Photo: UK Government / Wikimedia Commons (2018 archive)
Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre says a ransomware attack involving AI-powered malware on the country’s critical infrastructure is “highly likely” by 2028, according to its annual report, Reuters reported Monday evening.
The assessment is a forecast of risk, not an announcement that such an attack has occurred. The Reuters report, carried by The Jerusalem Post, also previews a speech NCSC chief executive Richard Horne is due to deliver later Tuesday, UK time.
In the prepared remarks, Horne is expected to warn that long-tolerated weaknesses in technology and supply chains can now be found and exploited at a much greater scale. He is due to say too many British organizations have spent decades “doing tech on the cheap.”
The NCSC report warns that hostile actors’ use of AI will increase the scale and efficiency of their operations over the same period.
State-linked threats
According to the prepared remarks cited by Reuters, Horne is due to describe China as highly likely to have the intent, and best positioned, to use AI against Britain’s critical national infrastructure and other strategic targets. That is the NCSC’s assessment.
He is also expected to say Russia is making sustained attempts to penetrate British military networks and Iran is conducting malicious cyber operations globally, including against Britain and people it sees as threats.
Moscow, Beijing and Tehran have repeatedly denied similar accusations of malicious cyber activity in the past, Reuters reported.
Horne’s planned message urges organizations to address security weaknesses now, before disruptions affect essential services and businesses. The speech had not yet been delivered in the Reuters account.
JBizNews Desk | London
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