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China’s cybersecurity technology ranks first in the world, and in security and defense, it can now rival that of the United States. However, there remains a gap between China and developed countries such as the United States in terms of investment in cybersecurity, Qi Xiangdong, chairman of Qi An Xin Technology Group, told the Global Times on Friday.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) brings new cybersecurity threats, and China should accelerate the integration of cybersecurity and AI technology to strengthen its ability to deal with risks and threats. cybersecurity uncertainties in cyberspace, Qi said.
Qi, who is also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said in a group interview ahead of this year’s two sessions that the development of AI technology has become a hot topic of discussion both nationally and nationally. internationally.
However, there have also been concerns about the security risks this brings. Some experts believe that in the next decade, the malicious use of AI technology will grow rapidly, posing serious threats to political security, cybersecurity and military security.
Regarding this highly controversial topic, Qi believes that there are three main types of new cybersecurity risks brought by AI technology.
First, AI itself exacerbates security threats, such as data breaches, fraud attacks, and social governance security.
“Generative AI technologies represented by ChatGPT and Sora can quickly generate phishing emails and write malicious software and code, leading to explosive growth in the number of attacks and frequent incidents of AI fraud” , he told the Global Times.
Additionally, criminals can use “deepfake” technology to swap faces and manipulate voices, creating fake videos, so that “seeing doesn’t necessarily mean believing” could become the norm.
The second type of security risk lies in the potential exacerbation of the “offense-defense imbalance” in cybersecurity, leading to greater vulnerability to attacks, Qi noted.
AI significantly lowers the barrier to entry for cyberattacks, allowing ordinary individuals without coding or technical knowledge to become hackers, thereby increasing the number of cyberattacks. Meanwhile, specialized hacker organizations can leverage AI tools to modify and improve their attacks.
“The third type of risk is that AI exacerbates military threats, with a trend toward weaponization of AI becoming evident,” he said, noting that AI can be used in lethal autonomous weapons such as “killer robots”, allowing autonomous identification of targets and remote automated operations. military operations, concealing the source of attacks, establishing advantages in confrontation and connecting networks, decision-makers and operators, making military actions more targeted, precise and widespread.
In fact, a growing number of countries are exploring the application of AI in the military domain.
Qi told the Global Times that the key source of AI is big data, and so China must first resolve the issue of data security to deal with the threat posed by AI, a- he declared.
To address this challenge, a comprehensive approach is needed, involving not only “intelligence against intelligence” but also “coordinated development between humans and machines,” Qi said.
Under the new circumstances, it is necessary to strengthen the promotion of technological innovation, encourage leading enterprises in various industries and cybersecurity companies to cooperate, integrate AI security technology into digital scenarios and provide effective security protection, Qi noted.
At the same time, it is necessary to leverage AI capabilities to accelerate innovation in cybersecurity technologies and security protection systems, so as to “run faster than AI technology” , did he declare.
“Security is all about speed,” Qi said, emphasizing that effective protection against new scenarios created by new technologies is essential for the continued promotion and application of technology; otherwise, technological applications will perish in their infancy.
AI can also be applied in the field of cybersecurity, Qi pointed out. A security expert can handle 120,000 alerts per year, and “our innovative security robot Q-GPT increases alert processing efficiency by 70 times compared to a human,” Qi said.
This could help security experts save an average of 80% of the time spent “staring at a screen.” It also allows them to use the saved time to engage in high-value business-related tasks and direct bots to handle more complex security incidents, Qi said.
Over the past year, international competition in cyberspace has become more intense, with frequent cyberattacks. In response to this situation, China is strengthening the construction of its internal cybersecurity system, Qi said.
The cyber armies and intelligence agencies of some hostile countries will never stop their cyberattacks against China, just as we cannot rid the world of bacteria and viruses. Qi explained that the internal cybersecurity system is like the human immune system. “It can kill bacteria and viruses, or prevent these bacteria and viruses from affecting our health. This is its function,” he said.
Although China’s cybersecurity technology has reached the world’s top ranking, there is still a gap between the cybersecurity investments of Chinese government ministries and enterprises and those of developed countries, Qi noted.
“The US budget for FY 2024 shows that the cybersecurity budget of civilian federal agencies is about 16.4% of the IT budget, while in China it is still around 3%, which is a huge gap that needs to be filled,” Qi said. the Global Times.
“Security is paramount, and insufficient investment will inevitably lead to insecurity,” he said. Based on the experience of developed countries, investments in cybersecurity should represent more than 10% of total IT investments to support digital activities.
