Alex Wickham
Britain faces an “unprecedented” rise in cyberattacks in the coming months and too many businesses and individuals are “wilfully blind” to the looming dangers, its head of cyber security has warned
In a stark message delivered in a speech today, Richard Horne, head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, says the country is at a “Sliding Doors” moment
“In the coming months, we face a real prospect of an unprecedented rise in the number of cyber incidents.”
“Far too many of our organisations and supply chains rest on weak technology and operational foundations.”
“If leaders of organisations of every size and type do not take the responsibility now to make different choices then they will one day have to look their investors, shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, families and friends in the eye and explain why, despite knowing the consequences, they failed to make the choices required.
“When food isn't on the shelves, when lights aren't on, businesses have gone under. We may have to explain that we saw the warning signs, understood the risks and still didn't make the right choices. Why we remained wilfully blind.”
“Every day, our military networks are subjected to sustained and persistent, widespread attempts to penetrate our systems. Including notable campaigns by Russia that intentionally fall below the threshold of armed conflict as they escalate their attempts at hybrid warfare.”
“Despite the pressures of the Middle East conflict, Iran is still carrying out malicious cyber operations globally including against the UK and individuals that are seen as a threat to the regime putting them at risk of physical harm.”
“And we know that China highly likely has the intent and is best positioned to use AI for operations against our critical national infrastructure and other strategic targets with their activity representing the most sophisticated and sustained cyber challenge the UK faces.”