Cyber attacks are increasing across the world which are posing a major threat to governments, agencies, financial or technological sector and many other institutions that hold sensitive information or data.
Britain should prepare for an increase in cyberattacks linked to hostile states, the head of the UK’s cyber security agency said on Wednesday, as the government urged tech companies to help build defenses powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) is part of Britain’s intelligence agency GCHQ.
Richard Horne, chief executive of the NCSC, said the agency continues to handle an average of four nationally significant cyber incidents a week and that the attacks with the highest impact are those involving governments rather than lone criminal gangs.
According to a copy of his speech, Horne told the government’s annual CyberUK conference in Glasgow that criminal threats such as ransomware remain the most common risks facing organisations.
But he said most serious incidents now originate “directly or indirectly” from nation states including China, Iran and Russia. He said such activity was being directed at Britain and its European partners.
Horn also warned that Britain was undergoing “the most seismic geopolitical shift in modern history”.
Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 said last year that authorities had foiled more than 20 plots linked to Iran since 2022, some of which targeted individuals living in Britain.
“If we were in or close to a conflict, the UK would face massive hacktivist attacks,” Horn warned. He said such campaigns could cause disruption comparable to larger ransomware attacks, but without the option to pay to restore systems.
Matthew Cousin, cyber risk and threat intelligence strategist at insurer AXA XL, said last month that cyber activity related to the US-Israel war on Iran is also likely to increase.
“When geopolitical tensions increase, cyber activity begins to escalate. In this conflict, the Iranian state-aligned and affiliated groups are using cyber operations as another way to respond,” he said.
Horn said Wednesday that advances in artificial intelligence are expected to accelerate cyberattacks by enabling vulnerabilities to be identified faster, even as the technology offers opportunities to strengthen security.
Additionally, Security Minister Dan Jarvis called on major AI companies to work with the government to build AI-powered cyber-defense capabilities to protect critical national infrastructure.
Jarvis also invited businesses to sign a voluntary cyber resilience pledge and announced an additional investment of £90 million ($122 million) over three years to strengthen cyber security, including support for small and medium-sized firms.
