- NCSC warns UK faces an unprecedented rise in cyber incidents in coming months as AI scales exploitation of long-tolerated vulnerabilities.
- China highly likely intends to use AI-enabled cyber operations against UK critical infrastructure, with Russia and others increasing scale and speed.
- Government adds funding, but NCSC urges organizations to make security and resilience fundamental, not an afterthought, to prevent major disruptions.
Britain is at risk of “an unprecedented rise in… cyber incidents” over coming months, while China “highly likely has the intent” to carry out AI operations against critical infrastructure, its cyber security boss warned Tuesday.
Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, gave his warning following the release of the latest annual NCSC report on threats, which stated that “malicious” activity costs UK organisations about £14.7 billion ($19.7 billion) annually.
“Cyberattacks are wiping out value equivalent to the size of the UK’s cyber security sector annually,” it added.
The report stated that “by 2028, it is highly likely China, Russia, and other nation states will routinely use AI cyber to achieve their geopolitical goals with the UK facing an increase in scale and speed of sophisticated cyberattacks”.
Elaborating on the point, it stated:
“China highly likely has the intent and is best positioned to use AI for operations against critical national infrastructure and other strategic targets.”
Horne meanwhile stated in his speech that Iran is “carrying out malicious cyber operations globally” amid the Middle East conflict.
The CEO called on UK organisations to make cyber “security and resilience a fundamental requirement, not an afterthought”.
Horne spoke one day after a suspected cyberattack hit grocery stores across at least nine European countries.
He said failure to invest in the right technology to address such rising threats will result in leaders having to explain themselves, in particular “when food isn’t on the shelves, when lights aren’t on (and) businesses have gone under”.
“In the coming months, we face a real prospect of an unprecedented rise in the number of cyber incidents.
“But we must be clear that is not because AI has invented new ways to attack us,” Horne said.
“It is because vulnerabilities that have been tolerated for far too long can now be discovered and exploited at a scale that was once unimaginable.”
– Extra funding –
The UK government last month outlined plans to expand funding for artificial intelligence safety amid growing concerns over the cyber risks posed by increasingly advanced artificial intelligence.
On Tuesday it announced around £10 million of funding to help small and medium-sized UK businesses protect against cyber threats.
Concerns about AI safety have escalated in recent months after models developed by OpenAI and Anthropic were involved in security incidents during testing, piling pressure on governments to regulate the technology and protect against threats.
Cyber gangs have increasingly targeted UK brands and retailers, with an attack last year on Jaguar Land Rover, which severely disrupted the carmaker’s production.
