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A recent article in Politico, “Rust belt on the Rhine”, lays out many of the monumental challenges the German economy and society face in the future: The article does not mention the educational system, which in many ways appears to be stuck in the 1950s (minus corporal punishment). But the educational system might be an…
In the months before the recent 2023 NATO Summit in Lithiuania, the NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) opened its European regional office at the Imperial College London Innovation Hub in London in May and launched its first three pilot challenge programs. This operational “standup” was all in a timeline of less…
Given the proximity of the conflict to neighboring NATO member states, it is unsurprising that the cyberwar between Russia and Ukraine has extended beyond the borders of the two countries, as state and nonstate actors expanded their targeting to third-party countries, including those in the NATO alliance, who have taken sides in the conflict. To be fair,…
This project is fully operational, but had to start as a rigorous speculative design process – more sci-fi than real world. Until it wasn’t. It is representative of the kind of project that will still feel like a faraway future, but is currently manufacturing a drug experiment in space. Take a look at the The…
The National Cybersecurity Coordination Center (NCCC) is an organization housed within the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and, based on the USAID logo on the front page of some of its reports, sponsored by the U.S. Government. The NCCC has provided an English translation of its June 2023 Review of Cybersecurity in Ukraine,…
AI has crushed cryptocurrency in the recent technology hype cycle, garnering VC and mainstream media attention fast on the heels FTX Sam Bankman-Fried debacle which tarnished the entire crpytocurrency ecosystem. What is going on with crypto you may ask? Two recent, majro developments in the crypto space broke through in the last few weeks and…
Tuesday 18 July at 4pm Eastern four very experienced national security and intelligence professionals joined in a discussion of the future of intelligence and security informed by last week’s INSA and AFCEA Intelligence Summit. Heather McMahon, Johnny Sawyer, Larry Pfeiffer and Bob Gourley were all there engaging with various discussions that dove deep into topics of geopolitical…
Tactically, China recently made a significant geopoltical and in the IT supply chain move, restricting exports of two minerals used in high-performance chips. Following is a summary of the new Chinese policy – followed by links to our original analysis series on rare earth, critical minerals and the global IT supply chain (disruption, innovation and…
Like the Unix, Solaris, Irix, AIX Open Source operating systems that became the Linux-led open source operating system and the broader open source software movement (over a 30 to 40 year time period) the open source large language model “market” is poised to eat up market share in an exponentially fast time frame. Hugging Face…
Midway through 2023 – and the scale, volume and frequency of ransomware cyber incidents are setting off alerts left and right in our risk awareness and sensemaking research efforts. In this post, we spend some time with recent report on the severity of the global ransomware epidemic – Chainalysis reports that ransomware gangs have extorted…
The Homeland Security Startup Studio (HSSS) hosted the hybrid Converge event on July 10 from 1-5 p.m. EST. This culminating event of the 2023 cohort showcased the program finalists’ pitches for the cutting-edge technologies they have worked to advance over the past 18 weeks. Conducted in partnership with the venture-building company FedTech, HSSS brings together entrepreneurs,…
The release today of the National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan is where the rubber meets the road.
Following is a transcript of the second half of OODA CEO Matt Devost’s conversation with Schroeder about his book Stealing Worlds – and Shroeder’s insights about the coming wave of innovation, what has surprised him most in the last five years, work he has done with a design company to bring a technology system from…
The SVDG recently introduced the inaugural version of the NatSec100, a “newly developed, annual ranked list of the top venture-funded defense and dual-use startups. It was developed to offer a data-driven snapshot of the evolving techno-security ecosystem” – including policy recommendations.
Cybercrime and cyberespionage activity continue to proliferate against all industries and sectors inflicting financial and material damage on targeted networks. Cyber insurance has assisted in mitigating the impacts of cyber malfeasance, offsetting costs associated with recovering from cyber attacks. A Government Accountability Office report found that the increasing severity and frequency of cyberattacks led more organizations to seek cyber…
Microsoft is proposing to hand over industry leadership of the Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System program to Anduril, the companies announced Tuesday. IVAS has been one of the service’s highest-priority modernization initiatives, with Microsoft as the prime contractor. The system — which includes ruggedized headgear and software with night-vision, thermal-sensing and augmented reality capabilities, among…
The rise of DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence (AI) models is seen providing some Chinese chipmakers such as Huawei a better chance to compete in the domestic market against more powerful U.S. processors. Huawei and its Chinese peers have for years struggled to match Nvidia in building top-end chips that could compete with the U.S. firm’s products…
OpenAI’s upcoming GPT-5 release will integrate its o3 reasoning model and be available to free users, CEO Sam Altman revealed in a roadmap he shared on X. He said the company is also working to simplify how users interact with ChatGPT. “We want AI to ‘just work’ for you; we realize how complicated our model…
The Atlantic, Politico, Vox and other major publishers are suing AI startup Cohere for copyright and trademark infringement, escalating the news industry’s legal battle over the technology. The publishers are accusing the Canadian company, which they say is valued at over $5 billion, of improperly using at least 4,000 copyrighted works to train its large…
Apple is exploring both humanoid and non-humanoid robotic form factors, according to a new scoop from longtime Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The intel comes on the heels of a research paper from the iPhone maker that explores human interactions with “non-anthropomorphic” robots — specifically a Pixar-style lamp. While Apple’s research paper highlights elements that could…
Chinese search engine leader Baidu said on Thursday it would make its artificial intelligence chatbot Ernie Bot free starting April 1, citing improved technology and reduced costs. The AI service will be accessible at no cost to all users on both desktop and mobile platforms, Baidu said in a WeChat post. Baidu faces growing competition…
Germany has notified the EU that it will extend its border controls for six months. Germany’s out going government has notified the EU that it will extend border controls for six months. The decision comes as the German elections are about to begin later this month. Germany’s main opposition party has called for border controls…
South Sudan’s cabinet reshuffle threatens a long standing peace deal. The firing of several senior government officials including cabinet ministers has threatened a long standing peace deal. The firing have reignited tensions between various factions in the government and society that had until 2018 been engaged in a civil war. The 2018 peace deal has…
Turkey’s president has arrived in Pakistan as part of a visit to boost ties between the two countires. Turkey’s president has arrived in Pakistan in order to begin talks to boost ties between the two countries. The visit will likely culminate in the two country’s signing several agreements. The visit also comes as violence within…
North Korea has shutdown a facility that has hosted family unions for several years. South Korea has said that North Korea has shutdown a facility that has hosted family reunions for years. The facility was located within North Korea and was funded by South Korea. The move comes as relations between the countries have deteriorated…
The UK has imposed sanctions on a Russian group linked to cyber crimes. The UK has imposed sanctions on the Russia group Zservers for its alleged participation in cybercrimes. The US and Australia also imposed sanctions on the group following the UK’s announcement. The group is known to be affiliated with he LockBit network. Read…
International travelers are being targeted by a sophisticated phishing campaign. A phishing group is targeting an international travelers in a phishing campaign that is designed around stealing individual’s personal information. The scam involves the group sending messages to travelers that impersonate immigration authorities and asking travelers to turn over information to process their documents. The…
Scammers have been using deepfakes of Italian government officials to scam business out of funds. A scammer group is using deepfakes of Italian government officials to get business groups to transfer funds to their accounts. Italian police have begun an investigation into the scams and has thus far been able to recover some of the…
Microsoft has said that Russian threat actors are attempting to penetrate critical internet infrastructure. Microsoft has said that known Russian threat actors have begun to attack critical interne infrastructure with the aim of establishing long term control of those systems. The report from Microsoft outlined how these attacks have been on going from several years.…
Microsoft will purchase nearly all of the power generation output generated by three new utility-scale projects developed by EDP Renewables North America. The tech giant, which has long focused on decarbonization in its pursuit of energy, will acquire the equivalent of 389 MW of electricity and renewable energy credits through long-term virtual power purchase agreements…
Artificial intelligence agents, the technology that can perform tasks on behalf of humans, are here. But businesses don’t necessarily trust them, and haven’t yet started using the technology in a widespread way. That’s according to attendees at The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Network Summit in Menlo Park, Calif. on Tuesday, which attracts the country’s top…
Engineers in Japan have switched on the world’s first hybrid quantum supercomputer. The 20-qubit quantum computer, called Reimei, has been integrated into Fugaku — the world’s sixth-fastest supercomputer. The hybrid platform will work to tackle calculations that can take classical supercomputers much longer to process. The machine, which is housed at the Riken scientific institute…
Milrem Robotics, the world’s leading robotics and autonomous systems developer, will launch its highly anticipated 8×8 Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) at IDEX 2025. Representing the pinnacle of next-generation hybrid unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) technology, the new HAVOC RCV is set to revolutionize modern combat operations. “The HAVOC RCV has been engineered to deliver unparalleled agility…
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) today released its World Robotics R&D Programs 2025 report that analyzes strategies in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. While economies worldwide are increasingly investing in robotics, each government research and development program follows different strategies. “The 4th edition of the World Robotics R&D Programs covers the latest funding developments,…
In the nascent field of AI hacking, indirect prompt injection has become a basic building block for inducing chatbots to exfiltrate sensitive data or perform other malicious actions. Developers of platforms such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT are generally good at plugging these security holes, but hackers keep finding new ways to poke through…
Last month, U.S. financial markets tumbled after a Chinese start-up called DeepSeek said it had built one of the world’s most powerful artificial intelligence systems using far fewer computer chips than many experts thought possible. A.I. companies typically train their chatbots using supercomputers packed with 16,000 specialized chips or more. But DeepSeek said it needed…
The Ukrainian Parliament has approved a contentious bill allowing for the government to purchase nuclear reactors. Ukraine will purchase two unused, Russian-made nuclear reactors from Bulgaria, costing at least $600 million. The government has plans to install the reactors in western Ukraine at the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant. The project has faced sharp criticism for…
U.S. allies are condemning President Donald Trump for his decision to put 25% tariff rates on all steel and aluminum imports starting next month. Leaders of several of the U.S.’s main trading partners, including Mexico, Canada, and the European Union are describing the latest move as “reckless” and “counterproductive.” The allies have warned that they…
Following the docking of a U.S. Navy fast-attack nuclear submarine in a South Korean port, North Korea is now warning of a potential confrontation. The USS Alexandria submarine docked in a port in Busan on Monday for supplies. North Korea is accusing the U.S. of “posing a grave threat to its national security.” The country’s…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to resume Israel’s war on Gaza if Hamas does not release its captives by Saturday. The Israel-Hamas ceasefire has been on the brink of collapsing this week after Hamas officials accused Israel of violating parts of the agreement. This prompted Hamas to halt the release of more captives,…
On Tuesday, major chip makers Intel, AMD, and Nvidia published new security advisories informing customers about high-severity vulnerabilities. Intel published 34 new advisories on Tuesday, one of which has a severity rating of “critical.” AMD released 11 new advisories, which is significantly more for the company than in a typical month. Lastly, Nvidia published four…
India is continuing to see a surge in cybercrime against both citizens and businesses. Cyber fraud against citizens has increased by 51% over the past year. Additionally, India is seeing cyberattacks against businesses at much larger volumes than global averages. Cybercrime complaints by Indian citizens increased by over 6 million in 2024. As the country…
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Zservers, a Russian cybercrime network. The Treasury’s U.S. and Australian counterparts sanctioned the hosting services provider as well. Zservers is a web-hosting service that ignores or evades law enforcement requests. Two Russian nationals who operate the site were sanctioned as well. The Treasury…
Four individuals suspected of being leaders of a ransomware group have been arrested by the Thai police. The individuals are believed to be leaders of the 8Base ransomware group and were involved with stealing around $16 million from over 1,000 victims. The suspects were arrested following the issue of warrants by Interpol, requested by Swiss…
I have personally tracked Quantum Technologies for decades now, publishing my first paper on the topic in 2003. Now at OODA we maintain close tabs on the state of Quantum Computing, Quantum Sensing and Quantum Security (including QKD, Encryption Algorithms and the use of quantum effects for true random). Things are moving so fast in…
The UK and US have not signed an international agreement on artificial intelligence (AI) at a global summit in Paris. The statement, signed by France, China and India among other countries, pledges an “open”, “inclusive” and “ethical” approach to the technology’s development. Downing Street said the UK “hadn’t been able to agree all parts of…
I never thought I’d find myself writing a posting for an “AI Agent,” but here I am, scouring crypto and blockchain forums, Telegram groups, and even personal referrals for the perfect fit. Traditional hires don’t quite cut it in the fast-paced world of digital assets. I need someone—scratch that, something—capable of staying awake 24/7, sifting…
American defense startup XDOWN has introduced a multi-purpose drone that is deployed as easily as a quarterback throws a football. The oval-shaped PS Killer (PSK) is activated with a simple switch and then hurled into action. It boasts a range of over 40 miles (64 kilometers) and reaches speeds of 135 knots (155 miles/250 kilometers…
Elon Musk and a group of investors offered to buy ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for $97.4 billion Monday, a sum far below the artificial-intelligence company’s most recent valuation of $157 billion. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman immediately shot down the offer in a post on X. “No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion…
BYD, the Chinese electric vehicle maker that is Tesla’s biggest rival, has unveiled an advanced self-driving system that it plans to install on its entire model line-up including the Rmb70,000 ($9,600) Seagull budget hatchback. Dubbed “God’s Eye”, the driving system was developed in-house by BYD and will equip the carmaker’s mass-market models with features commonly…
Apple does a lot of research into fundamental computer problems, and some of that results in real features of the products we buy. We can only hope the tech featured in the latest report published by their machine learning team is one of them. A new research paper and video posted to Apple’s Machine Learning…
The transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) is not only helping businesses; it is also bringing about major changes in the world of cybersecurity. Positively, AI is improving automated, real-time cyber threat identification and analysis. Businesses now have improved and faster capabilities for cyber defense, enabling them to monitor system activity, identify anomalies, and identify…
On Monday, President Trump said that he may cut off aid to Jordan and Egypt if they refuse to permanently take in most Palestinians from Gaza. This greatly increases pressure on key U.S. allies in the region to support Trump’s proposal to relocate Gazans and redevelop the Gaza Strip. Trump also stated that if Hamas…
The United Nations has suspended all operations in the Saada region of Yemen after more of its staff was detained by Houthi authorities. UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq stated that the measures are necessary to guarantee the safety and security of UN personnel. Seven UN agencies currently operate in the region, and it is unknown…
President Trump said that he will not allow Palestinians to return to the Gaza Strip under his hypothetical plan to rebuild it. Trump plans to displace the almost two million Palestinians from Gaza and rehouse them elsewhere. Trump’s declaration that the U.S. will take over Gaza and resettle its population has attracted criticism from across…
Hamas is delaying the release of more Israeli captives “until further notice” over Israeli ceasefire violations. The captive release was previously planned for Saturday. Israel and Hamas are currently in the middle of a six-week ceasefire, during which Hamas is releasing dozens of captives in exchange for thousands of Palestinian prisoners. However, Hamas spokesperson Abu…
A hacker recently posted on the BreachForums cybercrime forum offering to sell 20 million OpenAI credentials. However, after investigation into the claims by OpenAI, the company has found that the data likely came from information-stealing malware instead of the AI firm’s systems. Kela, a threat intelligence firm, conducted an analysis of the sample data posted…
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has begun notifying individuals that their data was compromised in a 2023 Russian hack. The attack occurred in December 2023, and was attributed to Russian threat actor Midnight Blizzard, also known as APT29. The group is believed to be backed by the Russian government. In the attack, the actors accessed the mailboxes…
Memorial Hospital and Manor, a small rural hospital in Bainbridge, Georgia, has revealed that around 120,000 people were impacted in a recent ransomware attack. The attack was first disclosed in early November 2024, with the hospital shutting down systems. Staff had to use pen and paper to record patient information while the systems were offline.…
One of the largest newspaper groups in the U.S., Lee Enterprises, has reported a cyberattack impacting its operations. Lee Enterprises is a public publishing company with newspapers in 72 markets, including The Buffalo News, Omaha World-Herald, and Richmond Times-Dispatch. The company has not yet identified any material impact from the data breach, and is still…
When Taiwan’s Powerchip Technology entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access the promising Chinese market. Nine years later, however, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip, has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip…
Scientists at Oxford University have linked two separate quantum processors into a single, fully connected quantum computer, marking a major step toward scalable quantum systems, the team reports in a study and university news release. The experiment, published in Nature, demonstrates the feasibility of distributed quantum computing, a strategy that could eventually enable powerful quantum…
Chinese officials are building a list of U.S. technology companies that can be targeted with antitrust probes and other tools, hoping to influence the tech executives who are heavily represented in President Trump’s orbit. People familiar with Beijing’s strategy said the goal was to collect as many cards as possible to play in expected negotiations…
A Hong Kong biotech start-up is working with a number of university partners to conduct global clinical trials that could lead to a better way of delivering drugs for prevalent eye diseases. Alephoson Biopharmaceuticals, established in 2019, has developed a technology to combine a proprietary cell-penetration peptide (CPP) compound with biologic medication that is currently…
OpenAI is pushing ahead on its plan to reduce its reliance on Nvidia for its chip supply by developing its first generation of in-house artificial-intelligence silicon. The ChatGPT maker is finalizing the design for its first in-house chip in the next few months and plans to send it for fabrication at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co,…
MIT scientists are designing robotic insects that could one day swarm out of mechanical hives and perform pollination at a rapid pace — ensuring fruits and vegetables are grown at an unprecedented level. The new technology could increase crop yields dramatically without harming the environment. Artificial pollination is a process through which humans manually move…
As a CIO, it’s likely that this year, your IT team is moving quickly from evaluating and deploying discrete third-party AI software packages, to integrating custom AI agents throughout your client-facing and internal business applications for even further automation and productivity. They’re likely working with at least one AI agent builder platform and perhaps several…
United States President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, and reciprocal tariffs on countries leveling duties on US goods. Canada is the top supplier of steel to the US, followed by Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Vietnam. Canada is also the top exporter of aluminium…
The Israeli military began a full withdrawal from a sprawling security zone within the central Gaza Strip as part of a cease-fire agreement with Hamas. The withdrawal leaves Israel with a small footprint inside the enclave as the two sides look toward extending the deal that would end the war and release the remaining Israeli…
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and US President Donald Trump have struck a warm tone in their first meeting, with Tokyo avoiding tariffs that Trump has slapped on other allies. The two leaders pledged to stand together against Chinese “aggression” and said they found a solution to a blocked deal for troubled US Steel. Trump…
United States President Donald Trump has reiterated his controversial proposal to take control of Gaza, saying he is committed to “buying and owning” the war-ravaged enclave. “As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it; other people may do it, through our…
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, still reeling about the fact that Chinese startup DeepSeek managed to build a much cheaper but just as powerful AI chatbot, now says that the cost of using AI will drop by 10 times each year. Altman said OpenAI will make “better models” that will also be cheaper. US President Trump…
Microsoft announced an expansion to its Copilot bug bounty program to include more consumer products and provide researchers with higher incentives. The same as before, bug hunters can earn up to $30,000 for critical-severity vulnerabilities in multiple Copilot AI products and services, but the payouts for medium-severity flaws have been increased. Per the program’s rules,…
Cybersecurity startup ThreatMate, an AI-powered attack surface management platform, announced raising $3.2 million in a seed funding round led by Top Down Ventures’ Founders Fund I. The platform relies on AI to provide enterprise-grade cyber protections against threats and to deliver comprehensive visibility into an organization’s attack surface. The new investment will be used to…
China’s Ministry of Commerce announced on Tuesday the inclusion of a major US biotech company on its “unreliable entity list” while stating that the firm’s “discriminatory measures against Chinese enterprises” harmed the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies. Leading American genomic sequencing firm Illumina is the first biotech company on Beijing’s list. More than…
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