The BaseNewsThe Guardian

AI-powered malware ‘highly likely’ to be used to hack UK infrastructure by 2028

The Guardian reports that the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, in its annual review, judges it highly likely that AI-powered malware will be used in a ransomware attack on critical national infrastructure by 2028, and expects Russia and China to use AI routinely in cyber-attacks.

Open the source ↗2 quotations checked, word for word ↓
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Why it matters

The same thing, for different readers.

What it means for you

The UK's cyber agency expects AI-assisted ransomware to hit services such as hospitals, airports and power stations within about two years, raising the stakes of outages.

For lawmakers

The National Cyber Security Centre's annual review gives UK officials an official assessment to justify investment in cyber resilience and in defenders' access to advanced AI models.

For researchers

The Guardian reports that AI helped find a critical weakness in PHP last month, an example of AI uncovering long-undetected vulnerabilities.

In their own words

Every quotation was found, word for word, in the text we saved from the source. That shows the words are there; it does not make them true, or prove the speaker meant them as quoted.

From the source’s own text.

“In the coming months, we face a real prospect of an unprecedented rise in the number of cyber incidents”
Richard Horne, Chief executive, National Cyber Security CentreThe Guardian reports this as what the NCSC chief executive will say in a speech accompanying the annual review, published ahead of the speech.
Found word for word in the sourceAs quoted in the text we read, not the speaker’s own text or a transcript of their words
“AI can help people find these flaws and patch them, but if we don’t get the access the bad guys will beat them to it”
Alan Woodward, Professor of cybersecurity, Surrey UniversitySurrey University cybersecurity professor, responding to the NCSC warning, on why defenders need access to cutting-edge AI.
Found word for word in the sourceAs quoted in the text we read, not the speaker’s own text or a transcript of their words

The record

Questions
How is AI used in attacks, defence and war? · How fast is AI advancing, and where is it heading?
People
Richard Horne (Speaks, Chief executive, National Cyber Security Centre) · Alan Woodward (Speaks, Professor of cybersecurity, Surrey University) · Dan Milmo (Wrote it, Global technology editor, The Guardian)
What we read
We read the whole source.
Found by
The Radar, run of November 4, 2026, via the-guardian-ai (tier 2: a major outlet’s own reporting)
Cite this
The Guardian, “AI-powered malware ‘highly likely’ to be used to hack UK infrastructure by 2028”, November 3, 2026. Entry in the Ctrl AI Base, https://ctrlai.com/base/guardian-2026-11-03-ncsc-ai-malware-infrastructure
Our notesLive Guardian page returned a bot-check; text saved from the Wayback copy. Horne's remarks are reported in advance of the speech (the article says Horne will say them). The NCSC review itself was not read.