UK must expect AI-powered attack on critical infrastructure within two years, report says

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Britain should be prepared for an AI-powered cyberattack on its critical national infrastructure in the next two years, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre said on Tuesday, adding that China was likely the best equipped to conduct such operations.

Richard Horne, chief executive of the NCSC, which is part of the GCHQ spy agency, said far too many organisations and supply chains in Britain had got away with "doing tech on the cheap" for decades, leaving them vulnerable.

"In the coming months, we face a real prospect of an unprecedented rise in the number of cyber incidents," Horne is expected to say in a speech later on Tuesday.

"But we must be clear that is not because AI has invented new ways to attack us, but because vulnerabilities that have been tolerated for far too long can now be discovered and exploited at a scale that was once unimaginable."

In its annual report, the NCSC said it was highly likely there would be  a ransomware attack involving AI-powered malware by 2028 on the nation's critical infrastructure.

During that same period, it warned that AI use by hostile actors was also set to enhance the scale and efficiency of their operations.

Horne was due to say that Russia was making sustained attempts to penetrate UK military networks, while Iran was carrying out malicious cyber operations globally, including against the UK and individuals seen as a threat.

"We know that China highly likely has the intent and is best positioned to use AI for operations against our critical national infrastructure and other strategic targets with their activity representing the most sophisticated and sustained cyber challenge the UK faces," he will say.

Moscow, Beijing and Tehran have all repeatedly denied similar accusations of malevolent cyber actions in the past.

The NCSC report and Horne's speech come after hacking attacks on supermarkets across Europe exposed vulnerabilities in IT systems.

Horne said organisations needed to take urgent action now or explain why "when food isn't on shelves, lights aren't on, businesses have gone under ... that we saw the warning signs, understood the risks and still didn't make the right choices".

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Alison Williams)