Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) AI-enabled and (b) other cyber attacks on economic (i) security and (ii) competitiveness.

Cyber security is a priority for the government. We are taking action to protect businesses, citizens and essential services against cyber threats. Last year the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said AI will almost certainly increase the volume and heighten the impact of cyber attacks over the next two years, however the impact on the cyber threat would be uneven. The full report is at https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/report/impact-of-ai-on-cyber-threat .

The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will require regulated organisations to adopt cyber security measures which protect against a wide range of cyber threats, including AI-enabled threats. Further details on the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will be published in due course.

Cyber attacks cost the UK economy billions of pounds per year, resulting in serious disruption for businesses and individuals, and disruption to supply chains and public services. Cyber attacks harm confidence and investment in UK technology, while intellectual property can be stolen which has cost billions of pounds to develop. The Cyber Security Breaches Survey [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cyber-security-breaches-survey] sets out further details on the impact of cyber threats and we will publish further research on this in due course.