According to the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), one of the UK's security agencies, global hacker attacks will increase within the next two years, driven by the rapid advance of artificial intelligence. Moreover, their impact will be more severe than before, the agency warns.
GCHQ, a government service responsible for signals intelligence and data protection in Britain, predicts that AI-powered ransomware will become a major cybersecurity threat in the coming years. The active development of neural networks will give hackers and cybercriminals the green light.
"The emergent use of AI in cyber attacks is evolutionary, not revolutionary, meaning that it enhances existing threats like ransomware but does not transform the risk landscape in the near term," GCHQ CEO Lindy Cameron said.
Preliminary estimates show that artificial intelligence can be widely used for hacker attacks using social engineering techniques. AI algorithms are capable of forging official documents to mislead users or gain access to certain data.
