英国国家网络安全中心（NCSC）表示，在现在到2028年期间，由人工智能驱动的恶意软件“极有可能”成为针对英国关键国家基础设施的未来勒索软件攻击的一部分。该警告随其年度回顾一同发布，还有一份单独的评估，探讨人工智能未来两年如何改变网络威胁。作为信号情报机构GCHQ的网络部门，NCSC并未提供太多细节说明这种人工智能恶意软件可能采取何种形式。
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) says AI-powered malware is "highly likely" to be a part of a future ransomware attack on Britain's critical national infrastructure between now and 2028. The warning accompanies its annual review and a separate assessment exploring how AI could change cyber threats over the next two years. The cyber arm of signals intelligence agency GCHQ did not provide much detail about what form this AI malware may take.
不过，它暗示最初旨在协助安全研究人员的开源人工智能安全工具正被重新用于恶意活动。攻击者已经在重新利用此类工具。例如，研究人员发现，自7月推出以来，一款名为ARTEX的开源、中国制造的人工智能红队平台，在针对英国域名注册商123 Reg、Microsoft 365及其他目标的攻击中被广泛滥用。
However, it alluded to open source AI security tools that were initially intended to assist security researchers being repurposed for nefarious activity. Attackers are already repurposing such tools. For example, researchers are increasingly seeing widespread abuse of ARTEX, an open source, Chinese-made AI red-teaming platform, in attacks on UK registrar 123 Reg, Microsoft 365, and others since its launch in July.
在其对2028年的悲观情景中，NCSC设想“全球网络攻击的频率和复杂性将显著增加”，人工智能工具的更广泛采用将使溯源更加困难。报告称，中国“很可能发挥了作用”，提供了这些工具，“使其能够将活动隐藏在噪音之中”。报告还考虑了另一威胁：一种在人类操作者控制之外自主运行的攻击者。NCSC表示，“这种实体能够自我复制并随意发动网络攻击，且没有明显的动机或约束，这是一种现实的可能性。”
In its pessimistic scenario for 2028, the NCSC envisages "a significant increase in the frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks worldwide," with wider adoption of AI tools making attribution harder. China "has likely played a role" in supplying those tools in this future, "enabling them to hide their activities within the noise," the report states. It also considers a further threat: an autonomous attacker operating beyond its human operator's control. The NCSC says it "is a realistic possibility such an entity could self-replicate and conduct cyberattacks at will, with no apparent motivation or restraint."
此类攻击可能会使地缘政治关系复杂化，同样归因于溯源困难，使得下令对他国发动攻击的国家更容易否认其参与。英国的人工智能防御计划在每个“补丁星期二”似乎都带来创纪录数量漏洞之际，NCSC承认人工智能已经在改变漏洞发现和修补。该机构还在探索人工智能如何帮助防御者跟上步伐。
Such attacks would likely complicate geopolitical relationships, owing again to attribution difficulties, making it easier for countries that order attacks on others to deny their involvement. The UK's plans for AI defense At a time when each Patch Tuesday seems to come loaded with record numbers of bugs, the NCSC acknowledges that AI is already changing vulnerability discovery and patching. The body is also exploring how AI could help defenders keep pace.
DROMOS项目今年早些时候启动，首先进行为期四周的试点，分析政府代码库，随后扩展至选定的运行环境。政府网络协调中心（GC3）联合人工智能安全研究所及其他部门启动了该项目。国家网络安全中心（NCSC）表示，此次审查发现了数百个潜在安全问题，其中包括关键漏洞。该审查还重申了“网络盾牌”计划，这是一种主动式网络防御系统，最早于7月透露消息。
Project DROMOS began earlier this year with a four-week pilot analyzing government code repositories, before expanding into selected operational environments. The Government Cyber Coordination Centre (GC3) launched the project with the AI Security Institute and other departments. The NCSC says it uncovered hundreds of potential security issues, including critical vulnerabilities. The review also reaffirms plans for Cyber Shield, an agentic cyber defense system first teased in July.
“网络盾牌”预计将在未来五年分阶段交付。它将涉及NCSC向参与组织部署的防御代理提供数据，以增强国家对持续网络威胁的韧性。NCSC将与数字、文化、媒体和体育部（DCMS）共同运行该计划，但也承认，这种自动化防御活动目前超出了许多组织的风险承受范围，因此NCSC在建立对该系统的信任、推动其大规模采用方面发挥着作用。
Cyber Shield is expected to be delivered in stages over the next five years. It will involve the NCSC providing defensive agents deployed by participating organizations with data that will strengthen national resilience to ongoing cyber threats. The NCSC will be running the scheme alongside the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), but acknowledged that this kind of automated defensive activity currently sits outside many organizations' risk tolerances, meaning it has a role to play in building trust in the system before adoption can go mainstream.
据上周报道，政府已拨款6000万英镑资助该计划，并额外拨款7000万英镑支持新成立的国家暴露与实时漏洞（NERV）中心。NERV中心的职责是识别并持续掌握关键国家基础设施（CNI）组织及更广泛经济领域的漏洞情况。根据上周的预算，4000万英镑将用于资助国家主动安全单位，负责应对失控机器人及其他主动式意外事件；2400万英镑被分配用于加强公共部门防御。
As reported last week, the government has set aside £60 million to fund the initiative, and an additional £70 million to support a new National Exposure and Real-Time Vulnerability (NERV) Centre. The NERV Centre's job will be to identify and maintain an ongoing understanding of vulnerabilities across CNI organizations and the wider economy. Per last week's budget, £40 million will fund a National Agentic Security Unit responsible for responding to uncontrolled bots and other agentic mishaps, and £24 million was assigned to strengthen public sector defenses.
一笔未披露的资金还将帮助建立由NCSC管理的新人工智能网络安全中心，地点设在曼彻斯特，旨在培养政府各部门的人工智能安全专业知识。与此同时，NCSC首席执行官理查德·霍恩博士呼吁各组织“紧急投资”于其安全与韧性建设。
An undisclosed sum will also help establish a new NCSC-managed AI Cyber Security Centre in Manchester to develop AI security expertise across government. In the meantime, NCSC CEO Dr Richard Horne is calling for organizations to "invest with urgency" in their security and resilience.
“几十年来，我们集体在廉价技术上蒙混过关，”他在今天发布年度报告时表示。“我们可以成为一个国家，在这个国家里，所有组织的领导者都主动选择紧迫投资……并且所有组织都将安全和韧性作为基本要求，而非事后诸葛亮。集体的结果将成为我们所有人持久的国家力量源泉。”霍恩表示，组织应将国家网络安全中心（NCSC）的“网络基础”认证视为起点，但应根据组织规模、复杂性和风险扩大韧性建设力度。政府还宣布，为首次申请证书的微型、小型和中型企业提供“网络基础”认证75%的折扣。®
"For decades, we have collectively got away with doing tech on the cheap," he said today, announcing the annual report. "We can be a nation where leaders of all organizations actively choose to invest with urgency... And where all organizations make security and resilience a fundamental requirement, not an afterthought. "The collective result would be a source of enduring national strength for us all." Horne said organizations should treat the NCSC's Cyber Essentials certification as the starting point, but scale up resilience efforts in line with organizational size, complexity, and risk. The government also announced a 75 percent discount on Cyber Essentials certification for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses applying for their first certificate. ®