In a rare joint statement, the Five Eyes intelligence alliance—the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand—warned on Monday that the cybersecurity threats posed by advanced AI models are approaching a critical point.
“As the leaders of the Five Eyes cyber security agencies, we are united in our call to action: the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming cyber risk, and we must act swiftly to remain ahead,” the alliance said in a joint statement signed by the intelligence chiefs of all five countries, including the United States’ David Imbordino, who leads the National Security Agency’s cybersecurity directorate, and Nick Andersen, who is the acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). “The timeline is not years, it is months.” In the letter, the leaders say that developments in AI have been accelerating the “speed, scale, and sophistication of cyber threats” by lowering barriers for bad actors and shrinking the window between the discovery of a software vulnerability and its exploitation.
“Cyber risk can no longer be treated as a purely technical issue. This is a core business risk and leadership responsibility,” the letter reads. “Breaches will occur. Preparedness helps you contain them quickly and prevent escalation into major operational and financial crises.”
