CyberScoop reports that the U.S. has been noted by intelligence officials to be increasingly vulnerable to cybersecurity threats posed by the growing sophistication of artificial intelligence technology.
Mounting threats have prompted the FBI to bolster protections for U.S.-made AI models, which could be targeted by adversaries, especially China, in strengthening their AI capabilities, said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Such testimony was made alongside a new report from the U.S. intelligence community that emphasized the severity of Chinese cybersecurity threats against U.S. government, private, and critical infrastructure networks.
Influence operations targeting the upcoming midterm polls are expected not only from China but also from Iran, which may leverage new techniques to build upon an operation in 2020 that exploited voter information to spread right-wing propaganda, according to the report. The findings also revealed that commercial spyware firms have been contracted by at least 73 countries to conduct surveillance on journalists and political dissidents.
