This week’s OODA Network Dispatch discussed a party with a purpose, as well as providing a review of cybersecurity, geopolitical and technology items of interest.

Yesterday OODA coordinated two events, a gathering of our network member in an exclusive bungalow and back stage at the Mandalay Bay Daylight Beach Club, as well as a larger pool party, coordinated with some incredible sponsors, which took over the entire club. If you were present you know the great networking that happened there. The event was all about relaxing in the sun and enhancing relationships among and between industry and government cybersecurity  professionals. Besides the great community building, we witnessed many getting business done. New partnerships were formed, investors and entrepreneurs started conversations, CEOs from very large security companies mentored CEOs from startups and talked partnering, and many enterprise CISOs had an opportunity to meet leading cybersecurity firms from the OODA community. Analysts from across the community were able to meet and forge new relationships that can prove to be very important in a crisis. 

So this was not just a pool party, it was a pool party with a purpose. 

The next OODA network video meeting is 15 August at 1pm Eastern. We will be discussing the state of cybersecurity and cyber attack and its impact on business decisions today. The discussion will be informed based on recent insights and interactions during Black Hat and Def Con, as well as our tracking of the state of technology and geopolitics. Please come with your insights and questions.  

Every day in our OODA Daily Pulse our analysts summarize stories in tech, cybersecurity and geopolitics. Scan all tech, cyber and geopolitical news at: https://oodaloop.com/briefs-archive/ Here is a review of topics we covered this week: 

Geopolitical Developments
Strategic and security tensions are being tracked across multiple regions. A simulated Chinese blockade of Taiwan underscored Singapore’s potential role as a regional lifeline, while Beijing escalated rhetoric toward the Philippines over Taiwan policy. Japan deployed its first F-35B fighters to bolster southern defenses, and Lithuania asked NATO for air defense reinforcements after an explosives-laden drone crossed from Belarus. Sudan claimed to have destroyed a UAE aircraft in Darfur, and the UN warned of starvation in Sudan’s besieged el-Fasher. Heavy flooding struck Japan’s Kyushu, China’s Gansu, and India’s Himalayan region, displacing thousands. The U.S. and China traded moves over semiconductor policy, with Trump announcing 100% tariffs on foreign chips and Beijing tightening critical mineral exports. Other notable flashpoints include rising violence in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado, continued IS/al-Qaeda threats in Africa, and Uganda–South Sudan border clashes.

Technology Developments
Quantum computing momentum accelerated with the UAE’s Technology Innovation Institute partnering with Quantinuum, IBM advancing a new error-correcting decoder, Fujitsu planning a 10,000-qubit superconducting system, USC researchers demonstrating a novel particle storage method, and D-Wave releasing an open-source quantum AI toolkit. OpenAI launched GPT-5 with a redesigned ChatGPT interface, and Apple will integrate GPT-5 into Apple Intelligence. Cohere unveiled its secure enterprise AI agent platform; Anthropic and Google won U.S. federal civilian AI contract approval. In robotics, Morgan Stanley projected humanoids could deliver major productivity gains, Figure AI demonstrated advanced automation, Shield AI expanded V-BAT deployments in Europe, and OpenMind debuted an operating system for humanoids. Defense-tech innovation was evident in Japan’s $6.5B warship deal with Australia, Allen Control Systems’ anti-drone demand, and U.S. border/UAV operations with Frontex.

Cybersecurity Developments
Cyber risks remain pervasive and increasingly linked to AI. CrowdStrike reported heightened Chinese targeting of North American telecoms and Russian cyber-espionage tied to the Ukraine war, while China was accused of using AI for influence operations in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Threat actors exploited vulnerabilities across ecosystems: Lenovo firmware flaws enabling persistent implants, a macOS Spotlight exploit bypassing privacy controls, and a “poisoned” calendar invite hijacking Google’s Gemini to seize smart home systems. AI-related risks included the possibility of exfiltrating sensitive data via malicious document connections to ChatGPT. Notable corporate actions included Palo Alto Networks’ $25B acquisition of CyberArk, and a Dubai BNPL fraud case exposing payment security weaknesses. On the policy front, a bipartisan Senate bill proposed a national quantum computing cybersecurity strategy, and the White House weighed embedding tracking tech in high-end AI chips to prevent smuggling to China.

Recent OODA Analysis

For a directory of all OODA analysis see: https://oodaloop.com/analysis/This week’s research and analysis includes:  

OODA Loop’s latest coverage from the lead-up to and on the ground at Black Hat USA 2025 highlights how AI, cybersecurity, and advanced infrastructure are converging to create both new risks and opportunities. Startup-focused playbooks explore how agentic AI, LLM vulnerabilities, adversarial AI, and large-scale red-teaming intersect with market conditions, offering guidance for founders and investors navigating this rapidly evolving space. Innovative infrastructure is also in focus, with underwater and orbital data centers emerging as secure, sustainable solutions for AI workloads. Law enforcement successes, such as “Operation Eastwood” against pro-Russian hacktivists, illustrate the value of coordinated international action. The convergence of cybersecurity and blockchain is seen as a ripe field for startup innovation, while new research warns that AI’s “hallucinations” can mask deeper capabilities for strategic deception. Meanwhile, OODA Network discussions and the July 2025 member meeting underscored the urgency of strategic clarity in the AI race, rising corporate recognition of AI as a material risk class, and the need for scalable drone swarm capabilities to deter conflict in the Taiwan Strait. Together, these insights point to a high-stakes, high-velocity environment where technological leadership and security readiness must advance in lockstep.

• Cybersecurity and AI Convergence: A Startup Ecosystem Playbook (Agentic AI, LLM Threats, and Red-Teaming at Scale) 
  This playbook explains how cybersecurity, AI/ML, LLMs, adversarial AI, AI sovereignty, red‑teaming, and agentic AI intersect and what it means for startup teams who are attending Black Hat USA 2025 and DEF CON 33. 
• Underwater and Orbital: The Next Frontier for Data Centers
  In a recent OODAcast conversation between OODA CEO Matt Devost and Maxie Reynolds, red teamer and founder of a company deploying underwater data centers, Reynolds argues that sub-sea infrastructure—once viewed as novel—is now becoming a critical option for secure, sustainable, and high-performance AI workloads. Data Centers in space are also in the mix. 
• Black Hat 2025 – Startup Spotlight Competition
  Once again, OODA Network Member Robert Stratton will be participating as a judge in Black Hat 2025 Startup Spotlight.  
• Operation Eastwood Is a Blueprint to Take Down Cybercriminal Gangs
  Recently, a joint European-led operation combining the efforts of several law enforcement agencies successfully disrupted the activities of a pro-Russian hacktivist group known as NoName057(16).  Dubbed “Operation Eastwood” the collaboration proved highly effective in degrading 100 servers of the group’s worldwide infrastructure that had been used to execute thousands of attacks against Ukraine and its… 
• Cybersecurity and Blockchain Convergence: Strategic Opportunities for Startups and Investors at Black Hat 2025
  As the OODA Network and the Black Hat community enter Day 5 of Black Hat 2025 in Vegas, we tailored this OODA Loop Original Analysis for startup leadership teams and investors attending the conference. It seems that market and regulatory conditions are now optimized for the innovation ecosystem to take the accelerated lead in addressing… 
• Beyond Hallucination: Strategic Deception in AI Systems 
  Recent analysis of advanced AI system behavior has revealed capabilities that extend far beyond commonly understood “hallucination” problems. 
• The OODA Network Discussion on AI Acceleration: Strategic Clarity, Global Risks, and a North American Mindset
  The final topic discussed at the recent July 2025 OODA Network Meeting delved into the global AI race—a domain where opportunity, uncertainty, and strategic risk converge. 
• When AI Becomes a Material Risk Class: What the S&P 500’s AI Disclosures Reveal About Executive Risk Perception
  The Autonomy Institute’s new report reveals a sharp rise in AI-related risks disclosed by S&P 500 companies, signaling a pivotal shift in corporate awareness, regulatory exposure, and competitive threat perception. This analysis reveals how generative AI is reshaping corporate risk disclosures (and where systemic threats to the U.S. economy may emerge next). 
• July 2025 OODA Network Meeting: Navigating the Evolving Cybersecurity and Geopolitical Landscape
  The July 2025 OODA Network meeting featured an in-depth discussion of the accelerating convergence of AI, counter-drone defense, cybersecurity, and geopolitical instability, shaped by member insights and real-world operational experience. 
• The Drone Swarm Architecture Could Define a Taiwan Conflict
  The Center for a New American Security’s report “Swarms over the Strait: Drone Warfare in a Future Fight to Defend Taiwan” argues that drones will play a pivotal but insufficient role in a future U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan. The United States risks ceding critical battlespace in the Indo-Pacific unless it rapidly fields scalable small drone…

We maintain an online calendar of events for your reference at: https://oodaloop.com/events/ 

Coming events include: 

• 7 – 10 Aug DEFCON
• 15 Aug OODA Network Meeting
• 19 Sep OODA Network Meeting
• 6-10 Oct IEEE MILCOM
• 29 Oct OODAcon 
• 21 Nov OODA Network Meeting
• 19 Dec OODA Network Meeting

Thanks for your support!

Matt Devost, Bob Gourley, and the OODA Loop team.