AI-powered malware is “highly likely” to be used in ransomware attacks on Britain’s critical national infrastructure within the next two years, warned Dr. Richard Horne, head of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, in the NCSC’s State of the Cyber Nation report. The report says AI will let attackers more quickly expose and exploit long-neglected security weaknesses, increasing the speed, scale and efficiency of existing methods such as phishing, exploiting public-facing applications, misuse of valid accounts and external remote services, which together account for up to 88% of attacks. State-linked groups from China and Russia are identified as the primary cyber antagonists, with Russian actors already exploiting vulnerable routers and targeting operational technology systems. The NCSC recommends using the Cyber Essentials scheme as a baseline and notes the UK government’s £70 million pledge for a new National Exposure and Real-Time Vulnerability (NERV) Centre and an AI Cyber Security Centre of Excellence to improve collective resilience. 1