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As we set the stage for the OODAcon 2024 Keynote Conversation between OODA CEO Matt Devost and U.S. Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy Nate Fick, we explore the baseline AI governance policy and initiatives through the prism of Ambassador Fick’s cyber and digital policy role at the State Department.
Google has announced a partnership with Kairos Power to deploy small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to support its 24/7 carbon-free energy targets by 2035.
DoD believes organizations that implement Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification will better secure critical defense information, making the overall defense sector less susceptible to breaches and cyber threats. Leaders should work to make this a reality.
We recently explored the argument that – by the sheer force of the scale of their population and autocratic strategic focus – China has an innate competitive advantage in material science basic research and strategic chip innovation. As a counterpoint to that argument, we take a look at this issue of “scale” as an innate…
From cement to integrated circuit chips to machine learning for new metal discovery, find here a scan of the horizon in 2024 of the latest developments in material science innovation.
Recently, Chinese advanced persistent threat activity dubbed “SALT TYPHOON” was linked to intrusions that accessed major U.S. broadband providers such as ATT&T and Verizon Communications, among others. Per reporting, the threat actors appeared to have maintained access for several months, though there has been very little information as to how these actors gained initial entry. SALT TYPHOON has been…
What would the Federalist Papers say if they were written in the 21st century? What challenges would they speak to? What roadmap might they lay out? These are the questions that the ambitious, recently released Digital Papers sought to answer. One of the sponsors of the project, The Project Liberty Institute provides a summary of…
Two major announcements in October 2024 underscore the growing influence of artificial intelligence in scientific advancement, as AI-driven research takes center stage at the Nobel Prizes. Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold won a joint Nobel Prize in Chemistry for its breakthrough in protein structure prediction, while Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneer of deep learning, and John Hopfield, pioneer…
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is transforming its mission to stay ahead in a contested space environment, focusing on resilience through emerging technologies and partnerships. More compute in space and AI is coming. Why It MattersThe NRO is adapting to a more complex space environment by embracing new technologies and leveraging commercial capabilities to enhance…
In July 2024 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released results of collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders designed to help mitigate issues in AI called the
Federal agencies must proactively adapt their cryptographic systems to withstand future quantum computing capabilities. This strategy outlines how automated tools can help ensure a smooth and effective transition to post-quantum cryptography.
Nate Fick serves as the inaugural U.S. Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy, leading the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (CDP, which was launched in 2022). In this post: a look at the ongoing Cyber and Tech Diplomacy initiatives and operational successes of the CDP under Fick.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about replenishing U.S. military stockpiles drained by our support for Ukraine and Israel. That’s true—our reserves of everything from missiles to artillery shells are at dangerously low levels. But focusing solely on restocking munitions would be shortsighted. If the next U.S. administration doesn’t expand its strategy to include…
Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill designed to combat the cyber threat against critical infrastructure posed by nation states, and especially China.
The convergence of AI and biology will figure prominently in the future of the bioeconomy – and is characterized by both the CSET and the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB) as AIxBio. Find an AIxBio primer here.
Krispy Kreme has disclosed that it was the victim of a data breach. Krispy Kreme has disclosed that it was the vicitm of a data breach. The breach has affected 161,000 customers accounts. The company said that this was related to a ransomware attack but did not disclose who was responsib;e. Read more: https://www.securityweek.com/161000-people-impacted-by-krispy-kreme-data-breach/
Hackers have breached the Oxford City Council’s systems. Oxford is notifying current and former employees that their personal data was likely exposed after a hack. The City has said that the attackers were able to access several decades of data. It is not currently known who was responsible for the attack. Read more: https://www.securityweek.com/hackers-access-legacy-systems-in-oxford-city-council-cyberattack/
US soldiers have tested Overland AI’s ULTRA autonomous ground vehicles across 15 live mission scenarios. Activities included pre-mission checks, payload integration, and munition loading. Troops used Overland’s OverWatch interface to plan, launch, and adjust operations in real-time. Assigned tasks included kinetic and electronic warfare breaching and the deployment of various payloads, including drones. ULTRA enabled…
An Iranian missile barrage has struck several sites across Israel, damaging a hospital in the country’s south, and Israel has attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water nuclear reactor as the two countries trade fire for a seventh consecutive day. At least 240 people were wounded in the Iranian attacks, including four seriously, according to Israel’s Ministry…
South Africa was under a declared state of national disaster on Thursday as the death toll from floods caused by severe rains in the Eastern Cape region rose to 92. The Eastern Cape government honoured the victims of last week’s floods with a provincial Day of Mourning and a memorial service at King Sabatha Dalindyebo…
A Chinese military magazine, Naval and Merchant Ships, recently zeroed in on one of Taiwan’s biggest vulnerabilities. The island democracy, which China claims is part of its territory and threatens to overtake, imports more than 96 percent of its energy. Most of it — oil, coal and liquefied natural gas — arrives by ship, and…
Since the Arakan Army’s seizure of much of Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Rohingya armed groups have paused their turf war in Bangladesh’s refugee camps and ramped up recruitment, using religious language to mobilise refugees to fight the Rakhine armed group. Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi government has started engaging the Arakan Army. A Rohingya insurgency against the Arakan…
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda have signed a provisional agreement aimed at stopping the conflict in eastern DRC, according to a joint statement from the two countries and the United States Department of State. The development late on Wednesday in Washington, DC, came after “three days of constructive dialogue regarding political,…
New Zealand has halted millions of dollars in funding to the Cook Islands over the “breadth and content” of agreements the smaller Pacific nation made with China, officials from the New Zealand Foreign Minister’s office said Thursday. New Zealand, which is the smaller Pacific nation’s biggest funder, won’t consider any new money for the Cook…
Margaret Mitchell, researcher and chief ethics scientist at artificial intelligence developer and collaborative platform Hugging Face, is a pioneer in responsible and ethical AI. One of the most influential narratives around the promise of AI is that, one day, we will be able to build artificial general intelligence (AGI) systems that are at least as…
Modern large language models (LLMs) might write beautiful sonnets and elegant code, but they lack even a rudimentary ability to learn from experience. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have now devised a way for LLMs to keep improving by tweaking their own parameters in response to useful new information. The work is a…
In a school district in Shenzhen, would-be truants dodge surveillance drones that patrol the streets. At a nearby park, office workers pick up takeaway delivered by drones from food delivery app Meituan. Elsewhere in southern China’s technology hub, unmanned aircraft transport vials of blood between hospitals, help police departments with crowd control and extinguish blazes…
From uninvited results at the top of your search engine queries to offering to write your emails and helping students do homework, generative A.I. is quickly becoming part of daily life as tech giants race to develop the most advanced models and attract users. All those prompts come with an environmental cost: A report last…
Scientists have developed an exact approach to a key quantum error correction problem once believed to be unsolvable, and have shown that what appeared to be hardware-related errors may in fact be due to suboptimal decoding. The new algorithm, called PLANAR, achieved a 25% reduction in logical error rates when applied to Google Quantum AI’s…
The Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) has reached a milestone in humanoid robotics by demonstrating the first flight of iRonCub3, the world’s first jet-powered flying humanoid robot specifically designed to operate in real-world environments. The research team studied the complex aerodynamics of the artificial body and developed an advanced control model for systems composed of…
Microsoft is prepared to walk away from high-stakes negotiations with OpenAI over the future of its multibillion-dollar alliance, as the ChatGPT maker seeks to convert into a for-profit company. The software giant has considered halting complex discussions with the $300bn AI start-up if the two sides remain unable to agree on critical issues, such as…
Malaysia has obtaineda court order against Telegram. Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission has obtained a court order against Telegram. The court order was sought because Malaysia claims the app has failed to moderate content in accordance with the country’s laws. Telegram has not responded to the court order at this time. Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/malaysia-obtains-local-court-order-against-telegram-allegedly-spreading-harmful-2025-06-19/
Niger has moved to nationalize its uranium mines. Niger has moved to nationalize its uranium minues. The mines are currently owned by a french company. This comes as relations between the two countries have soured. This also comes as the broader region has reconsidered its relationship with France and has moved towards cutting ties. Read…
Ukraine has appointed a new land forces comander. Ukraine has appointed a new land forces command. The new land forces commander previously served as the country’s NATO liaison. The previous land forces commander had resigned after a Russian strike on a training facility. Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraines-zelenskiy-appoints-new-commander-land-forces-2025-06-19/
Australia has shutdown its embassy in Tehran. Australia has shut down its Tehran embassy as the conflict in the region escalated. The have also annouced plans to evacuate citizens from the country. They said the move was motivated in party by the events that took place after the 1979 revolution. Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-closes-iran-embassy-citing-deteriorating-security-environment-2025-06-19/
A vulnerability in the Zyxel Firewall is being exploited. A new vulnerability in the Zyxel Firewall is being exploited. Researchers have observed that several organizations have been attacked by group exploiting this vulnerability. An update has been deployed for the vulnerability. Read more: https://www.securityweek.com/zyxel-firewall-vulnerability-again-in-attacker-crosshairs/
A data breach has exposed millions of healthcare records. Episource has disclosed that it has been the victim of a data breach. The company provides technical support to healthcare organizations. The company disclosed that 5.4 million people have been impacted by the breach. Read more: https://www.securityweek.com/data-breach-at-healthcare-services-firm-episource-impacts-5-4-million-people/
Russian hackers have bypassed Gmail’s multi-factor authentication. Russian hackers have bypassed Gmail’s multi-factor authentication. Google found that Russia hackers were able to successfully impersonate several US State Department officials. Google said it has taken action to address the breaches. Read more: https://www.securityweek.com/russian-hackers-bypass-gmail-mfa-with-app-specific-password-ruse/
Scania is investigating a security breach. Swedish trucking company Scania is investigating a security breach. The company has confirmed that part of its website was compromised. The company also said that the hacker attempted to ransom the data it stole. Read more: https://www.securityweek.com/swedish-truck-giant-scania-investigating-hack/
Joe Paluska, CMO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is on a mission to “mainstream fusion into the public consciousness.” He’s taken CFS to the World Economic Forum and Cannes Lions to introduce fusion to new and influential audiences. Paluska says fusion is critical to meeting the energy demands driven by AI and the global trend…
Rescue workers used rubber dinghies to evacuate people and deliver food and water Wednesday after floodwaters overwhelmed towns in southern China’s Guangdong province. About 30,000 people have been evacuated in Huaiji County after days of heavy rain, state broadcaster CCTV said. More than half of the county’s roads were submerged and power and internet outages…
The gunmen attacked after dark and chased farmer Fidelis Adidi away from the central Nigerian village of Yelwata. The next morning he returned to find the charred remains of one of his two wives and four of his children. They had been living in a room he had rented in the market, in an attempt…
At least 60 refugees and migrants are feared missing and drowned at sea after two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said, after attempting the perilous crossing to Europe. “With dozens feared dead and entire families left in anguish, IOM is once again urging the international community to…
Iran-based cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex has been hacked for more than $81 million of digital assets, according to onchain investigator ZachXBT. The attack, disclosed in a Wednesday Telegram post, drained at least $81.7 million in assets across the Tron network and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible blockchains. ZachXBT spotted attackers using a “vanity address” to exploit the…
North Korea will send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to support reconstruction work in Russia’s Kursk region, a top Russian official said Tuesday, the latest sign of expanding cooperation between the nations. North Korea has already supplied thousands of combat troops and a vast amount of conventional weapons to back Russia’s war against…
Dozens of flights to and from Indonesia’s resort island of Bali were cancelled on Wednesday, authorities said, after a volcano in the archipelago’s east erupted, shooting an ash tower 10 kilometres (six miles) into the sky. Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,584-metre (5,197-foot) volcano on the tourist island of Flores, erupted on Tuesday, with authorities raising…
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has warned the United States that joining Israeli strikes on his country would “result in irreparable consequences” for the US as his and US President Donald Trump’s war of words accelerates and the Israel-Iran hostilities rage for a sixth day. In his first televised address since Israel began its attacks…
The power consumption of AI GPUs has steadily increased in recent years and is expected to continue rising as AI processors incorporate more compute and HBM chiplets. Some of our sources in the industry have indicated that Nvidia is looking at 6,000W to 9,000W for thermal design power for its next-generation GPUs, but experts from…
A British biotech firm called Basecamp Research has spent the past few years collecting troves of genetic data from microbes living in extreme environments around the world, identifying more than a million species and nearly 10 billion genes new to science. It claims that this massive database of the planet’s biodiversity will help train a…
US defence tech group Anduril will team up with Germany’s Rheinmetall to develop drones for Europe, as US companies seek to use their technological expertise to secure a share of rising defence spending in the region. The two companies said on Wednesday they will jointly develop European variants of Anduril’s Barracuda and Fury aerial drones,…
Zoox, Amazon’s robotaxi subsidiary, has opened a new manufacturing facility in California to build thousands of toaster-shaped self-driving vehicles, the company said on Wednesday. The opening of the 220,000 square foot facility in Hayward, Calif. paves the way for Zoox to eventually assemble more than 10,000 of its robotaxis each year, the company said. But…
As China witnesses a boom in humanoid robotics, companies in the sector are offering salaries more than three times the urban average to lure top engineers and AI talent – underscoring a deepening talent crunch that even industry leaders acknowledge. The average monthly pay for humanoid robot algorithm engineers now stands at 31,512 yuan (US$4386),…
OpenAI is phasing out the work it does with data-labeling startup Scale AI, cutting ties with the company days after Meta Platforms Inc. invested billions of dollars in it and hired its founder. Scale accounted for a small fraction of OpenAI’s overall data needs, according to an OpenAI spokesperson who confirmed the firm’s decision to…
Amazon’s CEO envisions an “agentic future” in which AI robots, or agents, replace humans working in the company’s offices. In a memo to employees made public by Amazon on Tuesday, CEO Andy Jassy said he expects the company to reduce its corporate workforce in as soon as the next few years, as it leans more…
Officials have deemed it the most deadly attack on Kyiv this year. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said 139 people were injured in the Ukrainian capital after two rounds of direct peace talks failed to make progress on ending the war. Russia has intensified long-range bombardment and drone bombardments in recent months, and Ukraine has responded with…
According to top officials, North Korea seeks to support reconstruction work in Russia’s Kursk region. Following a short visit to Pyongyang, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un decided to send 1,000 sappers to clear mines in the Kursk region and 5,000 military construction workers to restore infrastructure.…
The rising conflict has shuttered airspace in the Middle East. In response to the worsening security situation between the two nations, several governments are seeking ways to get their nationals out. Several nationals of European nations are leaving Iran via a checkpoint into Azerbaijan, and Cyprus has served as a repatriation hub from Israel and…
Tuesday’s protests turned violent after motorcycle riders accosted citizens. Kenyan police shot an apparent bystander during protests over the killing of a blogger in custody earlier this month. According to eyewitnesses, the officer concealed his face and shot the unarmed man at close range with a shotgun. Kenya has a history of police brutality, with…
Scattered Spider shifts its focus to the U.S. insurance sector in a major cyberattack. Scattered Spider, the ransomware crew behind recent UK retail hacks, has pivoted to the U.S. insurance sector, with Erie Indemnity emerging as its first major victim. A recent breach disrupted online payments, email, and most customer services, potentially impacting seven million…
A high-severity flaw lets local attackers bypass authorization and seize kernel-level control. Researchers at Cisco Talos uncovered CVE-2025-3464, a time-of-check/time-of-use bug in Armoury Crate that scores 8.8 on the CVSS scale. By planting a crafted hard link beside AsusCertService.exe, an attacker can bypass the driver’s hash check, obtain a handle to the Asusgio3 device, and…
Attackers are exploiting a new critical Zyxel flaw previously used to breach Denmark’s energy sector. GreyNoise spotted a new wave of 244 hacking attempts on June 16 aimed at CVE-2023-28771, the same bug attackers used in 2023 to break into 22 Danish energy companies. This round targets networks in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Germany, and…
Hackers are using a new ClickFix malware variant, “LightPerlGirl,” to infect users. On June 13, researchers discovered the malware hidden on a compromised Galapagos travel site, where visitors were tricked into running a PowerShell script disguised as a Cloudflare CAPTCHA. The attack loads the Lumma infostealer entirely in memory, bypassing antivirus detection and potentially exposing…
Desert Works Propulsion (DWP) has successfully completed initial testing of multiple prototype discharge and neutralizer cathodes developed for Turion Space Corp.’s TIE-20 ion thruster. These cathodes are foundational to Turion Space’s high-performance krypton propulsion system, which is engineered to enable advanced spacecraft mobility and precise orbital maneuvering. The successful test campaign showcases the strength of…
Japan’s veterinarian association has urged members to step up precautions against the potentially deadly severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) virus, after what is believed to be the country’s first case of a veterinarian dying from suspected animal-to-human transmission. The vet, who has not been named, developed symptoms of the virus after treating a cat…
Taiwan sealed a partnership deal on Tuesday with U.S. and German-based Auterion for drone software battle-tested in Ukraine to help strengthen the island’s defences against growing military threats from giant neighbour China. Auterion, whose software is used in Ukrainian drones operating combat missions against Russia, said the deal could eventually lead to the technology being…
An explosion at a fireworks factory in central China has killed nine people and injured 26 others, state media said Tuesday. A huge plume of smoke could be seen rising into the sky after the Monday morning blast in a video posted online by state media. The Shanzhou Fireworks Co. factory is in a mountainous…
Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano in south-central Indonesia erupted on Tuesday, spewing towering columns of hot ash into the air. Authorities raised the eruption alert to the highest level and expanded the danger zone to 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) from the crater. Indonesia’s Geology Agency said in a statement it recorded the volcano unleashing…
Israel’s precision strikes on one of Iran’s most secretive and secure nuclear facilities – the Natanz nuclear complex, located deep underground, have hit the target, the UN’s nuclear body said on Tuesday. It was earlier believed that this was a facility that Israel may not be able to target successfully due to its location being…
President Trump will meet with his national security team about the Israel-Iran war in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday, two sources with knowledge tell Axios. Trump returned early from the G7 summit to focus on Iran, and told reporters on Air Force one overnight that he wasn’t interested in a “ceasefire” but a…
Chinese AI upstart MiniMax released a new large language model, joining a slew of domestic peers inspired to surpass DeepSeek in the field of reasoning AI. The Shanghai-based company touted the efficiency of its new MiniMax-M1 model in handling complicated productivity tasks, claiming it outdoes all closed-source competitors from China in a statement. In several…
Lockheed Martin and Boeing said on Monday they are positioning themselves to secure a significant share of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system, as competition intensifies over what could become one of the world’s largest defense contracts. Announced by Trump in January, Golden Dome is projected to cost up to $175 billion…
The all-in-one platform for Adobe’s Firefly-branded generative AI models is now available on iPhone and Android devices. The new Firefly mobile app allows users to generate images and videos using text descriptions, as well as experiment with popular AI photo-editing tools, enabling creatives to generate assets for their projects on the go. Adobe is also…
OpenAI has been awarded a $200 million contract to provide the U.S. Defense Department with artificial intelligence tools. The department announced the one-year contract on Monday, months after OpenAI said it would collaborate with defense technology startup Anduril to deploy advanced AI systems for “national security missions.” “Under this award, the performer will develop prototype…
Eli Lilly is in advanced talks to buy gene editing start-up Verve Therapeutics for up to $1.3bn in what would be the latest acquisition by the world’s largest drugmaker as it seeks to boost its pipeline of experimental medicines. As part of the deal, Eli Lilly would pay almost $1bn upfront for Verve, which is…
India has made a significant breakthrough in quantum communication by successfully demonstrating quantum entanglement-based free-space secure communication over a distance exceeding one kilometre. This achievement, accomplished by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in collaboration with IIT Delhi’s DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE), marks a major step forward in quantum cybersecurity and the future…
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