Governance and Regulation

Global data protection authorities warn generative AI companies against replicating real people

(Suzanne Smalley – The Record) Data protection authorities from 61 countries published a statement Monday warning organizations developing and using AI content generation systems to safeguard against abuses involving the depiction of real people. The joint statement comes on the heels of the Grok AI chatbot creating and sharing millions of images of “nudified” real people. On January 15, the company’s owner Elon Musk responded to weeks of worldwide anger by announcing that social media platform X would block Grok from creating the images.  –  https://therecord.media/data-protection-authorities-warn-ai-companies-of-sharing-images

Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism

ISIS teaching recruits how to use AI ‘responsibly’

(Mason Boycott-Owen – Politico) ISIS recruits are being encouraged to use artificial intelligence and chatbots to aid their terror campaigns. The two most recent editions of Voice of Khorasan — the English language magazine of the Afghanistan branch of Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) — contain pages devoted to explaining how supporters of the group can use AI to be a “responsible mujahid.”. IS-K has been linked to attacks in Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the foiled attack on Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna in 2024. The EU added the magazine’s publisher, the Al Azaim Media Foundation, to its sanctions list last year. – https://www.politico.eu/article/isis-teaching-recruits-how-to-use-ai-responsibly/

Defence and Intelligence

Musk’s xAI and Pentagon reach deal to use Grok in classified systems

(Dave Lawler, Maria Curi – Axios) Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has signed an agreement to allow the military to use its model, Grok, in classified systems, a Defense official confirmed to Axios. Why it matters: Up to now, Anthropic’s Claude has been the only model available in the systems on which the military’s most sensitive intelligence work, weapons development and battlefield operations take place. But the Pentagon is threatening Anthropic in a dispute over safeguards and may soon need a replacement. Anthropic has refused the Pentagon’s demand that they make Claude available for “all lawful purposes,” insisting in particular on blocking its use for the mass surveillance of Americans and the development of fully autonomous weapons. xAI agreed to that “all lawful use” standard, as Axios previously reported. The New York Times first reported that a deal had been signed. xAI did not respond to requests for comment. It’s not clear whether xAI will be able to fully replace Anthropic, or how long that process would take. Claude was used in the Maduro raid, for example, through Anthropic’s partnership with Palantir. – https://www.axios.com/2026/02/23/ai-defense-department-deal-musk-xai-grok

Security and Surveillance

Arkanix Stealer: AI-assisted info-stealer shuts down after brief campaign

(Pierluigi Paganini – Security Affairs) Arkanix Stealer emerged in late 2025 as a short-lived information-stealing malware promoted on dark web forums. Researchers believe it was likely created as an AI-assisted experiment, suggesting the operators were testing automated development techniques rather than running a long-term, large-scale cybercriminal operation. In October 2025, Kaspersky researchers spotted dark web ads for ‘Arkanix Stealer,’ a MaaS offering with a control panel and configurable payloads. It used a C++ build embedding ChromElevator to steal system and crypto wallet data, plus a packed Python version with dynamic configuration. Likely spread via phishing-themed lures, the operation appeared short-lived, and its affiliate program was later shut down. The ads include a link to a Discord server used as the primary communication channel. – https://securityaffairs.com/188431/malware/arkanix-stealer-ai-assisted-info-stealer-shuts-down-after-brief-campaign.html

Everest ransomware hits Vikor Scientific‘s supplier, data of 140,000 patients stolen

(Pierluigi Paganini – Security Affairs) The Everest ransomware group has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on Vikor Scientific, now operating as Vanta Diagnostics. The healthcare diagnostic firm disclosed a data breach impacting nearly 139,964 individuals, as reported by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The incident stems from the attack on Catalyst RCM, a third-party provider of revenue cycle management services. Around November 13, 2025, Catalyst detected suspicious activity in its secure file system. The company launched an investigation into the incident that revealed that an authorized login was misused to access a server on November 8–9, 2025, and copy data without permission. In November 2025, the Everest ransomware group added Vikor Scientific and its affiliated labs, KorPath and Korgene, to its Tor data leak site. Catalyst RCM likely did not pay the ransom, and the cybercrime gang published allegedly stolen data, including Vikor Scientific documents. – https://securityaffairs.com/188397/data-breach/everest-ransomware-hits-vikor-scientific-s-supplier-data-of-140000-patients-stolen.html

North Korean Lazarus Group Expands Ransomware Activity With Medusa

(Alessandro Mascellino – Infosecurity Magazine) A new wave of cyber-attacks using Medusa ransomware  has been linked to North Korean state-backed hackers, who continue to target the US healthcare sector despite recent indictments. Researchers from the Symantec and Carbon Black Threat Hunter Team said the attackers deployed Medusa against a target in the Middle East and attempted, unsuccessfully, to breach a US healthcare organization. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/north-korean-lazarus-group-medusa/

AI Accelerates Attacker Breakout Time to Just Four Minutes

(Phil Muncaster – Infosecurity Magazine) AI is helping threat actors to accelerate attacks, but it can also empower incident responders to quickly contain threats, ReliaQuest has claimed in a new report. The firm’s Annual Cyber-Threat Report 2026 is based on an analysis of customer incidents. It found that breakout time last year took on average just 34 minutes; 29% quicker than in 2024. The fastest ever recorded time taken from access to lateral movement was just four minutes – 85% faster than the year before. The fastest recorded exfiltration time was just six minutes; down from 4 hours 29 minutes in 2024. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ai-accelerates-attack-breakout/

Chinese AI Firms Hit Claude with Distillation Attacks, Anthropic Warns

(Kevin Poireault – Infosecurity Magazine) Generative AI firm Anthropic said three Chinese AI companies have generated millions of queries with the Claude large language model (LLM) in order to copy the model – a technique called ‘model distillation attack.’. In a new blog published on February 23, Anthropic said three GenAI labs based in China, DeepSeek, Moonshot and MiniMax, have generated over 16 million exchanges with Claude through approximately 24,000 fraudulent accounts, in violation of Anthropic’s terms of service and regional access restrictions. Model distillation is a legitimate AI training method that involves training a less capable model on the outputs of a stronger one. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/chinese-ai-claude-distillation/

AI-powered Cyber-Attacks Up Significantly in the Last Year, Warns CrowdStrike

(Danny Palmer – Infosecurity Magazine) The number of AI-enabled cyber-attacks has nearly doubled during the last year, CrowdStrike has warned, as threat actors deployed machine learning and Large Language Models (LLMs) to help optimize attack techniques and hacking campaigns. According to the CrowdStrike Global Threat Report 2026, there was an 89% increase in attacks by “AI-enabled adversaries” in 2025 when compared with the previous year. Attackers deployed AI to aid with social engineering, malware development, disinformation campaigns and more. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ai-powered-cyberattacks-up/

Ransomware gangs advancing Moscow’s geopolitical aims, Romanian cyber chief warns

(Daryna Antoniuk – The Record) Recent ransomware attacks targeting Romania’s critical infrastructure were likely part of a broader Russian hybrid operation aimed at undermining the country’s stability, Romania’s top cybersecurity official said. Over the past several months, Romania has faced a series of large-scale ransomware incidents affecting key sectors, including the national water agency and energy providers. Some of the attacks were claimed by or attributed to Russian-speaking ransomware groups, including Qilin and Gentlemen, which said they targeted Romania’s national oil pipeline operator and the country’s largest coal-based power producer. – https://therecord.media/ransomware-gangs-advancing-moscow-geopolitical-interests-warns-romania

Air Côte d’Ivoire confirms cyberattack following ransomware claims

(Jonathan Greig – The Record) The main airline serving the West African nation of Côte d’Ivoire was hit with a cyberattack earlier this month that forced it to institute business continuity plans. Air Côte d’Ivoire did not respond to requests for comment but released a statement on Friday confirming reports that hackers had breached its systems on February 8. Last week, the INC ransomware gang claimed it stole 208 GB of data from the airline. In its statement, the airline said the cyberattack “affected parts of its information system” and it had to call in technical teams to assist with flights and other operations. – https://therecord.media/air-cote-divoire-confirms-cyberattack

Ukraine says cyberattacks on energy grid now used to guide missile strikes

(Daryna Antoniuk – The Record) Russian cyberattacks targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are increasingly focused on collecting intelligence to guide missile strikes rather than immediately disrupting operations, Ukrainian cybersecurity officials said. Although the number of major cyber incidents targeting critical infrastructure has declined, the threat itself has not diminished, according to Oleksandr Potii, head of Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection. “Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure never happen on their own; they are always part of a broader operation,” Potii told Recorded Future News on the sidelines of the Kyiv International Cyber Resilience Forum last week. – https://therecord.media/ukraine-cyberattacks-guiding-russian-missile-strikes

Frontiers and Markets

From months to seconds’: How PhysicsX is transforming engineering with physics AI

(Microsoft) PhysicsX, the fast-growing London-based tech company founded by former F1 engineers and AI researchers, is helping reshape the physical world faster than ever before through its pioneering application of physics AI. – https://ukstories.microsoft.com/features/from-months-to-seconds-how-physicsx-is-transforming-engineering-with-physics-ai/

New datacentres risk doubling Great Britain’s electricity use, regulator says

(Dan Milmo and Jillian Ambrose – The Guardian) The amount of power being sought by new datacentre projects in Great Britain would exceed the national current peak electricity consumption, according to an industry watchdog. Ofgem said about 140 proposed datacentre schemes, driven by use of artificial intelligence, could require 50 gigawatts of electricity – 5GW more than the country’s current peak demand. The figure was revealed in an Ofgem consultation on demand for new connections to the power grid. It pointed to a “surge in demand” for connection applications between November 2024 and June last year, with a significant number coming from datacentres. This has exceeded even the most ambitious forecasts. Meanwhile, new renewable energy projects are not being connected to the grid at the pace they are being built to help meet the government’s clean energy targets by the end of the decade. – https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/23/new-datacentres-risk-doubling-uk-electricity-use-ofgem-peak-demand

AI in healthcare may offer great potential, but data bias risks remain

(Firdevs Bulut Kartal – AA) As artificial intelligence (AI) tools are developed rapidly and spread across sectors, such as healthcare, debates over its data biases, privacy, and legal liabilities deepen. Agah Tugrul Korucu, an associate professor of computer education and an AI expert, told Anadolu that AI may offer great potential in the medical field, but it can be safely used only with a robust ethical and governance framework. Korucu stated that data bias in the use of AI in healthcare is a practical problem affecting patient safety, as AI models learn from the data they are trained on. Systematic errors may come to the fore if specific age groups, socioeconomic classes, or geographic regions are underrepresented in the data sets the models learn from. – https://www.aa.com.tr/en/life/ai-in-healthcare-may-offer-great-potential-but-data-bias-risks-remain/3837777

Pension savers increasingly turning to AI when starting retirement planning

(Jack Gray – Pensions Age) Pension savers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence, rather than financial guidance or advice websites, to begin their retirement planning, according to PensionBee. The pension provider analysed data on Google keyword searches and traffic to free advice websites, and found that AI was increasingly satisfying the typical, early-stage needs of pension holders when they start to consider pension and retirement options. – https://www.pensionsage.com/pa/Pension-savers-increasingly-turning-to-AI-when-starting-retirement-planning.php

Carrefour accelerates AI-enabled transformation to 2030, following Walmart’s strategic playbook

(DigWatch) According to reporting by Diginomica, Carrefour, one of Europe’s largest retail groups, is accelerating the adoption of AI across its business as part of a strategic transformation aimed at 2030. Inspired in part by the AI-driven overhaul undertaken by Walmart in the US, Carrefour’s initiative is intended to reshape its logistics, pricing, forecasting and store operations to become more data-driven, efficient and responsive to consumer trends. – https://dig.watch/updates/carrefour-accelerates-ai-enabled-transformation-to-2030-following-walmarts-strategic-playbook