London, UK: Britain’s cybersecurity agency has reportedly stated that artificial intelligence poses a threat to the country’s next national election.
The National Cyber Security Centre remarked that, “this year has seen the emergence of state-aligned actors as a new cyber threat to critical national infrastructure” such as power, water, and internet networks.
The centre, which is part of Britain’s cyberespionage agency, GCHQ, noted in its annual review that the past year also has seen “the emergence of a new class of cyber adversary in the form of state-aligned actors, who are often sympathetic to Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine and are ideologically, rather than financially, motivated.”
It pointed out that states and state-aligned groups pose “an enduring and significant threat, from Russian-language criminals targeting British firms with ransomware attacks, to China state-affiliated cyber actors using their skills to pursue strategic objectives which threaten the security and stability of UK interests.”
In line with the UK’s MI5 and MI6 intelligence agencies’ warnings, the centre called the rise of China as a tech superpower “an epoch-defining challenge for UK security.”
“We risk China becoming the predominant power in cyberspace if our efforts to raise resilience and develop our capabilities do not keep pace,” the centre added.
The report also emphasized the danger that rapidly advancing AI technology poses to elections, including the national election in the UK which is scheduled for January 2025.
While Britain’s antiquated method of voting, with pencil and paper, makes it hard for hackers to disrupt the vote itself, the centre commented that deepfake videos and “hyper-realistic bots” would facilitate the spread of misinformation during a campaign.
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