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A recent article revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) would try to counter prolific ransomware gangs beyond using cyber responses, and also include psychological warfare into its toolbox.
Political Realignment and Regulatory Evolution Pave the Way for Blockchain Innovation in the Nation’s Capital
In the wake of the Ascension and Change/United Healthcare ransomware attacks, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) recently “announced the launch of the Universal PatchinG and Remediation for Autonomous DEfense (UPGRADE) program, a cybersecurity effort that will invest more than $50 million to create…
At this year’s RSA Conference a few weeks ago, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced the release of the United States’ International Cyberspace and Digital Policy Strategy – which we assume was a policy effort led (within State and across all federal agencies) by the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, where Nate Fick remains…
Future scenarios involving the Recoding of War Doctrine and the Disintermediation of the Theater of Operation by the Swarm Architecture are transformative, heralding a shift in the very fabric of military strategy and operations. While still evolving, these concepts suggest a future where warfare is increasingly dominated by autonomous systems and decentralized decision-making, fundamentally altering…
In March, Sixty-three companies were selected to participate in an invitation-only MissionLink program for CXOs of innovative, next-gen companies with dual-use National Security technology. MissionLink has also expanded its Board of Advisors. The MisionLink 2024 Cohort MissionLink, an exclusive nationwide community that serves as a force-multiplier and gateway to accelerating innovation and advancing solutions to…
At the RSA cybersecurity conference, the Secretary of State announced the release of the Department’s new International Cyberspace & Digital Policy Strategy whose four goals are to advance economic prosperity; enhance security and address cybercrime; promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law; and other transnational challenges.
At the April 2024 OODA Network Member Meeting – held on Friday, April 19, 2024 – the network tackled developing (and potential use cases for) domain-specific large language models.
Last week: another high-impact ransomware attack in the healthcare sector, this time on Healthcare Giant Ascension. The attack has been attributed to a Russian non-state actor Black Basta – a “group…believed to have been started by former members of the infamous Conti ransomware collective, which dissolved in May 2022. Since then, Black Basta and its…
We continue to track the thought leadership of Will Roper, former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, & Logistics. Roper is currently on the advisory committee for the Defense Innovation Board and, since he founded the company in 2022, is the CEO of Istari, Inc. Roper recently co-authored a white paper with…
We continue our analysis of the categories and subsectors of the expanded metaverse, as Siemens, along with industry and media partners the MIT Technology Review, NVIDIA, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Bentley Systems, and Youl Systems Inc., explores how businesses can assemble the industrial metaverse. Background The Industrial Metaverse is not just an evolution of industrial…
In a fusion of a sub-theme from the OODA Almanac 2024 – Computation is the Ultimate First Principle – and several of the implications from our OODA Stratigame – Scenario Planning for Global Computer Chip Supply Chain Disruption, one thing has become clear: proper national security at the technological level will only be achieved through…
The OODA Loop Team has been on the road this week, as we were invited by a few “communities of practice” to attend their annual conferences. Some are industry sectors, while most cut across all industry sectors and point to the future of exponential technology convergences of many sorts. We endeavored to get out into…
Recently, China’s Cybersecurity Industry Alliance (CCIA) published a report in an effort to further expose the suspected hegemonic practices and “bullying” behavior of the United States in cyberspace.
This Cybersecurity Information Sheet (CSI) is the first of its kind release from the NSA Artificial Intelligence Security Center (AISC) – “intended to support National Security System owners and Defense Industrial Base companies that will be deploying and operating AI systems designed and developed by an external entity…while intended for national security purposes, the guidance…
M23 rebels have continued their offensive in eastern Congo. M23 rebels have continued their offensive in eastern Congo. The group has captured a mineral-rich minning town in its latest offensive. Calls for a ceasefire have increased as the scale of the conflict has grown. This latest offensive has cut off several supply routes for the…
Russia and Ukraine have carried out a large scale prisoner exchange. Russia and Ukraine have carried out one of the largest prisoner exchanges of the war. This exchange saw 175 prisoners swapped by each country. This exchange has been planned for several weeks and is not related to on-going talks for a ceasefire. Read more:…
Microsoft’s recently revealed quantum computer was dealt another blow this week, as data presented by the firm at the world’s biggest annual gathering of physicists failed to convince researchers that the device works as advertised. “Thanks for waking up early and coming out today. I appreciate you all in the back,” said Chetan Nayak at…
Nvidia will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on chips and other electronics manufactured in the US over the next four years, its chief executive has said, as the company tilts its supply chain back from Asia in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff threats. The huge spending projection from the world’s most valuable semiconductor…
Mercedes-Benz is trialling using humanoid robots made by U.S.-based company Apptronik for tasks such as moving components to the production line or carrying out quality checks, the latest automaker to experiment with robots in manufacturing. The German company has invested a low double-digit million-euro sum in Apptronik, a Texas-based firm founded in 2016 that is…
According to CorPower Ocean, the WACE (Wave energy AI-based Control Enhancement) project, running until November 2025, aims to optimize performance and control strategies for wave energy converters (WECs). This follows CorPower Ocean’s recent €32 million Series B funding round to advance its technology towards commercialization. The investment came after its full-scale C4 device withstood record-breaking…
As drones continue to reshape the nature of warfare, the limitations on range and power are becoming the difference between success and defeat on the battlefield. Now, an Israel-based drone company and U.S. manufacturing company Mach Industries are working together to co-produce hydrogen fuel cell powered drones, which offer big advantages in range but have…
Every time you type a question into ChatGPT, you are, probably without knowing it, making several monopolies richer. Actually, it’s no different if you use one of ChatGPT’s many competitors. Nearly all of them use chips from Nvidia Corp., which sells around 92% of the particular components — called artificial intelligence accelerators — that make…
OpenAI is a startup, which means we don’t have real data about the business. At the same time, OpenAI is clearly one of the defining companies of this era, and potentially historically significant. We cover all of this and more, including: Altman’s background, the OpenAI origin story, and the genesis of ChatGPT, which changed everything.…
Nigeria’s President has suspended the govenor and declared a state of emergency in an oil-rich state. Nigeria’s President has declared a state of emergency and suspended the govenor and lawmakers of the oil-rich Rivers state. This comes after a serires of attacks against oil pipelines in the region. The govenor was also facing an impeachment…
Taiwan’s President has annouced an increase in defense spending. Taiwan’s President has annouced that the new defense budget will see an increase which will bring military spending to 3% of GDP. Taiwan plans to modernize its forces and replace ageing equipment. The move comes as US officials have critized the country’s military prepardness and China…
Germany has approved increased spending for defense and infrastrcuture. Germany’s parliament has given its approval to changes to the Country’s debt rules. The proposal was brought as part of a broader plan to stimulate the economy and increase the Country’s defense capabilities. The proposal also allows for increased aid to Ukraine to be added to…
Germany has reopended its embassy in Syria. Germany has reopened its Embassy in Syria after closing it 13 years ago. The German Foreign Ministry said that it was important for Europe to have a presence in the country. The Ministry has said that the embassy will not have a large staff or a permant ambassador.…
A Chinese search engine operater has denied a data breach occured after personal information was exposed. The Chinese search engine operater has denied that a data breach occured after an executive’s daughter posted the personal information of users online. The company has said that executive’s are not allowed to access the data of users. The…
Malicous actors are increasingly using AI to facilitate attacks. Malicous actors are increasingly using AI to facilitate account takeovers. Attackers have begun to use AI bots to automate the process of cracking accounts by using hundreds of different password combinations. Researchers have reported only a handful of known cases so far, but that cases have…
Dutch government agencies are collecting more data in secret. Dtuch government agencies have increased their use of special powers to secretly collect data. A review panel has only denied 4% of requests made by Dutch military and intelligence agencies for the collection of data. Defenders of the pratice pointed out that in 2024 the need…
Ransomware groups are claiming that the Babuk 2 group has stolen their work. Ransomware groups have come forward to claim that the Babuk 2 group has stolen their work. Babkuk 2 claims to be the successor to the Babuk group; however, the Bakuk group has denied this. In addition, several other ransomware groups have claimed…
AI model progress has accelerated tremendously, and in the last six months, models have improved more than in the previous six months. This trend will continue because three scaling laws are stacked together and working in tandem: pre-training scaling, post-training scaling, and inference time scaling. Claude 3.7 shows incredible performance for software engineering. Deepseek v3…
This year’s list of biotech companies reflects the evolving impact of AI, a growing interest in cutting-edge research tools for single-cell analysis and spatial proteomics, and clinical advances for novel drug candidates that promise more convenient and effective treatment for conditions impacting millions of Americans. AlzPath’s highly sensitive blood test can detect signs of Alzheimer’s…
Late last October, two Ukrainian military officers flew to the US to visit the headquarters of Skydio Inc., a Silicon Valley manufacturer of quadcopter drones. Like the machine gun and the tank before them, drones are remaking battle, and since Russia’s 2022 invasion, Ukraine has become the world’s laboratory for drone warfare. Quadcopters bought for…
Equal1, a spin-off company from the University College Dublin (UCD) in Ireland, has unveiled the world’s first silicon-based quantum computer at a conference in California. Dubbed Bell-1, the quantum computer weighs a mere 440 pounds (200 kgs) and can be plugged into a regular electrical socket, the company said in a press release. Quantum computers…
Nvidia is releasing what it’s calling an AI foundation model for humanoid robotics. Announced at GTC 2025 in San Jose, the model, dubbed Groot N1, is a “generalist” model, trained on both synthetic and real data. In a video introducing Groot N1, Nvidia says it features a “dual-system architecture” for “thinking fast and slow,” inspired…
Somewhere in your organization, an AI project is dying. Perhaps it’s the recommendation engine that was supposed to boost sales by 30%. Maybe it’s the predictive maintenance system that promised to slash downtime. Or the customer service chatbot that was going to revolutionize response times. The digital dust gathering on these ambitious initiatives represents not…
Nvidia announced new chips for building and deploying artificial intelligence models at its annual GTC conference on Tuesday. CEO Jensen Huang revealed Blackwell Ultra, a family of chips shipping in the second half of this year, as well as Vera Rubin, the company’s next-generation graphics processing unit, or GPU, that is expected to ship in…
A year ago Unitree pioneered humanoid robotic backflips. Now they have moved on to the far more complex demonstration of dexterity of a side-flip. This is the same robot that has been practicing Kung-Fu.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that a wave of air strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza overnight is “only the beginning”. Netanyahu said that Israeli forces would strike Hamas with “increasing force” and future ceasefire negotiations would “only take place under fire”. The air strikes killed at least 404 Palestinians, many…
Taiwan’s military planners said U.S. support is essential to the security of the island as anxieties simmer in Taipei about whether Trump would send help to defend against a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, in a security road map for the next four years, emphasized the usefulness of U.S. support in areas including intelligence, reconnaissance…
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is angry about a Hong Kong company’s plan to sell Panama Canal ports to a U.S.-led group. The Xi leadership had originally planned to use the Panama port issue as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Trump administration. President Trump, who in the first minutes of his administration called for…
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame have held direct talks for the first time since Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized two major cities in eastern DRC. In a joint statement issued with Qatar, the countries called for an “immediate ceasefire” in eastern DRC. The talks came after M23…
A scareware campaign phishing for login credentials recently switched from targeting Windows to macOS. Throughout 2024 and in early 2025, the attacks targeted Windows users. The malicious code caused the webpages to freeze, creating the illusion of an issue, and the victim was instructed to provide their Windows username and password. Recently, Chrome, Firefox, and…
Cloudflare on Tuesday announced the launch of Cloudforce One Threat Events Feed, a service designed to provide security teams with real-time threat intelligence based on the attacks observed by the company. The goal is to provide indicators of compromise (IoCs) and context to help security teams quickly spot issues and respond to threats. The company…
Google will acquire Wiz, a major cloud security vendor known for its Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) platform, for $32 billion in an all-cash deal. Wiz will become a part of Google Cloud. Wiz is known for its “multicloud” approach, in which its security platform works across a wide range of cloud products, such as…
Tencent Holdings Ltd. released new AI services that turn text or images into 3D visuals and graphics, the latest in a series of products to emerge from big tech firms since DeepSeek galvanized Chinese and US artificial intelligence development. Tencent’s five new 3D-content generators are built atop its Hunyuan3D-2.0 model, all of which it intends…
Last Wednesday, Google made a somewhat surprising announcement. It launched a version of its AI model, Gemini, that can do things not just in the digital realm of chatbots and internet search but out here in the physical world, via robots. Gemini Robotics fuses the power of large language models with spatial reasoning, allowing you…
Google parent Alphabet Inc. agreed to acquire cybersecurity firm Wiz Inc. for $32 billion in cash, reaching a deal less than a year after initial negotiations fell apart because the cloud-computing startup wanted to stay independent. Wiz will join the Google Cloud business once the deal closes, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday.…
Mach Industries and Heven Drones are teaming up, with previously undisclosed plans to produce the latter’s unmanned aerial vehicles at the former’s flagship factory, Forge Huntington. California-based Mach Industries and Heven Drones, which is located in Florida and with roots in Israel, want to together “provide an offset” to Chinese dominance in the drone market,…
QET Sweden, a pioneering spin-out from Chalmers University of Technology, together with SCALINQ, a rapidly growing provider of quantum computing hardware, proudly announces the launch of the QET Vidar Traveling-Wave Parametric Amplifiers at the APS March Meeting 2025. These state-of-the-art amplifiers come in two models, Model D (Double TWPA) and Model S (Single TWPA), both…
AI adoption in the workplace is deepening divisions and sparking new power struggles between leaders and workers, with half of executives saying that AI is “tearing their company apart,” according to new research from Writer, the enterprise AI startup. Executives are pushing AI as an inevitable revolution, but workers aren’t buying it. Nearly all (94%)…
Chinese automaking juggernaut BYD Co. is taking things to even greater heights, now staking claim to a system it says will make it as quick to charge an electric vehicle as to refuel a gasoline car. From ‘more features for no more price’ and ‘smart driving for all,’ BYD can now add ‘charging as fast…
Clashes on the Syria-Lebanon border have led to the deaths of at least seven people, leaving another 52 injured. The violence on Monday followed weekend skirmishes killing three Syrian soldiers. Lebanon President Joseph Aoun ordered the army to respond to the violence at the border, putting the border clashes to a stop. Syria is blaming…
Israel and Hamas have been stalled in negotiations for weeks, attempting to extend the ceasefire in Gaza and arrange for the exchange of more hostages. Hamas had refused to release large numbers of hostages unless Israel promised to end the war permanently. Now, Israel has launched heavy overnight attacks on Gaza, returning to war. While…
President Trump has announced that he will speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday about conditions to end the Ukraine war. Trump is expected to discuss territorial concessions by Russia, as well as control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. A spokesperson for the Russian government confirmed that the talks would take place this…
Rwanda has severed diplomatic ties with Belgium, its former colonial ruler, following conflict between the countries over Rwanda’s invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The escalation came as the European Union imposed sanctions against Rwandan military and government officials for their role in the ongoing conflict. The EU has accused Rwanda of fueling the…
U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced a bipartisan bill supporting the cybersecurity of small water and wastewater utilities. The bill would expand the existing Circuit Rider Program, which provides technical assistance to water systems serving 10,000 or less people. The senators who reintroduced the legislation stated that only 20% of U.S. water and wastewater systems are currently…
A cybercriminal group, RansomHub, is working with another threat actor to deliver its ransomware. The group is working with the malicious actor behind the FakeUpdates malware-as-a-service (MaaS) framework. The attacks are being perpetrated against U.S. government organizations. The attacks began to be detected at the start of this year against the U.S. government. Attacks have…
Denmark is warning of state-sponsored espionage against the telecommunications sector in Europe. The country is warning that the high-profile breaches against telecommunications organizations in the U.S. were not isolated, and are part of a broader pattern. A report was published assessing cyber threats to the Danish telecommunications sector, raising the threat level to “High” after…
Malicious ClickFix code was found on the websites of over 100 car dealerships. A malicious actor infected LES Automotive, which is a shared video service unique to car dealerships. The supply chain attack then impacted the car dealerships through the third-party domain. In ClickFix attacks, a prompt is displayed to the user asking them to…
In the final weeks of 2022, just as China was unwinding three years of pandemic controls, Jack Ma was at a low point. Alibaba, his colossal internet empire, was under assault from regulators and from rivals stealing market share in ecommerce and cloud computing. Its share price was down 80 per cent from its peak.…
Artificial intelligence that can match humans at any task is still some way off — but it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a reality, according to the CEO of Google DeepMind. Speaking at a briefing in DeepMind’s London offices on Monday, Demis Hassabis said that he thinks artificial general intelligence (AGI) —…
AstraZeneca has entered the “off-the-shelf” cell therapy space, penning a $1 billion deal to acquire EsoBiotec and its lentiviral vector platform. The deal will see AstraZeneca scoop up all outstanding equity of the Belgian biotech for a total consideration of $1 billion—split between an upfront payment of $425 million and up to $575 million in…
China’s first unmanned transport aircraft capable of hauling over 1 ton of goods has completed its maiden flight and is expected to enter into commercial operation next year. The TP1000, built by a local state-owned enterprise, took off for the first time on Saturday in Qingdao, the capital of eastern China’s Shandong province, according to…
Artificial intelligence can find you a recipe or generate a picture, but it can’t hang a picture on a wall or cook you dinner. Chelsea Finn wants that to change. Finn, an engineer and researcher at Stanford University, believes that AI may be on the cusp of powering a new era in robotics. “In the…
Welcome back. Like fusion power, quantum computing is a revolutionary technology that has been in the works for a long time — and perhaps always will be. But top tech figures are now starting to expect that the technology will move from its experimental phase to serious commercial use “not in decades . . . but in years”, as…
Intel’s incoming CEO Lip-Bu Tan has considered significant changes to its chip manufacturing methods and artificial intelligence strategies ahead of his return to the company on Tuesday, two people familiar with Tan’s thinking told Reuters, in a sweeping bid to revive the ailing technology giant. The new trajectory includes restructuring the company’s approach to AI…
As climate change fuels bigger, hotter, and more unpredictable wildfires, communities, ecosystems, and economies around the globe are facing increasing risks. There’s no single pathway to managing this growing crisis, but there is something that can empower smarter, faster and data-driven action across the globe: FireSAT. FireSAT, owned and operated by Earth Fire Alliance, is…
Military personnel from more than 30 countries convening in the United Kingdom this week plan to thrash out the scope and scale of a ceasefire enforcement mission to Ukraine, military sources have told Al Jazeera. The meeting comes two weeks after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that a “coalition of the willing” would work…
Europe’s ability to wean itself off a post-Cold War reliance on U.S. military power largely depends on factories like the MBDA facility in central France, and how fast they can ramp up production after years of no urgency. This factory is assembling the missiles that will help rearm Europe and supply Ukraine. President Trump’s push…
Yemen’s Houthis have said they have retaliated after vowing to “meet escalation with escalation” following the United States air strikes against the group that killed at least 53 people on Saturday. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said earlier on Sunday that the group targeted the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman and its warships…
US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are expected to speak this week as Russia has yet to agree to a US-brokered ceasefire proposal with Ukraine. Putin says he agrees in principle to the ceasefire but that there are “serious questions” for Russia to be addressed. Zelenskyy accused the Kremlin of not…
A popular GitHub Action called ‘tj-actions/changed-files’ has been compromised in a supply chain attack apparently targeting secrets associated with continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). Changed-files, which is actively used in over 23,000 repositories, is designed for tracking file and directory changes. While StepSecurity, a security company specializing in GitHub Actions, has seen multiple public…
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