Report Finds ai Will Boost Threat Actors’ Capabilities and Pave the Way for More Persuasive Phishing Attacks

A recent report by the UK’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) warns that artificial intelligence (ai) will substantially increase cyber threats over the next two years, particularly ransomware attacks.

The report also predicts that ai will enhance threat actors’ capabilities in carrying out more persuasive phishing attacks, which trick individuals into providing sensitive information or clicking on malicious links.

Advancements in Generative ai

The advent of generative ai, capable of creating convincing interactions and documents free from common phishing red flags, is identified as a key contributor to the rising threat landscape over the next two years.

Challenges in Cyber Resilience

The report identifies challenges in cyber resilience, citing the difficulty in verifying the legitimacy of emails and password reset requests due to generative ai and large language models. The shrinking time window between Website security updates and threat exploitation further complicates rapid vulnerability patching for network managers.

Benefits of ai in Cybersecurity

However, the NCSC report also outlines how ai could bolster cybersecurity through improved attack detection and system design. It calls for further research on how developments in defensive ai solutions can mitigate evolving threats.

Barriers to Entry

Access to quality data, skills, tools, and time makes advanced ai-powered cyber operations feasible mainly for highly capable state actors currently. But the NCSC warns that these barriers to entry will progressively fall as capable groups monetize and sell ai-enabled hacking tools.

UK Government Allocates £2.6 Billion to Strengthen Cyber Resilience

The UK government has allocated £2.6 billion under its Cyber Security Strategy 2022 to strengthen the country’s resilience to emerging high-tech threats.

A full copy of the NCSC’s report can be found uk/guidance/2017-05-report-on-state-of-cybersecurity-in-the- uk” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>here

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