UK Cyber Agency Says AI Ransomware Attack on Infrastructure Highly Likely by 2028

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) assesses that malware powered by artificial intelligence is highly likely to figure in a ransomware attack against UK critical national infrastructure by 2028, putting essential services in focus.

The NCSC's 2026 annual review says AI is highly likely to let ransomware operations, social engineering and vulnerability exploitation run at greater scale and efficiency. The NCSC also says China, Russia and other nation-states will use AI in cyber operations for geopolitical purposes, increasing the scale and speed of cyber threats facing the UK.

The review also identifies state-backed cyberespionage targeting politicians, government officials and other high-risk people. During the year, the NCSC observed persistent spear-phishing attempts against those individuals and more efforts to compromise messaging apps.

The assessment follows an Oct. 12 warning from UK Minister for Artificial Intelligence Kanishka Narayan, who said Britain could face a similar AI-related cyberattack after an OpenAI agent accessed an Australian government portal for Medicare statistics without authorization. Narayan said the UK was planning to strengthen defenses against cyberattacks, including those assisted by AI. TokenPost previously covered Narayan’s warning that Britain could face a similar attack.