UK Hospitals and Power Grids Face AI-Fueled Cyber Attacks by 2028, Spies Warn
Britain's cyber security agency says AI-powered ransomware will likely hit critical infrastructure within four years, as hackers in Ukraine's war send fake nuclear alerts and Russia deploys AI deepfakes.
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned that artificial intelligence-powered malware is "highly likely" to be used in attacks on the country's critical national infrastructure by 2028 [1]. The agency said AI will probably enable a ransomware attack against essential services such as power stations, airports, hospitals, transport, defence, food and finance within that period, as AI tools make hacking easier and more effective [1].
The warning comes as hackers targeted Ukraine's nationwide emergency alert mobile app on Sunday night, sending Kyiv residents a false warning of an imminent nuclear strike [8]. The app wrongly said there was a high possibility of nuclear radiation and warned of a chemical threat to the Ukrainian capital and of street-to-street fighting [8]. The messages appeared in English with spelling mistakes, as well as in Ukrainian [8]. Ukraine's security service said hackers had attacked the public air raid alert app and sent false warnings telling users in Kyiv and other regions to prepare for nuclear and chemical attacks, and that Russia had launched its hypersonic Oreshnik missile [11]. Officials urged the public to stay calm and said the alerts were not real [11].
Russian forces are also increasingly using AI tools to create deepfake videos showing fake victories in Ukraine [9]. The troops use text-to-video software from OpenAI and ByteDance to make videos claiming Russia has taken Ukrainian land — claims that are false [9].
The threats extend beyond Europe's battlefields. A cyberattack on major Japanese internet provider GMO Internet has raised fears for customer devices, with the company warning that malware may have reached users' computers [3]. The U.S. government's cybersecurity agency has also warned that hackers found a way to exploit a critical bug in PHP, software used in 70% of the web's software [12].
Meanwhile, the UK government plans to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, with Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey saying work is underway to meet the goal and Britain's NATO promise to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035 in a "fiscally sustainable way" [10].