{
  "id": 10713833,
  "title": "Visa joins growing alarm over AI-powered risks",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/visa-joins-growing-alarm-over-ai-powered-risks-10713833",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-29T14:47:10.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "CNA - Business",
    "slug": "cna-business",
    "url": "https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/visa-joins-growing-alarm-over-ai-powered-risks-6419006"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Visa has taken an unprecedented step by open-sourcing a portion of its AI-driven cybersecurity defense system following lessons learned from AI model vulnerabilities, as the company anticipates the rise of autonomous cyberattacks and future quantum-computing threats. Visa handles approximately one billion transactions daily, amounting to an annual sum of $15 trillion, positioning it as a crucial component of the world's financial infrastructure. Rajat Taneja, Visa's President of Technology, disclosed that the company opened its cyber defense system to the public after the weaknesses exposed by Anthropic's Mythos AI model earlier this year emphasized the gravity of the challenge. Taneja emphasized that the attacks from AI agents on the Hugging Face platform were humbling, potentially signaling a glimpse of a more severe future threat. He remarked, \"Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can\" to underscore the potential severity of the situation. Taneja cautioned that predicting the full extent of the damage is challenging, stating, \"It's hard to predict how bad it could get, but we have seen the trailer.\" He further explained, \"Often the trailer is the highlights of the movie, but I think this is just a small snippet of what the movie will look like, so we have to prepare for it and we have to have a mindset that acknowledges this technology's power.\" Global regulators are concerned that a major AI-controlled cyberattack could erode confidence in the world's financial system. Visa, which processes $15 trillion in transactions annually, has considerable exposure; industry estimates suggest up to a third of online commerce—close to $3.1 trillion in transactions—could be run through AI agents by 2030. Taneja highlighted the evolving nature of cyber threats, noting that future attacks would be adaptive, learning and improving autonomously, thereby posing a significant challenge to traditional human-based defenses. He asserted that since the adversary is becoming more agentic, the defense mechanisms must also become agentic to keep pace. Additionally, Taneja warned about the looming threat of quantum computing, citing Shor's algorithm as a potential game-changer. He explained that powerful quantum computers could eventually break current encryption standards, which are foundational to global commerce. Visa is therefore compelled to explore alternative methods to mitigate this risk. Taneja concluded with a tone of cautious optimism, stating, \"We have to have optimism, but there is no easy answer.\"",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 4,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Channel News Asia",
        "title": "Visa joins growing alarm over AI-powered risks",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/visa-joins-growing-alarm-over-ai-powered-risks-10717545",
        "published": "2026-09-29T14:47:10.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Investing.com",
        "title": "Visa joins growing alarm over AI-powered risks",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/visa-joins-growing-alarm-over-ai-powered-risks",
        "published": "2026-09-29T14:48:31.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Economic Times Tech",
        "title": "Visa joins growing alarm over AI-powered risks",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/visa-joins-growing-alarm-over-ai-powered-risks-10723452",
        "published": "2026-09-29T15:22:08.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}