- UK NCSC chief warns of ‘hacktivist attacks at scale’
- Attacks could rival recent ransomware attacks against UK organizations
- Defenses could be strengthened with artificial intelligence tools like Claude Mythos
If a conflict developed between the UK and a foreign state, there could be “hacktivist attacks at scale”, rivaling some of the most prolific attacks the UK has seen in recent years.
The comments come from Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), who warns of the scale of the attacks at the CyberUK conference in Glasgow.
“If we were in, or close to, a conflict situation, the UK would likely face hacktivist attacks on a scale. With similar effects and sophistication to the ransomware attacks we see today. But… there is no option to pay a ransom to help recover,” Horne said in his keynote speech.
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Hacktivism that rivals ransomware attacks
The UK has experienced several particularly damaging cyberattacks in the past 12 months: food retailers M&S and Co-op suffered a joint attack by Scattered Spider, and the attack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) proved to be one of the costliest in UK history.
The NCSC chief’s warning would suggest that groups could launch attacks of similar scale and damage, and that organizations face a future where “paying to get out is simply not an option.”
Horne recommends that all UK businesses, both public and private, focus on strengthening defenses against threats, to the point of “integrating cybersecurity into their corporate mission”.
“Ensuring they understand the full scope of the risk they face, develop a defense in depth so that an attacker’s initial footholds do not result in a catastrophic impact,” Horne added.
Horne also said the development of AI models, such as Claude Mythos, that are capable of identifying zero-days in software could be a “net positive” for the UK’s cyber defence, should they prove secure.
Graeme Stewart, head of public sector at Check Point Software, said: “At a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, increasing volumes of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered cyber attacks and unbreakable ransomware could bring the country to its knees. Large-scale hacktivist attacks represent an existential threat to the UK PLC, with hostile powers seeking to damage and disrupt core services such as the NHS, energy and supply chains.”
“Our own research shows that the UK is one of the most targeted nations in the world when it comes to cyber attacks. There can be no delay in our response to this threat, we need an urgent national conversation about how to build cyber resilience in both the public and private sectors. Stepping up cyber resilience should be at the top of the boardroom agenda, with defenses strengthened immediately,” Stewart concluded.
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