Cyber Centre urges organizations to tighten basics as frontier AI speeds up attacks
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security urged organizations across Canada on June 24 to act on risks from frontier artificial intelligence, warning that the technology can help attackers find and exploit weaknesses far faster than before, in some cases cutting defenders' response time from days or weeks to hours.
The statement followed a joint call from Five Eyes cyber agency leaders. It said criminals already use AI to produce more convincing phishing, voice scams and deepfake impersonations at scale, and to help less-skilled actors run sophisticated attacks. The agency's Ransomware Threat Outlook made a similar assessment in January.
"Strong cyber hygiene remains your most powerful and effective advantage," said Rajiv Gupta, head of the Cyber Centre. The statement did not give separate guidance for small organizations but said the steps apply whether a program is mature or just starting.
What to do
- Apply security updates promptly and reduce what is exposed to the internet.
- Use phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication.
- Replace or isolate unsupported systems.
- Set clear rules for staff use of AI tools, especially with customer or financial data.
- Confirm that key service providers apply strong security, and test your incident response plan.
