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Home > OODA Analysis and Briefs
OODA Network Members John P. Sullivan and George W. Davis, along with co-author Tom Adams, have penned a report based on a geospatial security assessment for the Port of Brownsville, Texas (which “holds the distinction of being the sole deep-water port situated directly on the US-Mexico border”). Details of the report here.
There have been groundbreaking advancements in genetic engineering and new medical technologies are poised to disrupt the dialogue on health, ethics, global security, and the future of humanity. We explored these disruptive technologies at OODAcon 2023, such as the revolutionary CRISPR gene-editing tool, breakthroughs in synthetic biology, and the emergence of exponential medical treatments that…
At OODAcon 2022 conference, we predicted that ChatGPT would take the business world by storm and included an interview with OpenAI Board Member and former Congressman Will Hurd. Today, thousands of businesses are being disrupted or displaced by generative AI. This topic was further examined at length at OODAcon 2023, taking a closer look at…
SecurityWeek publishes a concise weekly cybersecurity roundup compiling notable yet overlooked stories. Each week, they present significant developments encompassing vulnerability discoveries, attack techniques, policy changes, and industry reports. In the latest roundup, stories include Chinese APT infiltration of critical US entities, Ukraine’s claimed destruction of Russia’s federal tax agency servers, a SIM swapper sentenced for…
The Office of the Secretary of Defense Chief Digital and AI Office (CDAO), Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Army Pacific Command and the U.S. Air Force will host a multi-classification hackathon – BRAVO 11 – open to all U.S. citizens, Feb. 5 – 9, 2024. Registration is open, details here. Chief Digital…
As we first reported back in March (The Future of Bitcoin and the Exponential Growth of and Risks Posed by Ordinal Inscriptions), we kind of saw this one coming. Details about the addition of Bitcoin Ordinals to the U.S. NVD can be found here.
Cybersecurity incidents are unavoidable, but boards can govern in ways that make it much harder on adversaries to put the business at risk.
After decades of stagnation, space innovation keeps pushing the boundaries of the possible with new firsts emerging on a monthly basis. This topic was explored at length OODAcon 2023, with a deep dive into the emerging opportunities, economies, and risks associated with the rapid development of space-based technologies, resource acquisition, and shift from the public…
This post provides insights which can help us all contemplate the future in a digital world.
Recently, a Russian cybersecurity company published a report on nation-state offensive cyber campaigns that have been targeting Russia in 2023. Perhaps more surprising were the alleged sources of this activity, using telemetry data from Russia’s largest telecom to identify threat actors from China and North Korea as driving the majority of what the company observed during the year. Per…
The next ten years will be marked by all the uncertainties and unintended consequences that underpin so many doom and gloom scenarios. It is time to start tracking the abundance and breakthroughs that will also come fast and furious in the next decade – equally as overwhelming, while also breathtaking, positive, highly technical and scientific…
What is the future of blockchain innovation? And how might blockchain technologies enable new models for business and governance? The topic of building trust back into the blockchain was examined at length at OODAcon 2023.
2023 has been marked by what some are characterizing as the double exponential pace of artificial intelligence innovation and commercial deployment. Following are some of the most prescient developments of the last few weeks.
How do we maintain societal trust as individuals migrate from platform to platform, identities get impersonated, and technologies like ChatGPT and Midjourney produce conversations and images indistinguishable from the truth through malicious prompts or hallucinations? This topic was examined at length OODAcon 2023, exploring the trust threats and emerging trust wars and looking to identify…
We frequently ask members of the OODA Network for insights into the environment. In this post we get the views of Robert Shaughnessy on the dynamics around AI, national security and critical infrastructure with a focus on near term developments.
China’s inaugural training facility for heterogeneous humanoid robots will become fully operational in July. Known as the National and Local Co-built Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center, it occupies over 5,000 square meters in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang area. It aims to catalyze the sharing and utilization of large-scale data among robot developers. Global Times reports that over 100…
The global rush to AI technology will require almost as much energy by the end of this decade as Japan uses today, but only about half of the demand is likely to be met from renewable sources. Processing data, mainly for AI, will consume more electricity in the US alone by 2030 than manufacturing steel,…
Turkey has released dozens of people charged with participating in anti-government protests. 127 people have been released on bail by an Istanbul Court. The individuals had been charged with offenses related to their participation in anti-government protests. The vast majority of those released were students with upcoming exams. Read more: https://apnews.com/article/turkey-prisoners-students-protests-imamoglu-f4762e0faaa54ed3694fdc80b9a43edf
South Korea and Syria’s new government established diplomatic relations. South Korea has established diplomatic relations with the new government of Syria. South Korea has said that it is open to playing a role in the reconstruction of the country. South Korea has moved to establish relations with all world nations including those aligned with North…
Unions in Argentina have organized a general strike to protest government policies. The major unions in Argentina have organized a general strike to protest government policies. The union blame the government of President Milei for inflation and cuts to social programs. The strike takes places as negotiations between the government and the IMF are coming…
A prominent opposition leader in Tanzania has been arrested. A prominent opposition leader in Tanzania has been arrested on charges of treason after calling for electoral reform. The country is set to hold a general election in October of this year. Opposition parties have been critical of election laws which they say advantage the ruiling…
Morocco’s social security database was breached by hackers. Hackers have claimed to have breached Morocco’s social security databse. The warned that unless Morocoos ceased attacks against Algerian websites they would keep attacking government cyber infrastructure. The hackers have released some of the data they claimed to have stolen. The data showed salary information and other…
A ransomware attack against a major vendor has compromised banks in Singapore. A ransomware attack against the data vendor Toppan Next Tech has compromised the security of Singapore’s DBS Group and the country’s Bank of China branch. The breach has exposed the personal data of thousands of customers of both insitutions. Invesitgations into the breach…
Intelligence agencies have warned of increased Chinese spyware attacks against activists. Western intellgience agencies have warned that China is increasingly using apps to target rights advocates. The agencies said that those invovled with Taiwanese and Tibetan movements were the most at risk of being targetted. The agencies warned that organizations and individuals linked to advocates…
Toll payment services have increasingly been the victim of scams. Toll payment services have been the newest target of scam texts. There has been a 600% increase in the amount of reported text scams about late toll payments. The scammers have targeted individuals who live close to areas with toll authorities. Read more: https://cybernews.com/cybercrime/fake-toll-payment-texts-smishing-scams/
Agentic AI is the hottest AI topic because it takes AI assistance as we know it a step further, actually carrying out tasks for users. Adobe has millions of users who rely on its applications and services to carry out complex everyday business or creative processes. As a result, it is nearly a perfect candidate…
Google is releasing a new AI model designed to deliver strong performance with a focus on efficiency. The model, Gemini 2.5 Flash, will soon launch in Vertex AI, Google’s AI development platform. The company says it offers “dynamic and controllable” computing, allowing developers to adjust processing time based on the complexity of queries. “[You can…
Besides new Gemini features in Google Docs, Sheets, Meet, Chat and Vids, Cloud Next 2025 saw the announcement of Google Workspace Flows. As first teased at I/O last year, the company today announced Google Workspace Flows as a tool to “automate those multi-step processes using AI that can actually research, analyze, and generate content for…
Chinese scientists used a quantum computer to fine-tune a billion-parameter artificial intelligence (AI) model, marking what they claim is a global first and a step toward combining quantum computing with advanced AI tasks, the state-affiliated Global Times reported. The experiment was conducted on a superconducting quantum computer called Origin Wukong, which runs on a domestically…
At the headquarters of China’s pioneering robot maker Unitree, visitors are invited to push and kick the G1 — a 1.3-metre-tall, silver humanoid — to test its balance. The Hangzhou-based group is demonstrating the strength of its effort to transform the nascent industry to build humanlike machines. The robots are powered by open-source software that…
Zico Kolter has a knack for getting artificial intelligence to misbehave in interesting and important ways. His research group at Carnegie Mellon University has discovered numerous methods of tricking, goading, and confusing advanced AI models into being their worst selves. Kolter is a professor at CMU, a technical adviser to Gray Swan, a startup specializing…
The European Union said it would focus on building artificial-intelligence data and computing infrastructure and making it easier for companies to comply with regulation in a bid to catch up with the U.S. and China in the AI race. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said it wanted to develop a network of so-called…
At 12.01am EST (04:01 GMT) on Wednesday, United States President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs will kick in, ramping up a global trade war that has roiled stock markets and set businesses on edge. Several prominent Trump supporters have raised concerns about his trade salvoes. Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for New…
Iran is approaching talks in Oman with the United States over its nuclear programme with deep suspicions regarding Washington’s motives, following the United States’ repeated threats of military action in the lead-up to the meeting. Behind the scenes, three Iranian officials told news agency Reuters that Trump’s warnings were seen as a tactic “to box…
Ukraine said its military had captured two Chinese citizens fighting in the Russian army and was seeking to understand whether their presence in eastern Ukraine represented an increase in Beijing’s support for Moscow’s war. China has professed itself neutral but supported Russia economically while stopping short of providing military equipment or troops. U.S. officials have…
With the clock ticking for additional United States tariffs to be placed on goods from China, President Donald Trump has said he is waiting for a call from Beijing to defuse a growing trade war. Trump has threatened to impose additional 50-percent tariffs on Chinese goods if China does not revoke the retaliatory levies it…
The US Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) shared information on a recently discovered email system breach that has been described as a “major incident”. The initial investigation revealed that a “limited number” of email accounts were affected and there was no evidence of impact on the financial sector. However, an…
Tech giant Google has rolled out an experimental artificial intelligence model, called Sec-Gemini v1, designed to support incident response and threat analysis workflows coming from its Mandiant threat-intel unit. “This combination of Google’s Gemini large language model capabilities with near real-time security data and tooling allows it to achieve superior performance on key cybersecurity workflows,…
The hottest technology today and the emerging most-promising technology are joining forces. Combining AI and quantum computing in new solutions will advance the efficiency and effectiveness of new applications of these powerful technologies. UNESCO declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, and both Google and Microsoft followed by demonstrating breakthroughs in quantum…
If you read the news about AI, you may feel bombarded with conflicting messages: AI is booming. AI is a bubble. AI’s current techniques and architectures will keep producing breakthroughs. AI is on an unsustainable path and needs radical new ideas. AI is going to take your job. AI is mostly good for turning your…
China is moving fast to dominate biotechnology, and the U.S. risks falling behind permanently unless it takes action over the next three years, a congressional commission said. Congress should invest at least $15 billion to support biotech research over the next five years and take other steps to bolster manufacturing in the U.S., while barring…
At a time when reducing imports and building national capacity is become ever more important, Ukraine has achieved what seemed impossible: producing drones using entirely locally made components. This gives them an unrivalled ability to develop and mass produce drones to their exact requirements. More surprising is the cost. Rather than adding a premium, by…
IBM is releasing the latest version of its mainframe hardware that includes new updates meant to accelerate AI adoption. The hardware and consulting company on Monday announced IBM z17, the latest version of its mainframe computer hardware. This fully encrypted mainframe is powered by an IBM Telum II processor and is designed for more than…
For more than 100 years, writers, artists and filmmakers have sketched out their visions of the household robot, a supposedly inevitable culmination of human technological advancement. One day, these multitasking machines will, we’re told, perform tedious tasks efficiently and without complaint, respond courteously to requests and remain unobtrusively compliant and meek. In The Automatic Maid-Of-All-Work…
Since ChatGPT came on the scene in November 2022, employees have been using the AI chatbot and other variations from Google, Microsoft, Apple, and others, to take notes, write emails, and translate meetings. But could the tools you’re using to help your work actually take your job instead? Goldman Sachs estimated in a 2023 report…
The U.S. and Ukraine plan to discuss the latest U.S. proposal for access to the country’s rare minerals this week. Ukraine will send negotiations to the U.S. to discuss next steps for the deal. President Trump has made his continuous support for Ukraine contingent on the mineral deal, which will give the U.S. preferential access…
The world’s newest country, South Sudan, is on the verge of being thrown into a civil war. A standoff between President Salva Kiir and his deputy, Riek Machar, has grown more tense after Kiir’s troops detained Machar last week. There is fear that a fresh round of ethnic killing will break out, bringing a repeat…
President Trump has announced that the U.S. began to negotiate with Iran over the country’s nuclear program this week. Trump told reports Monday that the U.S. had a big upcoming meeting with Iran in which they would discuss the issue, additionally warning that Iran would be in “great danger” if the diplomatic efforts failed. The…
European Union officials are preparing to vet and vote on a list of retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. this week. These officials are looking at a two-part approach to the recent tariffs, both offering to cut tariffs on American-made products and preparing to retaliate with tariffs of their own. The EU is considering employing a…
Cybersecurity agencies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S. have published a joint advisory about the fast flux technique and its associated risks. The technique is being used by hackers to obscure command-and-control (C2) channels. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were involved…
PoisonSeed, a new phishing campaign, has been targeting customer relationship management (CRM) and bulk email providers. The campaign features phishing messages designed to target owners of cryptocurrency. The victim is given a crypto seed phrase which allows a threat actor to steal their assets. CRM and bulk email providers like Mailchimp, Hubspot, and Mailgun are…
A new AI-driven hacking tool “Xanthorox AI” is raising alarm from researchers. The tool allows attackers to develop and launch a variety of cyberattacks including phishing campaigns, exploiting vulnerabilities, or enacting ransomware attacks. The cyberattack platform allows for self-directed, autonomous AI-driven attacks. It was first spotted in March, and cyber defenders fear that it may…
21 nations have signed a voluntary accord governing the use of commercial hacking tools, or spyware. The agreement had been in the works for over a year, and was finally signed in Paris last week. The accord is the Pall Mall Process, or Code of Practices for States, and is made up of four pillars…
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek has introduced a novel approach to improving the reasoning capabilities of large language models (LLMs), as the public awaits the release of the company’s next-generation model. In collaboration with researchers from Tsinghua University, DeepSeek developed a technique that combines methods referred to as generative reward modelling (GRM) and self-principled…
Microsoft owns lots of Nvidia graphics processing units, but it isn’t using them to develop state-of-the-art artificial intelligence models. There are good reasons for that position, Mustafa Suleyman, the company’s CEO of AI, told CNBC’s Steve Kovach in an interview on Friday. Waiting to build models that are “three or six months behind” offers several…
Victory at sea will require large fleets of autonomous subsea, surface, and air vehicles capable of bringing advanced awareness and overwhelming adversaries with mass maritime effects. With the Dive-LD and Dive-XL, Copperhead enables a comprehensive, intelligent maritime capability that allows operators to quickly respond to threats in the undersea battlespace, at a fraction of the…
While there are still differing perspectives on how long it will be until certain types of quantum computing hit commercial viability, experts from big tech companies like Google and IBM as well as smaller organizations like D-Wave Quantum and TreQ generally agree on quantum’s most mature, promising industry applications, which range from medical insights to…
In a groundbreaking development, California-based robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) company Dexterity has unveiled Mech, the world’s first industrial super-humanoid robot. This innovative creation figures to revolutionize enterprise operations, particularly in the logistics and manufacturing sectors. Let’s dive into the details of this new technology and explore its potential impact on the industry. This industrial…
The year that ChatGPT went viral, only two US companies—OpenAI and Google—could boast truly cutting-edge artificial intelligence. Three years on, AI is no longer a two-horse race, nor is it purely an American one. A new report published today by Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) highlights just how crowded the field has become.…
Meta on Saturday released the first models from its latest open-source artificial intelligence software Llama 4, as the company scrambles to lead the race to invest in generative AI. But the Facebook owner said it has not yet released the biggest and most powerful Llama 4 model, which outperforms other AI models in its class…
Russian air raids over the weekend struck Kyiv and southern Ukraine, killing at least one and injuring three others. The attacks came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the U.S. for its lack of a strong response to Russian attacks on his hometown. The attacks killed 190 people, including nine children. Zelensky stated that…
President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel are set to meet this week at the White House. This will be the second such visit by Netanyahu since Trump’s inauguration earlier this year. Despite Trump’s efforts to negotiate a truce between Israel and Hamas, Netanyahu renewed Israel’s military campaign against Hamas last month. The…
Over the weekend, President Trump’s deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus visited Lebanon to discuss the Israeli truce. Although the U.S. had brokered a ceasefire deal between Hezbollah and Israel, strikes have continued over the past two weeks. The Lebanese government has been working to rebuild the country after the war between Israel and Hezbollah…
It is suspected that over 100 chemical weapons sites are still in Syria after the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the country’s former president, came to an end. The sites are assumed to have been a part of researching, manufacturing, and storing chemical weapons. Al-Assad had used chemical weapons against rebel fighters and civilians during the…
Oracle has confirmed to its customers that its systems were breached in a recent attack that it had denied. The company seems to be attempting to downplay the incident’s impact. The hacker behind the incident had offered to sell millions of lines of data including over 140,000 Oracle Cloud tenants. The malicious actor had originally…
The commander of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the NSA, Gen. Timothy Haugh, was removed from his positions this past week on Thursday. The incident marks another high-profile firing of a senior national security official by the new administration. The reasoning behind Haugh’s firing has not yet been made clear, but followed a…
A south central Lower Sioux Indian Community was hit by a ransomware attack last week, impacting the community’s critical infrastructure. The attack disrupted a local healthcare facility, government center, hotel, and casino operations. The tribe quickly took some systems offline and is now working to investigate the incident. RansomHub has taken responsibility for the attack.…
After effectively canceling the consumer launch of its o3 reasoning model in February, OpenAI now says it aims to release both o3 and a next-gen successor, o4-mini, in “a couple of weeks.” In a post on X on Friday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the reversal in course is related to OpenAI’s upcoming GPT-5, which…
Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co have reached a preliminary agreement to form a joint venture to operate the U.S. chipmaker’s factories, the Information reported on Thursday, citing two people involved in the discussions. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, will take a 20% stake in the new company, the report said. The White House…
China placed some rare earth elements under export restrictions on Friday as part of its response to President Donald Trump’s tariff package, potentially cutting the U.S. off from critical minerals vital to everything from smartphones to electric car batteries. China produces around 90% of the world’s refined rare earths, a group of 17 elements used…
Quantum computing is becoming real and will soon be able to solve problems well beyond the capabilities of today’s fastest supercomputers. In the wrong hands, however, quantum computers will also create a new pain level for cybersecurity professionals. Recent advancements suggest that a cryptographically relevant quantum computer (CRQC) — one that can break commonly used…
For the second time in a year, Unitree Robotics caused a stir on social media recently with videos of its humanoid robot’s acrobatic accomplishments. This time around, the G1 robot completed a standing side flip and a kung fu move known as a carp jump — both more complicated than the standing front flip that…
The 2024 Security Priorities study shows that for 72% of IT and security decision makers, their roles have expanded to accommodate new challenges, with Risk management, Securing AI-enabled technology and emerging technologies being added to their plate. Artificial Intelligence has sharpened both edges of the sword, as organizations are better equipped to defend against cybersecurity…
Agentic artificial intelligence (AI) promises to improve operational efficiencies and the customer experience offered by enterprises. The advanced technology is finding applications in loan underwriting and fraud detection, and now it’s moving across borders. TerraPay Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer Ram Sundaram told PYMNTS as part of the “What’s Next in Payments” series focused on…
Hungary has withdrawn from the ICC. Hungary has formally withdrawn from the International Criminal Court. The decision comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit the country. Netanyah has been indicted by the ICC for alleged crimes committed in the West Bank and Gaza. Hungary will be the only EU member and…
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