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5 min ago 3 min read
The boom in artificial intelligence (AI) and geopolitical tensions are giving rise to increased cybersecurity threats, according to the head of the UK’s cybersecurity agency.
In a speech today (22 April) in Glasgow, Dr Richard Horne, CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will outline how the definition of cyber security is expanding as the technology landscape develops.
In future, it will be vital to secure technology that will control robotics, autonomous systems and technology that are physically integrated with humans – all of which is way beyond the definition of cyber security as it was understood a decade ago.
Dr Horne will make calls for a “cultural shift” within organisations, adding that, amidst the uncertainty, it is clear what actions need to be taken to maintain collective resilience.
He will remind companies and organisations that do not focus on their technology base as core to their prosperity “are no longer just naïve but are failing to grasp the reality of today’s world”, and that cybersecurity is the responsibility of everyone from the IT helpdesk to the board level.
Frontier AI is now rapidly enabling discovery and exploitation of existing vulnerabilities at scale, illustrating how quickly it will expose where cybersecurity issues need to be addressed.
With wars ongoing in Ukraine and the Middle East, he added that the majority of nationally significant incidents now originate “directly or indirectly from nation states” and cyberspace is part of a contested space between peace and war.
The NCSC advocates a ‘cross domain’ approach for firms operating across sectors or with complex supply chains, focusing more on end-to-end architecture to make functions more secure and reliable. Its two key takeaways are ‘resilience beats prevention’ and the importance of preparation before threats escalate.
Graeme Stewart, Head of Public Sector, Check Point Software said at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, the rise of growing volumes of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered cyber attacks and unbreakable ransomware could bring the UK to its knees.
“Large scale hacktivist attacks pose an existential threat to UK PLC, with hostile powers seeking to damage and disrupt core services like the NHS, energy and supply chains,” he said.
“Our own research shows that the UK is one of the most targeted nations in the world when it comes to cyber attacks. There can be no delay on our response to this threat, we need an urgent national conversation about how to build cyber resilience into both the public and private sector. Ramping up cyber should be at the very top of the boardroom agenda, with defences strengthened immediately.”
Companies and governments are having to grapple with more and bigger cyber attacks as well as increasingly sophisticated phishing techniques and a huge rise in AI bots, delegates attending heard in January.
