Big warning from British spy agency: Rapid AI development will increase cyber attacks

Britain’s GCHQ spy agency warned on Wednesday that the rapid development of new artificial intelligence (AI) tools will lead to an increase in cyber attacks and lower the barrier to entry for less sophisticated hackers to cause digital harm.

The National Cyber ​​Security Center (NCSC), which is part of GCHQ, said in a report that the low entry barrier would likely contribute to a global increase in ransomware attacks, whereby criminals encrypt computer systems for digital ransom.

“AI will almost certainly increase the volume and impact of cyber attacks over the next two years. However, the impact on the cyber threat will be uneven,” the report said.

This suggested that the greatest increase in the capability of malicious actors in cyberspace will go to opportunistic hackers who do not have the skills necessary to carry out high-level attacks.

At a minimum, the use of generic AI tools like chatbots could help create more credible emails or documents used in online phishing campaigns, the report said.

At the advanced level, more capable state-backed hackers were “best placed to harness the potential of AI in advanced cyber operations against networks, for example use in advanced malware generation”, the report said, including malicious software and It has been said while referring to computer virus.

Intelligence agencies around the world are grappling with potential security problems associated with algorithms that can generate human-sounding conversations – called large language models, or LLMs, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is used by a wide range of business services. are involved in the chain, which includes sales and customer service.

The security implications of AI are still coming into focus. Officials in Britain, the United States and Canada have said they have seen hackers adopting the technology.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Reuters)