Britain’s top cybersecurity chief has warned that the majority of online attacks are now being orchestrated by nation states as the country faces a geopolitical ‘perfect storm’.
In a major speech in Glasgow, Dr Richard Horne said that the internet is now part of the contested space “between peace and war” with Russia taking lessons learned on the battlefield in Ukraine and applying them online.
Dr Horne, CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of signals intelligence agency GCHQ, said rapid tech change driven by developments in AI and geopolitical tensions are giving rise to a period of “tumultuous uncertainty”.
As the technology landscape develops, the definition of cybersecurity is expanding with it. In the future, it will be vital to secure technology that will control robotics, autonomous systems and technology that is physically integrated with human bodies – all of which is “way beyond” the definition of cybersecurity, Dr Horne said.
He called on those working in the field to lead a “cultural shift” within organisations, adding that, amidst the uncertainty, it is clear what actions need to be taken to maintain collective resilience. Dr Horne said that “cybersecurity is the responsibility of everyone, whether they sit on the Board or the IT help desk… cyber security is part of their mission.”
Dr Horne added that “organisations that do not focus on their technology base…as core to their prosperity … are no longer just naïve but are failing to grasp the reality of today’s world.”
Speaking about the cyber threat landscape, Dr Horne said that the number of incidents dealt with by the NCSC remains “fairly steady”. However, there has been a change in where the attacks are coming from as “the majority of the nationally significant incidents that the NCSC is handling now originate directly or indirectly from nation states.”
He outlined that the UK’s cyber agency is seeing Russia applying lessons it has learnt on the battlefield in the illegal invasion of Ukraine and “moving them beyond the battlefield”.
He said that conflicts around the world in the past year have shown that “cyber operations are now integral to conflict” and that “cybersecurity is the home front”.
Addressing the recent discussion about new frontier AI models, Dr Horne said “frontier AI is rapidly enabling discovery and exploitation of existing vulnerabilities at scale, illustrating how quickly it will expose where fundamentals of cybersecurity are still to be addressed.”
