FT BOARD DIRECTOR PROGRAMME NEWSLETTER

News of a cyber attack on the UK’s largest airport group in the past week highlights a growing need for companies to step up their data security measures in line with fast-evolving technologies. Conversations around AI development in particular often focus on how these technologies can boost productivity or offer a competitive edge; fears often centre on job losses, changing processes or being left behind other companies due to slow adoption or lack of education. 

Cyber security is not a new issue, and hacks targeting large-scale companies are not a new threat. Boards may feel like they have this issue covered. Yet AI has changed the game yet again. 

Richard Horne, head of the branch of signals intelligence agency GCHQ, warned last year that companies needed to do more to guard against cyber attacks. Just this week, the head of the world’s financial stability watchdog warned that ‘the threat that frontier AI models pose to cyber security is increasing the risk of a market meltdown’ in a letter to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors. One of his suggestions involved the creation of backup systems that are ‘completely unconnected from their main networks in order to be able to restore IT operations after a major cyber attack.’ 

There is a bigger issue at play here around how countries control the release of new AI models, and how the entire industry is regulated on a global scale. Yet for boards looking to grow their company, protect what has been built and maintain stability in a time of global change and turmoil, conversations about cyber security must remain front and centre.