Abstract:
The British National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) recently issued a warning that operators of British critical infrastructure must prepare for next-generation cyber attacks as soon as possible. The agency predicts that by around 2028, malware and ransomware attacks driven by artificial intelligence will become a real threat, and a large number of organizations still using old systems may become key targets.
As the cybersecurity department of the British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), NCSC believes that the possibility of hostile actors using artificial intelligence technology is extremely high. As the capabilities of AI tools continue to improve, attackers will be able to carry out cyber attacks at a lower cost and with higher efficiency in the future, including launching large-scale ransomware operations, implementing more targeted social engineering fraud, and quickly discovering and exploiting system vulnerabilities.
NCSC CEO Richard Horn said that the development of new technologies is amplifying historical problems in the existing network security system. Many organizations have neglected basic security for too long, and now these weak links are becoming increasingly dangerous. If businesses and public institutions fail to take timely action to strengthen infrastructure and patch core weaknesses, they could be easily exploited by future attackers.
The report points out that the development speed of artificial intelligence models in recent years has far exceeded expectations. Technology companies including Google, Anthropic and OpenAI continue to launch larger models with greater capabilities, some of which have demonstrated the ability to discover software vulnerabilities and analyze code defects. While these capabilities are initially intended to aid development and defense efforts, cybercriminals may look to similar technologies for attack opportunities in the future.
NCSC particularly emphasizes that in the face of the coming AI era, organizations should not only focus on future threats and ignore existing problems. In fact, the reason why network attackers frequently succeed is not to rely on advanced technology, but to exploit known vulnerabilities that have not been patched for a long time, configuration errors, and old systems exposed to the Internet. Many successful breaches stem from traditional security issues such as the exploitation of public network interfaces, phishing email attacks, misuse of legitimate accounts, and flaws in remote services.
In order to improve defense capabilities, NCSC recommends that organizations of all types strengthen network security investments, reduce unnecessary Internet connections, reduce external exposure, and use basic network security specifications as the starting point for protection work. The agency believes that building a security system should not just be the responsibility of technical departments, but should become a core strategic task of corporate and institutional management.
Richard Horn pointed out that over the past few decades, many organizations have been accustomed to building digital systems at the lowest cost and treating security investments as optional. But in the era of artificial intelligence, this way of thinking is no longer sustainable. He called on industry leaders to invest with a more urgent attitude and make security and system resilience a basic requirement for organizational operations, rather than waiting to make up for it after being attacked.
At the same time, the British government has also announced a number of cybersecurity investment plans to enhance national protection capabilities. This includes investing 60 million pounds to build the first phase of the national "Cyber Shield" project and investing 70 million pounds to establish the National Exposure and Real-time Vulnerability Center (NERV) to continuously discover cyber risks in critical infrastructure and economic systems. In addition, the UK will establish a new Artificial Intelligence Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Manchester, operated by the NCSC, to cultivate AI security professional capabilities in government departments.
NCSC believes that artificial intelligence can become both a powerful defensive tool and a new weapon in the hands of attackers. As AI lowers the threshold for network attacks and significantly increases the speed of attacks, the time gap between vulnerability discovery and exploitation will be further shortened in the future. For organizations that still rely on old technologies and traditional architectures to operate, upgrading systems, patching vulnerabilities, and establishing a more resilient security system as soon as possible is no longer a long-term plan but an urgent task.
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