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In this age of global polycrisis, safeguarding critical infrastructure has become a top priority for governments, businesses, and security professionals. This post provides a brief Q324 survey of the risks and vulnerabilities faced by essential systems, from energy grids to communication networks and transportation to the water, food, and agriculture sectors. This risk assessment identifies…
In an August 6th newsletter, Project Liberty provided an overview of the recent passage in the U.S. Senate of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). Find Details here.
In the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency, the reliability of the U.S. financial system resiliency is called into question: here is what you need to know.
Find here a compilation of some seriously well-reported and sourced global documentaries and news reports on the global interconnectedness, virality, and spreadability of right-wing extremism and violence. Germany’s Enemy Within (full documentary) | FRONTLINE Amid accusations that the German far-right party, the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland), has provoked violence, which it denies, FRONTLINE investigates…
Last week, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) – launched of a major expansion of the ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker – a comprehensive tool designed to monitor and analyze the global landscape of 64 critical technologies that are essential for national security, economic prosperity, and social stability. Find the details of the major update of…
Recently, the United States government accused Russia of conducting sustained efforts to influence the 2024 election. If true, this is not surprising as election-timed influence operations gained notoriety in 2016 catalyzing the call to protect the election process and maintain their integrity. Russia was on the forefront (although China and Iran pursued their own activities and still do) via…
In our recent Global Situational Awareness and Threat Vector Survey, we endeavored to send out an early warning signal regarding this unique time period – marked by a saturation of information warfare, social engineering, and ransomware activity, arguably propelled by the threat surface that is the information ecosystem driving the U.S. presidential election. Consistent with…
As we stand on the cusp of a new technological era, the race to secure our digital world has never been more urgent. Quantum computers, once the stuff of science fiction, are rapidly becoming a reality. While their potential to revolutionize fields like medicine and finance is immense, so too is their potential to upend…
What are the scenarios for a massive public/private partnership for delivery of essential humanitarian aid and the efficiency of aid distribution in conflict zones such as Gaza? To start, we provide some background in the form of first principles thinking and an overview of the potential stakeholders in this potential public/private partnership, including their capabilities…
One final curated post for the year of the insights and innovations we thought wold be of interest to our members and readership from the annual cybersecurity gatherings in Vegas.
You’ll have to get up early or stay up late, but SpaceX’s historic Polaris Dawn astronaut mission should be a success any day now. You can track the mission’s status here.
CISA’s launched the Shields Ready campaign in late 2023 to complement the Shields Up! campaign, which we have featured many times here at OODA Loop – specifically on long holiday weekends when cyber-attacks are known to increase. Explore the CISA Shields Ready campaign here. And Shields Ready! as we head into day 2 of a…
In this post: a situational awareness and threat vector survey of information warfare, social engineering, and ransomware incidents and activities worldwide as of Friday, August 30, 2024 – including a very recent joint Cybersecurity advisory from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), and Department of Health and Human…
A recent article raised an important acknowledgement in the world of global, state-driven cyber attacks: “the hacker blame game isn’t working anymore.”
A curated sampling of video-based coverage by global media outlets of the 2024 World Robot Conference. A game-changing quantitative metric from the conference: a humanoid robot showcased at the event is operating at 20% efficiency relative to a human worker on an assembly line, with the Chinese manufacturer of the humanoid robot predicting that they…
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta launched a standalone artificial intelligence app Tuesday, putting it in direct competition with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and marking the latest app to release as part of the larger AI race. Meta announced the launch of the app, which features an AI chatbot and a “discover” feed that allows users to see how others…
Japan and the Philippines are pledging to deepen the security ties between the two countries, amidst territorial disputes with China. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visited the Philippines this week, his first time since assuming office, to discuss the countries’ relationship with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The two leaders have agreed to begin discussing…
The United Kingdom has reportedly joined the US in a strike against the Houthis in Yemen, for the first time since US President Trump has returned to office. Britain’s military announced that it had carried out a joint operation with the US forces overnight. The American military has not yet commented on the operation, but…
Russia has rejected Ukraine’s proposal to extend its unilateral three-day ceasefire in early May. On Tuesday, a Russian spokesperson confirmed that the Kremlin had seen Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s offer to extend the deal, and that the offer was unlikely to occur. The truce will occur from May 8 to 10. The dismissal comes as…
As Iran’s talks with the US over its nuclear program are progressing, Iran is accusing Israel of trying to hamper the negotiations. On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was influencing what US President Trump was allowed to discuss in the talks. The third round of negotiations between…
VeriSource Services, an employee benefit administrative services provider, is in the process of notifying around four million individuals that they are victims of a data breach on the company. The personal information of the millions of individuals was stolen. Compromised data includes dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and addresses. Although VeriSource does not believe…
France is claiming that APT28, a Russian state-sponsored hacking group, has targeted around a dozen French organizations, including ones connected to the country’s government. APT28 has been active since at least 2004 and is connected to the Russian GRU and known to target European and American government, military, energy, and media organizations. French cybersecurity agency…
A recently released SentinelOne report states that cybersecurity vendors themselves are being faced by an overwhelming number of cyberattacks. The vendors not only have to protect their customers from these attacks, but themselves as well. Top threats to cybersecurity vendors include ransomware, Chinese government-sponsored hackers, and North Korean IT workers posing as job applicants. Although…
CISA has issued a warning about the ongoing exploitation of Broadcom, Commvault, and Qualitia product vulnerabilities. Broadcom’s recently patched flaw, CVE-2025-1976, is a code injection vulnerability that could lead to the execution of arbitrary code. Commvault’s webserver vulnerability, CVE-2025-3928, can be exploited by a remote attacker. CVE-2025-42599, a buffer overflow vulnerability in Qualitia products, can…
Chinese tech company Alibaba on Monday released Qwen3, a family of AI models that the company claims can match and, in some cases, outperform the best models available from Google and OpenAI. Most of the models are — or soon will be — available for download under an “open” license on AI dev platform Hugging…
The era of fully automated strike drones are within technological reach, according to German drone start-up Stark, as the race to develop weapons capable of selecting and striking targets independently heats up. The war in Ukraine has accelerated investment in drone technology, with some companies touting their precision and lethality at a fraction of the…
The battle of billionaires in space between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk has entered a new arena: satellite internet. Amazon, the company that Mr. Bezos started as an online bookseller three decades ago, is now a merchandising behemoth, the owner of the James Bond franchise, a seller of electronic gadgets like Echo smart speakers and…
United Parcel Service Inc. is in talks with robotics startup Figure AI Inc. to use humanoid robots for some tasks in the logistics giant’s network, according to people familiar with the matter. UPS and Figure began having discussions about a partnership last year and have continued talks in recent months, said the people, who asked…
The U.S. cannot afford to fall behind China in the race to a working quantum computer, Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote Monday. President Donald Trump and the U.S. government need to prioritize funding for quantum research, or China could surpass the U.S., endangering economic competitiveness and security, Smith wrote. “While most believe that the United…
Hugging Face, the startup best known for the AI developer platform of the same name, is selling a programmable, 3D-printable robotic arm that can pick up and place objects and perform a few other basic chores. Called the SO-101, the arm is the follow-up to Hugging Face’s previous robotic arm, the SO-100, released last year.…
Meta Platforms is launching a stand-alone artificial intelligence app and going head-to-head with ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The new AI assistant offering will run on Meta’s Llama AI model, the company said Tuesday. It includes a Discover feed that shows how others are interacting with the tool and offer prompts. The news confirms previous CNBC reporting…
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney won a new term on Monday night in a turnaround moment for Canada’s Liberal Party. The party has surged in popularity following US President Trump’s aggressive stance towards Canada and threats to make the country the US’s 51st state. By winning a majority of seats in the House of Commons,…
On Monday, the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence service made the announcement that he would step down from his position in June. The resignation ends his clash with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after multiple of his aides were accused of impropriety dealings with Qatar. Netanyahu had fired the head chief, Ronen Bar, back in…
Spain, Portugal, and parts of southwestern France were hit with widespread power outages on Monday, halting public transport, traffic, and flights. Residents were unable to perform basic functions, such as withdrawing cash from an ATM, as authorities worked to restore the electric grid. The cause of the outages are not yet known, but authorities have…
Cloudflare has reported that it mitigated 20.5 million DDoS attacks in the first quarter of 2025, a 358% increase compared to the same time just one year ago in 2024. Their report highlights a significant rise in the number and size of DDoS attacks, seeing some of the largest ever recorded in Q1 of 2025.…
A recent Veeam report has quantified the refinement and pervasiveness of ransomware attacks, reporting that the percentage of companies impacted by ransomware attacks has declined from 75% to 69%. Despite the decline, the threat remains substantial, and ransomware attacks still pose a significant challenge to global organizations. Organizations must learn to recover more swiftly and…
A just-patched vulnerability in SAP’s NetWeaver Visual Composer Web-based software modeling tool is being actively exploited by attackers. The vulnerability, CVE-2025-31324, has a maximum CVSS score of 10 and affects all SAP NetWeaver 7.xx versions. The zero-day allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to upload files with no restrictions. Over 450 Internet exposed instances are vulnerable,…
The game-changing potential of generative AI (gen AI) is the talk of the boardroom. However, turning AI explorations into production-level services is proving challenging. Recent research from Deloitte found that over two-thirds of executives believe fewer than one-third of their gen AI experiments will be fully scaled in the next three to six months. The…
Nvidia Corp. today introduced DOCA Argus, a new cybersecurity framework designed to protect enterprise artificial intelligence infrastructure at runtime. Built on Nvidia’s BlueField data processing units, DOCA Argus enables agentless, real-time threat detection that integrates with existing enterprise security systems without affecting performance. It does so by operating on every node to detect and respond…
Chinese quantum computing firm Origin Quantum has successfully applied its advanced technology in several biomedical fields, including breast cancer treatment, in a sign of progress towards commercialisation. The Hefei-based company, which is backed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has demonstrated the viability of its Origin Wukong quantum computer in biomedical applications such as breast…
ARX Robotics, a German defense startup backed by NATO’s technology fund, has raised venture capital funding for the second time in the past year as it plans an expansion in the UK. Germany’s HV Capital led a €31 million ($35.2 million) financing round with participation from private equity firm Omnes Capital, the Munich-based startup said…
Huawei Technologies is gearing up to test its newest and most powerful artificial-intelligence processor, which the company hopes could replace some higher-end products of U.S. chip giant Nvidia. The steady advance by one of China’s flagship technology companies points to the resilience of the country’s semiconductor industry despite efforts by Washington to stymie it, including…
IBM plans to invest $150 billion in the US over the next five years, including funds for research and development and manufacturing mainframe and quantum computers. One of the country’s biggest technology employers, IBM said its goal is to fuel the economy and to “accelerate its role as the global leader in computing,” the company…
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released its annual report detailing complaints and losses due to scams and fraud involving cryptocurrency in 2024. According to the report released on April 23, the IC3 received more than 140,000 complaints referencing cryptocurrency in 2024, resulting in roughly $9.3 billion in losses. The…
Russia’s Vladimir Putin announced a cease-fire in Ukraine for three days next month, the second time in less than two weeks the Russian president has called a halt to fighting without committing to a long-term end to the conflict. The announcement came a day after President Trump asked Russia and Ukraine “to stop the shooting”…
Russia launched a sweeping drone assault and air attacks across Ukraine a day after United States President Donald Trump cast doubt over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to end the war. Russia also fired 149 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that 57 were intercepted…
Qatar says there has been “a bit of progress” in the talks aimed at securing a new truce in Israel’s war on Gaza as the United Nations makes an urgent appeal for Israel to lift the “total and complete blockade” of Palestinian territory. Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, on…
China’s Huawei Technologies is preparing to test its newest and most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) processor, as it hopes to replace some higher-end products of US chip giant Nvidia. The chip is indicated to be in early development and will undergo a series of tests to evaluate its performance and prepare it for customer use.…
British retailer Marks & Spencer told agency staff at its central England distribution centre to stay at home on Monday, after it stopped taking online orders following a cyber incident last week. An M&S spokesperson said on Monday there was no further update on the cyber incident following a statement on Friday which announced it…
Cynomi, a startup that provides a virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) platform tailored for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), announced a new $37 million Series B funding this week. The focus on a vCISO platform places Cynomi in a specific segment aimed at automating and scaling strategic security management…
The 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) provides one of the clearest views yet into how cybercrime is evolving into a mature, interdependent ecosystem. Perhaps the most chilling theme from this year’s DBIR is the growing interdependence between threat actors. Further, attackers are turning their attention to network perimeters and management consoles—where patching is…
Baidu Inc. unveiled upgrades to its flagship AI models and slashed their prices as it looks to take on rivals like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and DeepSeek in China’s increasingly competitive artificial intelligence market. The Chinese search engine leader rolled out Ernie 4.5 Turbo and Ernie X1 Turbo, the latest versions of its flagship foundation…
Apple Inc. will remove its secret robotics unit from the command of its artificial intelligence chief, the latest shake-up in response to the company’s AI struggles. Apple plans to relocate the robotics team from John Giannandrea’s AI organization to the hardware division later this month, according to people with knowledge of the move. That will…
China has quietly exempted from tariffs some semiconductors made in the United States, in an attempt to protect its leading technology companies from a bitter trade showdown with President Donald Trump. Levies on at least eight classifications of U.S.-made microchips have been dropped to zero, instead of the 125 percent retaliatory tariff rate Beijing has…
In 2017, Keio University became one of the world’s first IBM Quantum Hubs, now known Quantum Innovation Centers (QICs). Today, there are over 40 QICs around the globe. QICs use IBM Quantum capabilities and expertise to drive advancements in quantum computing. These international hubs lead novel quantum research, build quantum learning communities, and facilitate the…
OpenAI is bringing a new “lightweight” version of its ChatGPT deep research tool, which scours the web to compile research reports on a topic, to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro users, the company announced Thursday. The new lightweight deep research, which will also come to free ChatGPT users starting today, is powered by a version…
It’s a bright spring morning in Hanover, Germany, and I’m on my way to meet a robot. I have been invited to see the G1, a humanoid robot built by Chinese firm, Unitree, at the Hannover Messe, one of the world’s largest industrial trade shows. Standing at about 4’3″ (130cm), G1 is smaller and more…
Baidu’s founder has said demand for the type of text-based models developed by generative AI sensation DeepSeek is “shrinking”, as his search group seeks to reestablish itself as an artificial intelligence leader in China. In a striking criticism of the limitations of China’s AI darling, Robin Li told Baidu’s developer conference on Friday that there…
African leaders have called for the deployment of more peacekeepers in Somalia. At a summit in Uganda, African leaders have called for the deployment of more peacekeepers in Somalia. The current international mission lead by the African Union has suffered from a lack of funding and supplies. The deployment of troops from Ethopia and Egypt…
Houthi rebels have claimed to have shoot down 7 US Reaper drones. Houthi rebels have claimed to have shoot down 7 US Reaper drones. US officials have confirmed that at least 3 were shotdown in a week. The US’s campaign against the Houthi’s has steped up under the Trump Administration with attacks being carried out…
Indian and Pakistani troops have exchanged fire in the Kashmir region. Indian officials have claimed that Pakistani and Indian soliders exchanged fire in the Kashmir region. This comes as tensions between both nations have increased dramatically in recent days. Protests have also begun in Kashmir as residents express their opposition to Indian troops deployments. International…
Serbian students march on Brussels to demand EU action. Serbian students have continued their journey accross Europe and have arrived in Brussels. The students are demanding that the EU take steps to force Serbia’s government to combat corruption. The march is part of a broader anti-government movement that has seen large protests go one for…
Granite Bio is ready to rock ‘n’ roll, unveiling with $100 million and hopes of shaping new antibody treatments targeting several autoimmune diseases. The funding consists of a $30 million series A led by founding investors Versant Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund, plus a $70 million series B round led by Forbion and Sanofi Ventures,…
Perplexity’s iOS App just got an update enabling support for the company’s conversational AI voice assistant. Now Apple users can activate the assistant in the app and ask it to perform tasks like writing emails, setting reminders, and making dinner reservations. You can even navigate away from the app and continue to speak to Perplexity,…
A sweeping new defense initiative is underway along NATO’s eastern border as the alliance ramps up surveillance and deterrence capabilities in response to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. The project, nicknamed the “Drone Wall,” envisions a continuous layer of unmanned aerial systems stretching from Norway to Poland, leveraging cutting-edge technology to defend against incursions and…
A team of researchers has reached a major milestone in quantum computing by successfully simulating Google’s 53-qubit, 20-layer Sycamore quantum circuit. This was accomplished using 1,432 NVIDIA A100 GPUs and highly optimized parallel algorithms, opening new doors for simulating quantum systems on classical hardware. At the core of this achievement are advanced tensor network contraction…
Adobe on Thursday launched the latest iteration of its Firefly family of image generation AI models, a model for generating vectors, and a redesigned web app that houses all its AI models, plus some from its competitors. There’s also a mobile app for Firefly in the works. The new Firefly Image Model 4, Adobe says,…
Tesla Inc.’s production of Optimus, a robot that promises to take over household chores, has been disrupted by China’s curbs on rare earth exports, introduced by Beijing earlier this month in an escalating trade war with Washington. Speaking on the company’s earnings call on Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said production was impacted by…
Nvidia is getting into the artificial intelligence agents game with the release of a software platform that helps businesses build their own autonomous bots. The platform, called NeMo microservices, is available for all customers to use to build their “AI teammates,” the chip maker said Wednesday. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said it has developed…
Deadliest attack on civilians in Kashmir is several years has raised tensions between India and Pakistan. A terrorist attack in Kashmir has left at least 26 dead and dozens more wounded. The attack has raised tensions between India and Pakistan to new heights. The attack has also raised domestic fears of terrorism as several of…
The Houthi’s have launched a missile at northern Israel. The Houthi rebel group has launched a missile at a north Israel. The Isareli military says that it intercepted the missile. The Israeli also acknowledged that this was the first time that a Houthi missile has reached the north of Israel. The US is also contining…
The President of Ghana has suspended the country’s chief justice. The President of Ghana has moved to suspend the country’s chief justice. The move comes as an investigation has opened into the chief justice regarding alleged corruption. Opposition groups within the country have denouced the President’s move by claiming it violates the law. Read more:…
Thousands of people greet Serbian student protesters in France. Serbian student protesters arrived in France after cycling hundreds of miles. The protesters were greated by thousands of people showing their support for their cause. The protesters are seeking EU aid in forcing the Serbian governemnt to reform. Serbia is currently seeking membership in the EU.…
Yale New Haven Health was the vicitm of a data breach. Yale New Haven Health has disclosed that it was the victim of a data breach. The organization has said that the personal information of more than 5.5 million patients has been compromised. It is not currently known if the data breach was connected to…
Blue Shield of California was the victim of a data breach. Blue Shielf of California was the vicitm of a data breach. The company has disclosed that 4.7 million people had their personal information compromised due to an improperly set up connected between their internal systems and Google Ads. Privacy experts are concered by this…
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