Cyber threat highest it’s ever been, ex-Five Eyes leader warns

The cyber threat level to private and publicly owned critical infrastructure is the highest it’s ever been, the former head of the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre says.

“These organised criminals and hacking groups that work for hostile governments have presented us with a situation where the threat to disruption of the critical services that we depend on is probably at its highest,” Cyber CX advisory board member Ciaran Martin told Markets with Madison while he was in Auckland from the UK this week.

“What we’re worried about now, what drives the cyber threats, are three things; politics, money, and technology.”

While the monetary motive had not changed, the other two had escalated, he explained.

Cyber CX global advisory board member, Ciaran Martin, was the head of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre duing the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017 that significantly disrupted the National Health Service.

He said he did not want to be alarmist about artificial intelligence (AI) adding to a cyber attacker’s arsenal, however, it did make cyber warfare more accessible.

“The way AI is working out in cyber attacks is simply it’s making them a fair bit better, but also it’s making them cheaper and easier to do.

“And this is the bit I worry about right now.

“I think it’s a real potential source of quite acute pain globally, because somebody we’ve not heard of before as a major cyber actor just says right, ‘AI is my ticket to the global cyber hacking campaign’.”

Watch Martin discuss how the Five Eyes handles cyber threats, including from state-sponsored attackers, and what businesses can do to protect against it, in today’s episode of Markets with Madison above.

Get investment insights from executives and experts on Markets with Madison every Monday and Friday here on the NZ Herald, on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

Sponsored by CMC Markets.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this programme is of a general nature, and is not intended to be personalised financial advice. We encourage you to seek appropriate advice from a qualified professional to suit your individual circumstances.

Madison Malone (nee Reidy) is host and executive producer of the NZ Herald’s investment show Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment, and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters.