New Zealand organisations must prepare now for a significant increase in vulnerabilities from AI, New Zealand's cyber security agency said.National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has joined agencies in Five Eyes partners Australia, the US, Canada and the UK in sounded a warning to government and corporate leaders that the risk posed by artificial intelligence demands urgent action.In the rare joint statement, the Five Eyes agencies warned leaders must "act swiftly" to address the imminent threat as AI increases the "speed, scale and sophistication of cyber threats".The joint statement said the urgency was clear: "AI is not a future consideration - it is already here".New Zealand's agency said it had a work programme to manage the risks and take advantage of the opportunities"The NCSC is accessing frontier AI models and is working with providers to understand and inform our response to cyber security risks and provide advice and guidance to New Zealand organisations," deputy director general for cyber security Catriona Robinson said.Robinson said organisations needed to prepare now for a significant increase in vulnerabilities and incidents."Breaches will occur but preparedness helps you contain them quickly and prevent escalation into major operational and financial crises," she said in a statement."The agencies pointed to five practical steps in their joint call to action. It said the actions were not new, but were now urgent to reduce not only technical risk, but also operational, financial and reputational exposureThey included reassessing which systems it runs actually need to be online, and removing those that do not need to be connected at all.It warns that "legacy systems" such as computers running old, unsupported software were a soft target, and urges organisations to limit access to critical systems regularly.Patching processes should be accelerated, and response plans should be prepared and tested.But the agencies argued that while AI accelerates cyber threats, it will also be useful in defending against cyber attacks.It urges government and corporate leaders to use AI deliberately to strengthen defence - not just improve efficiency.- RNZ / ABC