LC Signal AI & Data

Hitachi Joins Anthropic’s Critical Infrastructure Defense Program: Sharing OT Expertise and Applying It to Its Own Products

On October 9, Hitachi announced that it will join Anthropic’s
Critical Infrastructure Defense Program, a cyber defense program
for critical infrastructure.
The program provides advanced AI models, engineers, and threat research
to the companies that protect control systems
for power, water, manufacturing, transportation, and more.
Hitachi is participating as a founding partner
and will also apply what it learns to strengthen the security
of its own services and OT products.

What Was Announced: AI and Technical Support for Those Who Protect Infrastructure

The program is part of the Anthropic Cyber Mission,
which Anthropic announced on October 8 (U.S. time).
It provides frontier Claude models, on-site engineers,
and cyber threat research to companies responsible
for defending critical infrastructure.

The 11 founding partners, including Hitachi, include Accenture, CrowdStrike,
Dragos, Nozomi Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Rockwell Automation, and others.
In addition to companies that support security operations,
they include manufacturers that build control equipment
and provide fixes for it.

Hitachi’s Role: Sharing OT Expertise and Applying It to Its Own Services and Products

Hitachi says it will contribute by participating in working groups
and other activities in the program,
sharing its knowledge of OT (operational technology)
in the critical infrastructure field.
The company signed a strategic partnership with Anthropic in May 2026,
joined Project Glasswing in June,
and launched HMAX Cyber, a service that supports business continuity,
in September.

Based on insights gained through the program
and discussions with participating companies,
Hitachi plans to enhance HMAX Cyber
and strengthen the cybersecurity of OT products such as control systems.

The Target: Control Systems That Cannot Easily Be Stopped

Anthropic describes the controllers, control software, and industrial networks
used in power grids, water systems, factories, and transportation networks
as OT.
These systems are sometimes built to last for decades
and often cannot be taken offline to apply patches,
so known vulnerabilities can remain unresolved for long periods.

According to the company, defending these environments requires specialized knowledge,
and changes or fixes to equipment carry the risk of affecting operations on site.
In this program, AI is provided through the companies operators already rely on,
combining it with on-site knowledge to help find and fix vulnerabilities.

What Changes: Support for Turning Discovered Vulnerabilities into Fixes

Hitachi explains that advances in AI have greatly shortened the time
between the disclosure of a vulnerability and its exploitation.
Meanwhile, Anthropic says that although many vulnerabilities were found
through Project Glasswing,
verifying, prioritizing, and fixing those findings remained challenging.
It often took months for a vulnerability to be fixed after it was found.

According to Anthropic, several partners are already using Claude
to fix vulnerabilities and help customers do the same.
The program will start with a small group of companies
to learn which approaches work in real-world settings.
Over the coming months, Anthropic plans to expand it
to more partners and sectors
and share what it learns, including what did not work.

LC Signal’s Perspective: Feeding Shared Insights Back into Equipment-Side Measures

Hitachi plans to apply what it learns through this program
not only to HMAX Cyber but also to OT products such as control systems.
With both security support companies and equipment manufacturers taking part,
there is a visible path for equipment makers
to bring insights back into strengthening their products.
The effort seems likely to connect vulnerability discovery
to concrete measures on the equipment side.

Anthropic says it will test practical approaches with its first partners
and share approaches that failed as well.
Going forward, we will watch for what fixes were made on which equipment,
and how they are reflected in Hitachi’s services and products.

Key Sources

This article was prepared with AI assistance using publicly available information
as of October 10, 2026.
Announcement dates follow the dates shown on the official pages.
Plans to strengthen services and products and to expand the program
are distinguished from current activities.
“LC Signal’s Perspective” reflects this publication’s interpretation
of the available information.

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