UK cyber agency warns AI-powered ransomware attack on critical infrastructure is highly likely by 2028

Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said in its annual review that it is highly likely AI-powered malware will be used in a ransomware attack on UK critical national infrastructure, such as power, transport and hospitals, by 2028, and that Russia and China will routinely use AI in cyber operations by then. NCSC chief executive Richard Horne warned of a real prospect of an unprecedented rise in cyber incidents in the coming months, saying AI has not invented new attacks but lets long-tolerated vulnerabilities be found and exploited at far greater scale, and that China is best positioned to use AI against UK infrastructure.