OpenAI & ReliaQuest Partners to Bring Agentic Cybersecurity

ReliaQuest has entered a partnership with OpenAI to enhance enterprise cyber defence capabilities through access to frontier AI models and cyber tools.

The partnership will give ReliaQuest access to advanced OpenAI models and cyber capabilities to support rapid development within its platform.

Anthropic had recently published evidence showing that malicious actors are using AI in ways that make them more dangerous.

The company's research showed that the most common AI-enabled activities in its database related to preparing for a cyberattack, such as writing malware. 560 of the 832 accounts it studied, or 67%, used AI for this purpose.

Access to frontier models

ReliaQuest joined OpenAI's Daybreak Cyber Partner Program to gain technical collaboration and access to frontier cyber capabilities. Other partners in the programme include Palantir, Cisco, Accenture, Crowdstrike, Darktrace, Sophos and SoftBank.

OpenAI will provide ReliaQuest with access to models including GPT-5.5-Cyber and the CodexSecurity plugin. These tools can be deployed for authorised red teaming, penetration testing, exploit validation and controlled security testing.

The partnership will focus on identifying high-impact security operations use cases. The two companies will collaborate through development, testing and evaluation before production rollout within ReliaQuest's GreyMatter platform and associated managed workflows.

ReliaQuest says the access could help enterprises find and patch vulnerabilities faster. The company will contribute expertise and real-world experience to help codify standards for safety and abuse prevention, as well as controls to monitor and prevent unsanctioned activity.

Defending against AI attacks

Brian Murphy, Founder and CEO of ReliaQuest, says: "Cybersecurity is being reshaped by AI on both sides. The more we can collaborate, the better we can defend against AI-driven attacks.

"This partnership with OpenAI helps us move faster in bringing the most advanced Agentic AI capabilities into GreyMatter, so security teams can investigate and respond to threats in minutes."

OpenAI says it is working with leading cyber organisations as partners to bring defensive capability into the tools, services and workflows that security teams already rely on.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said the following as he announced the program on X in May: "OpenAI is launching Daybreak, our effort to accelerate cyber defence and continuously secure software."

"AI is already good and about to get super good at cybersecurity; we'd like to start working with as many companies as possible now to help them continuously secure themselves."

ReliaQuest says the partnership will enable security teams to keep pace as adversaries increasingly use AI to automate and scale attacks. The company notes that AI is being used on both the defensive and adversarial side of cybersecurity operations.

Threat actors escalate capabilities

Anthropic published evidence in June showing that attackers' use of AI is increasing the threat they pose to organisations. The analysis examined how well techniques and frameworks used by the security community are holding up in an era dominated by AI.

According to Anthropic, threat actors are using AI in the later, more complex stages of their cyber operations.

The company found that cyberattacks are becoming more autonomous and the fact that AI can be used to chain together many parts of an attack means that traditional ways of differentiating high from low-risk actors are no longer as effective.

Anthropic's risk-scoring system classified 33% of actors as medium risk or higher in the first six-month period of its study. By the second six-month period, that share had jumped to 56%.

The research suggests that AI is increasing the threat level from attackers across multiple stages of operations.