“When store shelves are empty, and companies have gone bankrupt”: British cybersecurity director fears an “unprecedented rise” in cyberattacks from Russia and China by 2028

The United Kingdom risks "an unprecedented increase in the number of cyber incidents" in the coming months and AI-powered state attacks on critical infrastructure, particularly from China, the director of the British National Cyber ​​Security Center (NCSC) warned on Tuesday. “For decades, we have collectively managed to get by by making technology at lower cost,” explained Richard Hornen, director of the NCSC, during the presentation of the organization's annual report in London. However, according to him, this time is over, and it is time for the United Kingdom and the players in its economy to take their responsibilities and change their position.

“We can be a nation where leaders of all organizations actively choose to invest now…and where all organizations make security and resilience fundamental requirements, not secondary considerations,” he said. An essential issue in his eyes, as a wave of computer attacks could soon sweep over his country. China and Russia, singled out "It is highly likely that China has this intention and is best placed to use AI in operations targeting our critical national infrastructure and other strategic targets," said Richard Horne.

By 2028, it is very likely that China, Russia and other states will regularly use artificial intelligence in virtual space to achieve their geopolitical goals, estimates this public body responsible for protecting the country against cyber threats. The UK is already facing an increase in the scale and speed of sophisticated cyberattacks, such as the one that hit Jaguar Land Rover last year and severely disrupted the carmaker's production. Prepare for the worst?

"Malicious" activities cost British organizations around £14.7 billion (€17.6 billion) each year, "an amount equivalent to the size of the UK's cybersecurity sector", the report said. According to Mr. Horne, failure to invest in the right technologies to deal with these growing threats will leave leaders having to explain themselves "when store shelves are empty, when the lights don't come on and companies have gone bankrupt."

On Monday, a cyberattack targeted supermarket refrigerators in several European countries, raising their temperatures, which damaged food. These attacks occur because “vulnerabilities tolerated for far too long can now be discovered and exploited, on a scale previously unimaginable”, with the help of AI, added the director general of the NCSC. Faced with these growing concerns, the UK government last month outlined plans to increase funding for artificial intelligence security.

On Tuesday, he announced a package of around 10 million pounds to help British small and medium-sized businesses protect themselves against cyber threats.

Machine-translated from French