Britain braces for wave of cyber threats linked to hostile states

Britain should prepare for a potential rise in cyberattacks linked to hostile states, the head of the country’s cybersecurity agency warned, as the government called on technology firms to help strengthen defences using artificial intelligence, Reuters reports.

Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, said the agency continues to handle an average of four nationally significant cyber incidents each week. He noted that the most serious attacks are increasingly associated with state actors rather than solely criminal groups. The NCSC operates as part of GCHQ.

Speaking at the government’s annual CYBERUK conference in Glasgow, Horne said that while criminal threats such as ransomware remain the most common risk for organisations, the majority of the highest-impact incidents now originate “directly or indirectly” from nation states, including China, Iran and Russia. He added that such activity is targeting Britain and its European partners.

Horne also cautioned that the UK is living through “the most seismic geopolitical shift in modern history.”

Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, said last year it had disrupted more than 20 Iran-linked plots since 2022, some of which targeted individuals residing in the UK.

“Were we to be in, or near, a conflict situation, the UK would likely face hacktivist attacks at scale,” Horne warned, adding that such campaigns could cause disruption comparable to major ransomware incidents, but without the option of paying to restore systems.

Mathieu Cousin, a cyber risk and threat intelligence strategist at AXA XL, said last month that cyber activity linked to geopolitical tensions is likely to increase, particularly in the context of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.

“When geopolitical tensions rise, cyber activity follows. In this conflict, Iranian state-aligned and affiliated groups are using cyber operations as another way to respond,” he said.

Horne noted that advances in artificial intelligence are expected to accelerate cyberattacks by enabling faster identification of vulnerabilities, even as the technology offers opportunities to bolster defensive capabilities.

At the same conference, Security Minister Dan Jarvis urged leading AI companies to collaborate with the government in developing AI-powered cyber defence systems to protect critical national infrastructure.

Jarvis also invited businesses to sign a voluntary Cyber Resilience Pledge and announced an additional £90 million ($122 million) in funding over three years to strengthen cybersecurity, including support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

By Vafa Guliyeva