LONDON – Britain and other western nations are running out of time to maintain their technological edge over China, Britain’s top cyber spy is set to warn on May 27, urging businesses to work with intelligence officials in order to stay ahead.
“China is now a science and tech superpower with sophisticated capabilities across their intelligence, cyber and military agencies,” Ms Anne Keast-Butler, director of Britain’s signals intelligence agency GCHQ, will say in a rare public speech, according to excerpts released by her office.
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence mean “the ground beneath our feet is shifting”.
Ms Keast-Butler’s speech, which will also caution about Russian hybrid attacks, is only the latest public warnings by British intelligence chiefs about the increasing security threat posed by state actors.
In 2025, the National Cyber Security Center, part of GCHQ, said it has seen a 50 per cent spike in major cyberattacks, with top companies from Jaguar Land Rover to Marks and Spencer Group targeted.
Spies and the tech industry should “anticipate and drive advancements, together, at the speed of the frontier”, Ms Keast-Butler will argue, urging Britons to play more of a role “from boardrooms to living rooms” to make cyber security “ten times more urgent”.
The GCHQ chief will accuse Russia of “scaling up its daily hybrid activity against the UK and Europe,” warning “the risk of miscalculation is as high as I’ve ever seen it”.
Russia is “relentlessly targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust”, she will say, highlighting GCHQ’s work in “disrupting Russia’s efforts to smuggle Western tech, fending off cyber attacks, and countering reckless sabotage and assassination attempts”.
Ms Keast-Butler will stress the importance of the relationship between British and American intelligence communities, amid wider strains to the transatlantic security partnership under US President Donald Trump. GCHQ works closely with the US National Security Agency on cybersecurity.
Her speech marks the 80th anniversary of the 1946 UK-USA signals intelligence agreement that became the foundation of the current Five Eyes partnership incorporating Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The world is in a “new era of radical uncertainty, contested geopolitics and rapidly changing technology”, she will say. There is a “narrowing window for the UK and allies to stay ahead.” BLOOMBERG