AI Technology Drives Surge in Cyber Security Risks
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is exposing hidden software vulnerabilities at an unprecedented pace, threatening to cause severe cyber outages and chaos across government and private-sector websites worldwide, cybersecurity experts warned. In interviews with Reuters, seven leading cybersecurity experts expressed deep concern over this growing risk.
According to recent research by VulnCheck, a US-based cyber threat intelligence firm, AI-driven automation is doubling the number of digital flaws (bugs) discovered in software every year. Matthew Prince, Chief Executive of international digital infrastructure provider Cloudflare, noted that AI is unlocking complex vulnerabilities long buried deep within the internet’s core architecture, setting the stage for major cybersecurity challenges in the coming months.
The warning comes after government websites across Europe and several other countries recently suffered sudden, widespread network disruptions. The crisis unfolded following the discovery of a critical security flaw in PHP, a widely used programming language. Cybersecurity teams raced to patch the software before hackers could exploit it, temporarily taking several high-profile sites offline to mitigate the threat.
Experts highlighted that identifying software flaws and turning them into cyber weapons once required weeks or months of effort by skilled professionals. Today, advanced AI models scrutinise codebases around the clock, discovering vulnerabilities and crafting exploit pathways in just a matter of hours. This dramatic shift has severely compressed the time defenders have to counter impending cyberattacks.
Despite the heightened risks, Cloudflare’s Matthew Prince views the development positively. He emphasised that exposing hidden defects quickly is far better than leaving them concealed behind closed doors. By rapidly bringing latent vulnerabilities to light, AI offers an opportunity to permanently fix and clean codebases, ultimately making internet infrastructure stronger and more resilient.
Source: Reuters
