24 June 2026, San Marino – The Centre for Global Studies (PAM-CGS) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), released a new report entitled “The Dark Web-Spyware Nexus: Implications for National Security and Human Rights”.
The report, available here represents the second step of the strategic research project on the misuse of spyware technologies, produced by PAM-CGS, and prepared in cooperation with the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) of the United Nations Security Council.
The report focuses on the increasing convergence between the dark web and the spyware industry, identifying this nexus as an emerging threat to national security, institutional resilience, privacy, and fundamental rights. The report highlights that the dark web no longer functions solely as an illicit marketplace but is increasingly becoming a covert operational environment where commercial spyware, surveillance tools, stolen data, and digital exploitation services are traded, tested, and deployed outside effective oversight.
In response to these challenges, the report identifies a number of strategic priorities aimed at strengthening trust, accountability, and human rights in the digital domain.
Through this research, PAM and PAM-CGS reaffirms their commitment to supporting parliaments, governments, international organizations, and relevant stakeholders in addressing the security and human rights implications of emerging technologies.
In this context, on 1 July 2026, , on the margins of the 2026 United Nations Counter-Terrorism Week, at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York, PAM-CGS will organize a High-Level Side Event entitled “Global Terrorism and AI – Technological Sovereignty and Deregulation: The Role of Parliaments in Applying and Adapting Existing Frameworks for Effective Countering Actions”.
The Side Event will be organized in the framework of the PAM Presidency of the UN Coordination Mechanism and Policy Dialogue for Parliamentary Assemblies on Counter-Terrorism, in partnership with the Permanent Missions of the Republic of Cyprus and Italy to the United Nations, the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), the UNOCT Global Programme on Parliamentary Engagement in Preventing and Countering Terrorism, and the UNOCT/UNCCT Cybersecurity Unit.
In the same spirit, PAM-CGS also aims at organizing an additional High-Level Side Event on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly next September, dedicated to the impact of disinformation, misinformation and deep fake on the resilience of democratic systems and social cohesion, further contributing to international efforts to strengthen trust, accountability, and resilience in the digital information space.//