The UK is entering a “perfect storm” for cybersecurity, driven by rapid advances in artificial intelligence and rising geopolitical tensions, according to the chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
At a speech in Glasgow, Dr Richard Horne warned that organisations must fundamentally rethink their approach to cyber defence as the threat landscape evolves.
Horne said the convergence of emerging technologies and global instability is creating a period of “tumultuous uncertainty”, with cyber security no longer confined to traditional IT systems and technologies such as robotics, autonomous systems and even human-integrated devices experiencing disruptions.
He urged organisations to embed cyber security into their core operations, and called for a cultural shift that treats cyber resilience as a business-critical function rather than a technical afterthought.
“Cyber security is the responsibility of everyone, whether they sit on the board or the IT help desk,” Horne said. “It is part of their mission.”
Horne highlighted that the majority of significant incidents handled by the NCSC now originate directly or indirectly from nation states, reflecting a shift in both the scale and sophistication of attacks.
He also described cyberspace as a contested domain “between peace and war”, with cyber operations now playing a central role in modern conflict. Lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said, are already being applied beyond the battlefield, reinforcing the idea that cyber security has become part of the “home front”.
AI is accelerating this shift. Horne explained that frontier AI models are enabling attackers to identify and exploit vulnerabilities at scale, exposing weaknesses in organisations’ security fundamentals more quickly than ever before.
