‘Highly likely’ AI will be used in ransomware attack on UK critical infrastructure - New Civil Engineer

The warning was shared in the NCSC's annual State of the Cyber Nation report, published on November 3. In last week's Budget, the government announced £70M for a new Nerv Centre, which will identify vulnerabilities across critical infrastructure as part of the NCSC.

The NCSC report stated: 'The cyber threat to the UK's CNI remains enduring. The NCSC continued to observe activity affecting CNI and its supporting ecosystem, including activity believed to be linked to nation states.'

State-sponsored threats

The report singled out threats posed by Russia and China. 'Russian hacking groups engage in offensive cyber operations in Ukraine, including disrupting power generation,' it said. 'Critical infrastructure and government institutions continue to be targeted by state actors, including a massive breach of government personnel records.'

In August, hackers linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were understood to have successfully shut down a 'small' UK power station. The report added: 'China highly likely has the intent and is best positioned to use AI for operations against critical national infrastructure.'

AI vulnerabilities

At an event about the report, NCSC CEO Richard Horne is expected to say: 'In the coming months, we face a real prospect of an unprecedented rise in the number of cyber incidents. But we must be clear that is not because AI has invented new ways to attack us.'

Recent attacks

The warnings come as fridges and freezers in continental European supermarkets were deliberately switched to overheat and ruin food in a cyberattack this week, demonstrating the real-world impact of such threats.