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The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0, an evolution of its predecessor, is a comprehensive guide designed to assist organizations across various sectors in managing and mitigating cybersecurity risks effectively. This framework, while not prescribing specific actions, offers a taxonomy of high-level cybersecurity outcomes, enabling organizations, regardless of their size, sector, or maturity, to better understand,…
After the annual OODA CEO Matt Devost and OODA Network Members Review the OODA Almanac 2024 – Reorientation at the February 2024 OODA Network Member Meeting – which was held on Friday, February 16, 2024 – the network ended the monthly meeting with a discussion of the current geopolitical “free for all” and potential geopolitical…
Cybersecurity is one of those areas where cost cutting must be done with forethought. Cut the wrong things and it can lead to catastrophic results including government fines, criminal penalties and loss of customer confidence. Cut the right things and key risks can still be mitigated and they can be mitigated more efficiently.
According to recent reporting, the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) intends to issue an update to the national cybersecurity strategy implementation plan in the coming months.
Two recently declassified Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reports extensively detail the Iranian-backed drone capabilities fueling the reconfiguration of global warfare into a drone swarm architecture – fueling what John Robb has framed as the future: asymmetric, non-nation-state kinetic capabilities organized into drone swarms enhancing the ability for warfighting capabilities “networked tribes” and “global guerrillas” usurping…
As an OODAcon 2023 panelist noted: We are fast approaching a “tipping point” – when non-human generated content will vastly outnumber the amount of human generated content. A general quantitative validation has also been floating around: “90% of Online Content will be AI-generated by 2026”. We took the time to validate this quant and flesh…
The Hudson Institute report on “Risking Apocalypse? Quantum Computers and the US Power Grid” highlights the significant threat posed by potential quantum computer attacks on the US power grid. It emphasizes the vulnerability of the grid to such attacks, which could decrypt existing encryption systems and cause catastrophic outcomes. As we navigate the complexities of…
Every year, we also use one of our monthly meetings for a discussion of the annual OODA Almanac with the OODA Network. This conversation took place at the February 2024 OODA Network Member Meeting – which was held on Friday 16, 2024.
The i-SOON leak tells us nothing new perhaps as much as solidify points that have long been suspected and acknowledged of Chinese cyber operations. Beijing tasks out orders on areas of interest to a variety of collection means, much like any other government. In this case, one company has been identified, and there are likely other companies…
Google Security Engineering and The Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute in collaboration with OpenAI have sorted through the hype – and done some serious thinking and formal research on developing “better approaches for evaluating LLM cybersecurity” and AI-powered patching: the future of automated vulnerability fixes. This is some great formative framing of the challenges…
Conspicuous, controversial and notorious is the Chinese unwillingness to participate in global benchmarking list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. So, the “top 500” list goes out – with the U.S. on top. The lack of participation by the Chinese then fuels rumors that they in fact possess capabilities that transcend all the participants in…
We have been very vocal boosters of CISA, the efforts of CISA leadership, and since its inception, the work of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC). And we continue in our support of both organizations. The Defenders have a tough mission. In this post, however, we remain objective and sort out some of the recent…
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is best in class research and analysis, judged against both public or private sector standards. In a recent report, the CRS broke down the vital questions U.S. policymakers need to be asking vis a vis the future of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base – questions which apply to all organizations…
We take a look at the recently released Federal Reserve Board 2024 bank stress test scenarios, with an eye towards just how sensitive the stress tests are to disruptions and uncertainties created by exponential technologies – and how some disruptive markets see instability in the traditional banking system as a net positive for the strategic…
Competing cyber capabilities (on a spectrum from nation-state to non-state actors alike) and cyber-based conflict will continue to restructure, reformulate, and transform the very essence of what power, prestige, international governance, and geopolitical strategy are in the 21st century – and large language models are the new force multiplier. Microsoft and OpenAI have quantified the…
On Tuesday, a federal jury fined the NSO group $168 million after the group had targeted Meta-owned WhatsApp and its users. The Israeli company had used WhatsApp servers to deploy Pegasus spyware, and targeted over 1,400 users across the globe. WhatsApp had originally filed a lawsuit against the group back in 2019, accusing NSO Group…
Federal prosecutors have indicted a man living in Yemen who they believe to be the mastermind behind the Black Kingdom ransomware. The individual, Rami Khaled Ahmed, is accused of developing the ransomware, and then infecting around 1,500 computer systems with it. The infested systems were in the U.S. as well as other countries. Ahmed has…
Seven Pakistan army soldiers were killed on Tuesday when their vehicle was reportedly struck by an improvised explosive device in the troubled southwestern province of Balochistan, Pakistan’s military said in a statement. Pakistan put the blame of the attack on India, which has yet to respond to the allegations. Pakistan’s military said members of the…
Sunday’s flooding in southern Jordan also led to the evacuation of hundreds of tourists from the Petra archaeological site, the country’s main tourist attraction. Search and rescue teams in Jordan have recovered the bodies of a Belgian mother and her son, a day after the woman and her three children were reported missing in flash…
Taiwan is exploring buying arms worth billions of dollars from the United States, sources briefed on the matter said, hoping to win support from the new Trump administration as China continues to apply military pressure on the island. Three sources familiar with the situation, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of…
As Russian tanks roll through Red Square for Victory Day on May 9, Chinese President Xi Jinping will stand alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin—a jarring image for a country that claims to be a force for global stability. The image of Xi in Moscow underscores the growing tension at the heart of China’s foreign policy:…
Explosions and fires rocked Sudan’s wartime capital Port Sudan on Tuesday, a witness said, part of a days-long drone assault that has torched the country’s biggest fuel depots and damaged its primary gateway for humanitarian aid in a major escalation. The strikes included an unmanned aerial vehicle attack by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)…
True Anomaly announced its $260 million fundraising effort. The Series C funding was led by Accel, with participation from Meritech Capital and existing investors Eclipse, Riot Ventures, Menlo Ventures, 645 Ventures, ACME Capital, Space VC, Champion Hill Ventures, and Narya. Stifel Bank is providing debt capital. True Anomaly was created to develop advanced autonomous defense…
The US sanctioned a militia in Myanmar linked to the ruling junta for supporting and profiting from cyber scams “on an industrial scale” that have cost Americans billions of dollars. The US Treasury Department on Monday said it sanctioned the Karen National Army, which operates in Myanmar’s southeast Kayin state bordering Thailand, as well as…
OpenAI has bowed to pressure from civic leaders and ex-employees, announcing in a blog post on Monday that its nonprofit would retain control of the company even as it restructures into a public benefit corporation. The company, which is backed by Microsoft and was recently valued at $300 billion in a funding round led by…
European investors are putting hundreds of millions of euros into two surveillance drone companies, Quantum Systems and Tekever, in deals that value each of the defence technology start-ups at more than €1bn. New investors are flocking to the market for defence or “dual use” technology, which can be used in both civilian applications and on…
Scientists are developing an artificial intelligence (AI) chip the size of a grain of rice that can mimic human brains — and they plan to use it in miniature drones. Although AI can automate monotonous functions, it is resource-intensive and requires large amounts of energy to operate. Drones also require energy for propulsion, navigation, sensing,…
Unity Biotechnology and Mammoth Biosciences are both turning toward cost-saving measures, prompting layoffs at both companies. Unity’s restructuring comes along with 36-week results from its phase 2b Aspire trial that weighed its investigational eye treatment UBX1325 against Regeneron’s blockbuster Eylea in patients with diabetic macular edema who had poor vision despite prior treatment. Previously, a…
Google on Tuesday announced the launch of Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview (I/O edition), an updated version of its flagship Gemini 2.5 Pro AI model that the company claims tops a number of widely-used benchmarks. Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview (I/O edition) is available via the Gemini API and Google’s Vertex AI and AI Studio platforms, priced…
The US data centre industry has warned the Trump administration’s crackdown on renewable energy could slow its growth and undermine Washington’s goal to win the global artificial intelligence race. Renewables have become a flashpoint since Donald Trump re-entered the White House, with his administration suspending clean energy developments on federal land, pausing federal loans and…
On Thursday I watched Daniela Rus, one of the world’s top experts on AI-powered robots, address a packed room at a Boston robotics expo. Rus spent a portion of her talk busting the notion that giant fleets of humanoids are already making themselves useful in manufacturing and warehouses around the world. That might come as…
Just two years ago, prompt engineering was hailed as a hot new job in tech. Now, it has all but disappeared. At the beginning of the corporate AI boom, some companies sought out large language model (LLM) translators—prompt engineers who specialized in crafting the most effective questions to ask internal AIs, ensuring optimal and efficient…
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump in the two leaders’ first face-to-face discussion since Carney’s election. Trump has imposed tariffs on Canada, who is the closest ally of the US as well as its top trading partner. Trump also claims that Canada should not be…
The leader of Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, has failed to win enough votes to become chancellor of Germany. Merz fell short by six votes in just the first round of voting in parliament. He had been widely anticipated to win the parliamentary vote, but his failure to secure the majority means…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning of a new plan that will bring an intensive escalation in Israel’s campaign against Gaza. Netanayahu announced on Monday that Israel is on the verge of forcefully entering Gaza. His security cabinet has approved a new plan in which tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers would seize territory,…
The vanishing of U.S. government foreign economic support through Trump’s ending of U.S.A.I.D. is proving detrimental to Colombia. When the country had signed a peace agreement with rebels in 2016, seen as a landmark deal, the U.S. had increased aid to Colombia in support. The deal was designed to prevent drugs traveling from Colombia to…
Last year, over 90% of IT and security leaders stated that their organization experienced a cyberattack. Of organizations experiencing a successful ransomware attack, 86% admitted that they paid the requested ransom in order to recover their data. The most common identified attack types were data breaches, malware on devices, cloud or SaaS breaches, phishing, and…
Kelly Benefits, a benefits administrator, broker, and payroll solutions provider, has disclosed the scale of its recently disclosed data breach. The impact of the hack is much larger than was originally believed, and now is known to have impacted 400,000 individuals. Attackers were able to access personal information, including Social Security numbers, tax ID numbers,…
President Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal slashes $491 million from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s budget. This is nearly a 17% reduction to the agency’s budget, which is approximately $3 billion. While the specific itemized cuts were not detailed, the budget cuts would broadly target disinformation and misinformation programs and offices, as well…
The DragonForce ransomware group is claiming credit for the recent disruptive cyberattacks on several UK retailers. The cyberattacks began around two weeks ago, and M&S was hit first, followed by Co-op and Harrods. M&S has since shut down online purchases, and still has not brought its systems back to normal operations. Co-op said that customer…
Figure AI, the robotics company aiming to build the first commercially viable humanoid worker, recently announced it secured a staggering $675 million in funding from some of the biggest names in tech and venture capital, including Jeff Bezos, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and Intel. Now valued at $2.6 billion, the San Jose, California-based startup is in…
The Cuban air defense system has modernized its S-125 Pechora missiles, thanks to technical cooperation with Belarus. This was confirmed by the Belarusian State Military-Industrial Committee through its official channel on Telegram. The modernization was carried out by specialists from the Belarusian company ALEVKURP, who upgraded the S-125-2BM Pechora-2BM missile system, an enhanced version of…
According to recent pictures published on social networks on May 3, 2025, North Korea has begun the mass production of one of the world’s most powerful rocket launcher systems—the KN-25. This marks a significant step in militarizing its long-range precision artillery forces. The KN-25, armed with 600mm guided rockets and capable of striking targets up…
Japan and China have accused each other of violating the airspace around the Japanese-controlled East China Sea islands, which Beijing also claims. The latest territorial flap came as both appeared to have warmer ties while seeking to mitigate damages from the US tariff war. Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement it lodged a “very…
Japan has no plans to threaten to sell its $1 trillion-plus holdings of U.S. Treasuries in trade talks with Washington, its finance minister said on Sunday, clarifying earlier remarks that the bond holdings could be used as a bargaining chip. “My comments were made in response to a question whether Japan could, as a bargaining…
India and Pakistan have significantly upgraded their military capabilities since the nuclear-armed neighbours clashed in 2019, posing increased risks of escalation even in a limited conflict, former military officers and experts say. Pakistan says India plans a military incursion after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for a deadly attack on domestic tourists in Indian Kashmir last…
Satellite imagery has captured a United States aircraft carrier in the South China Sea, where China claims sovereignty over most of the waters, claims that overlap with those of a number of other countries. The U.S. Seventh Fleet, which maintains America’s naval presence in the Western Pacific Ocean, confirmed the deployment of USS Nimitz in…
A16z Crypto led a $25 million investment round into Miden, an independent blockchain project spun out of Polygon Labs. Miden closed its $25 million seed rounds led by a16z Crypto, 1kx, and Hack VC, with participation from Finality Capital Partners, Symbolic Capital, P2 Ventures, Delta Fund, MH Ventures, as well as from angel investors, including…
AI-powered defense startup Anduril Industries on Monday said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ireland-based tactical communications systems maker Klas. Anduril, along with software maker Palantir and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has emerged as frontrunners to win a crucial part of President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense shield, Reuters reported last month…
Huawei is building a production line for advanced chips as part of a network of semiconductor facilities in Shenzhen that seeks to break China’s dependence on foreign technologies. The tech group is the key player behind three manufacturing sites in Guanlan, a district of the southern city where Huawei is based, according to multiple people…
At the GTC 2025 conference, Nvidia announced its plans for a new, Boston-based Nvidia Accelerated Quantum Research Center or NVAQC, designed to integrate quantum hardware with AI supercomputers. Expected to begin operations later this year, it will focus on accelerating the transition from experimental to practical quantum computing. “We view this as a long-term opportunity,”…
Trade tensions overshadow the industry’s supply chains as the US pushes to lead the next wave of robotics innovation and efforts for increased automation. While not a headline topic at this week’s Robotics Summit & Expo held in Boston, concern over tariffs loomed in the background, according to media reports. Industry insiders quietly voiced worries…
Tether is about to enter the $25 billion crypto artificial intelligence sector, according to a post by its CEO Paolo Ardoino on X. Tether AI, according to Ardoino, is a “fully open-source AI runtime, capable of adapting and evolving on any hardware and device, no API keys, no central point of failure, fully modular and…
Last month, an A.I. bot that handles tech support for Cursor, an up-and-coming tool for computer programmers, alerted several customers about a change in company policy. It said they were no longer allowed to use Cursor on more than just one computer. In angry posts to internet message boards, the customers complained. Some canceled their…
At a recent electronics exhibition in Shanghai, semiconductor companies featured slogans such as “Offering complete domestic solutions” and “Use Chinese chips, love Chinese chips.” That is the hope. The reality is that, love them or not, China still needs certain American chips that are essential for cars and other industrial goods. The vulnerability was revealed…
A team led by Rice University bioscientist Caroline Ajo-Franklin has discovered how certain bacteria breathe by generating electricity, using a natural process that pushes electrons into their surroundings instead of breathing on oxygen. The findings, published in Cell, could enable new developments in clean energy and industrial biotechnology. By identifying how these bacteria expel electrons…
China is rapidly redefining their approach to modern warfare by shifting its focus to small, low-cost, AI-powered drones. Recent state media reports highlight the deployment of micro drones across the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), including a new model weighing less than a kilogram. This drone features a coaxial dual-rotor system for superior lift, modular payloads,…
Cryptography experts say the race to fend off future quantum-computer attacks has entered a decisive but measured phase, with companies quietly replacing the internet plumbing that the majority of the industry once considered unbreakable. Speaking at Cloudflare’s Trust Forward Summit on Wednesday, encryption leaders at IBM Research, Amazon Web Services and Cloudflare outlined how organizations…
From cars to iPhones to semiconductors, bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US is a cornerstone of Donald Trump’s economic agenda. As the country’s factories struggle to find workers, with half a million jobs remaining unfilled in March, the Trump administration and some executives have envisaged robots taking up the slack. Industry experts, however, are…
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said the company is planning to source more than 19 billion chips from the US for its devices. The company will source tens of millions of processors from a new facility in Arizona this year, Cook said. The CEO is referring to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. plants…
A federal judge issued a landmark ruling last year, saying that Google had become a monopolist in internet search. But in a hearing that began last week to figure out how to fix the problem, the emphasis has frequently landed on a different technology, artificial intelligence. In U.S. District Court in Washington last week, a…
South Africa is withdrawing peacekeepers from the eastern Congo. South Africa has annouced that it will withdraw its peacekeeping forces from the rebel-controlled eastern Congo. Other nations have also withdrawn their peacekeeping forces from the region. Congo government forces have also withdrawn from the region after being defeated by M23 rebel forces. Read more: https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-congo-troops-peacekeepers-1fe2ba588d0e85d087eb2ba9e24b768f
Israel has launched additional strikes in Syria. Israel’s military has launched strikes near Damascus as tensions between the government and the Druze population esclate. Tensions between the two have escalated due to increased attacks on Druze communities by gunmen. The government of Syria has condemned Israel’s action and said it was taking steps to protect…
Venezuela has said it will go ahead with holding elections for officials in disputed territory. Venezuela has said it will defy a ruiling from the UN’s high court ordering it to not hold elections for officials of the disputed Essequibo region. Venezuela has asserted that it is the rightful owner of the territory while Guyana…
Germany’s AfD party has been labeled as an extremist party. Germany’s AfD party has been labeled as an extremist party by a government watchdog. The designation carries no official penality unless the government moves to formally ban the party. The AfD has pledged to defend itself in Court. Read more: https://apnews.com/article/alternative-for-germany-extremism-63106110e79b588cd21fd02639364a22
Ransomware groups claims to have attacked a CBS affiliate. The Lynx ransomware group has claimed to have attacked a CBS affliaite. The group added the Chattanooga, TN affliate to its list of victims. The Lynx ransomware group is a relatively new group that has thus far attacked 196 organizations. Read more: https://cybernews.com/cybercrime/lynx-ransomware-strike-cbs-affiliate-wdef-tv/
The government of Peru has been attacked by the Rhysida ransomware gang. The Rhysida ransomware gang has claimed to have attacked the government of Peru. The Peruvian government has denied that an attack has occured. Researchers have said that the information posted by Rhysida appears to be authentic which implies it likely has stolen some…
Harrods has confirmed that it was the vicitm of a cyberattack. Harrods has confirmed that it was the victim of a cyberattack although it says that the attack was unsuccessful. Customers had repeated issues accessing the stores webpage earlier this week. This is the third major UK retailer to have been attacked in recent weeks.…
A major European employment platform exposed the data of millions of users. The employment platform, beWanted, has exposed the data of millions of its users. Researchers found that the company had an unsecured database with users personal information stored on it. The company has been notified of the issue, but has not yet responded. Read…
The U.S. Army is embarking on its largest overhaul since the end of the Cold War, with plans to equip each of its combat divisions with around 1,000 drones and to shed outmoded weapons and other equipment. The plan, the product of more than a year of experimentation at this huge training range in Bavaria…
I spoke to Zuckerberg in person at Meta Headquarters on Monday afternoon (which makes this one worth listening to), before the LlamaCon keynote on Tuesday and Meta’s earnings on Wednesday; I was briefed about some of the LlamaCon announcements, and had access to the new Meta AI app. In addition, just before the interview I…
Microsoft on Wednesday launched several new “open” AI models, the most capable of which is competitive with OpenAI’s o3-mini on at least one benchmark. As it says on the tin, all of the new permissively licensed models — Phi 4 mini reasoning, Phi 4 reasoning, and Phi 4 reasoning plus — are “reasoning” models, meaning…
A quantum computer can solve optimization problems faster than classical supercomputers, a process known as “quantum advantage” and demonstrated by a USC researcher in a paper recently published in Physical Review Letters. The study shows how quantum annealing, a specialized form of quantum computing, outperforms the best current classical algorithms when searching for near-optimal solutions…
Humanoid robots may outgrow the auto industry in economic impact, said Morgan Stanley estimating that the market could swell to $5 trillion in annual revenue by mid-century as adoption will grow across industrial, commercial, and eventually at household use. Morgan Stanley sees a billion of robots in use by 2050, with early adoption starting in…
Dustin Childs can still describe the best demonstration of a winning hack at an international tournament he’s ever seen. It happened almost a decade ago. The participants had to find a way to break into a Windows workstation that was hardened with firewalls and up-to-date software to make it more secure. One member of a…
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