engineers.

Meanwhile, cybersecurity stocks have underperformed in 2026 amid worries over software competition from AI models. The IBD computer security group ranks only No. 186 out of 197 groups tracked.

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Follow Reinhardt Krause on X, formerly Twitter, @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.

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