Governance, Regulation, Legislation, Geostrategies

 

UNCTAD report warns of widening development gaps amid technology barriers – The United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report, Trade and Development Report 2026: The geoeconomics of development, projects global economic growth to slow to 2.6% in 2026, down from 2.9% in 2025. Growth in developing economies is expected to fall from 4.7% to 4%, as technological barriers, geopolitical tensions and uneven investment increasingly shape countries’ access to global markets. The report identifies AI as a major driver of global trade but warns that its economic gains remain concentrated. In a case study of an advanced AI server rack, post-tax profits accounted for 68% of traced value added, while workers received less than 15%. Meanwhile, developed economies attracted around 70% of the value of announced greenfield investments in strategic sectors, including semiconductors, energy-transition technologies and AI infrastructure, between 2020 and 2025. – https://dig.watch/updates/unctad-warns-widening-development-gaps-technology

 

FSB outlines work on AI and stablecoins in G20 reports – The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has outlined its latest work on financial stability risks in a letter from Chair Andrew Bailey to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors ahead of their 15 October meeting. The letter highlights heightened volatility in sovereign bond markets, vulnerabilities in private credit, and risks associated with AI. An accompanying note examines cross-border vulnerabilities linked to global stablecoin arrangements and identifies further work to improve financial stability monitoring. The FSB emphasises the need for stronger information sharing and international cooperation, alongside continued implementation of its 2023 recommendations on global stablecoin arrangements. – https://dig.watch/updates/fsb-on-ai-and-stablecoins-in-g20-reports

 

EU report highlights AI risks to job quality and workers’ skills – The European Commission has published its 2026 European Employment and Social Outlook, examining changes in job quality across the EU and the implications of AI for employment, productivity and working conditions. Released on 13 October, the report finds that job quality has generally improved over the past decade, particularly in pay, job security and working time, although significant differences remain between countries, sectors and occupations. The report identifies AI as both an opportunity and a challenge for the labour market. AI tools can increase productivity, support skills development and allow employees to concentrate on higher-value tasks. However, the Commission highlights potential pressure on demand for workers in entry-level and routine occupations, alongside possible consequences for wages and working conditions. The impact will depend partly on how employers introduce and govern these technologies. – https://dig.watch/updates/eu-report-ai-risks-job-quality-workers-skills

 

IMF finds tokenised equities are 1.5 times more volatile – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has found that tokenised equities experienced approximately 1.5 times the realised volatility of traditional shares, highlighting liquidity and market fragmentation concerns as blockchain-based securities gain traction. The Global Financial Stability Report examined trading data from five tokenised US equity products across 11 venues, covering more than two million observations. The study found that more than half of tokenised equity transactions took place outside regular US stock market hours, while around 80% involved less than one conventional share. The findings point to demand for extended trading opportunities and fractional ownership. However, decentralised exchanges recorded the highest volatility and weakest liquidity among the markets examined, increasing the potential for trades to trigger sharp price movements. – https://dig.watch/updates/tokenized-equities-imf-volatility-liquidity-risks

 

Security, Surveillance

Anthropic warns that AI models may be capable of autonomous self-replication within months – On 12 October 2026, Anthropic published research warning that advances in small AI models could make autonomous replication across everyday Internet-of-Things (IoT)connected devices a plausible near-term threat. The experiments examined whether AI models could identify potential targets, gain access to devices, establish the computing environment required to run an AI model, and continue propagating without human intervention. The central concern is that an AI-enabled replicator could adapt its deployment to unfamiliar hardware and software, rather than relying exclusively on fixed instructions designed for a specific device. Anthropic did not demonstrate an uncontrolled AI worm spreading across the public internet; instead, it tested individual technical capabilities and their combination under simplified, controlled conditions. The replication process involves four stages: identifying devices, obtaining the ability to execute code, establishing AI inference and continuing propagation. Inference is the process through which a trained model generates outputs from input. The technical challenge is not simply copying model files to another device, but making the model operational despite differences in hardware, memory, operating systems and software dependencies. An AI agent would need to configure compatible software, resolve installation problems and troubleshoot failures. These tasks could allow it to adapt to devices that were not specifically anticipated by its developers. – https://dig.watch/updates/anthropic-ai-models-self-replicating

UK Government Announces Sweeping New AI Security Plans – The British government has announced a range of new initiatives designed to better protect the nation from emerging AI threats. Speaking at Imperial College London on October 12, AI minister Kanishka Narayan laid out a series of plans, including the use of frontier models to find vulnerabilities in government systems. “Our central vulnerability-monitoring service has already helped reduce the time taken to fix identified weaknesses from 50 days to just eight. Built on these advances, I want us to go further,” he explained. “I am announcing that the DCMS cyber minister, the security minister and I will lead the urgent use of frontier AI capabilities to find weaknesses within government systems before attackers exploit them, protect essential government systems, and respond more effectively to emerging threats”. This follows a series of internal hackathons run by the Government Cyber Coordination Centre (GC3) where frontier AI was used to find over 400 software flaws in public sector IT which were subsequently patched. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uk-government-sweeping-ai-security/

Defenders Reluctant to Deploy Agentic AI as a Cybersecurity Tool – Companies have invested more resources than ever into agentic AI as a cyber defense tool amid growing AI-enabled cyber threats to enterprise networks from. However, the majority of cybersecurity teams remain reluctant to deploy the technology due to concerns over their effectiveness. Published on October 13, The Enterprise Threat Intelligence Report: 2026 from Flashpoint suggested that despite the ongoing discussion surrounding the potential cyber risks around offensive agentic AI, just a quarter (25%) of cybersecurity teams are actively using agentic AI tools as part of their active cyber defense strategy. While three quarters of security teams have yet to fully investigate the potential deployment of AI tools into their security operations, 20% of those surveyed said that they are running a closed pilot scheme, and a further 35% said they are examining the potential of adoption within the next 12 to 24 months. The remaining 20% of respondents said they have no plans to test out agentic AI as part of their cyber defense as things stand. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/defenders-skeptical-agentic-ai/

North Korean hackers target Ukrainian experts for possible intelligence on Russia’s war – North Korean hackers have been targeting Ukrainian experts in diplomacy, security and international policy amid Pyongyang’s growing military cooperation with Russia, according to a new report. As part of the campaign, the hacking group Kimsuky used fake conference invitations, research collaboration requests and malicious documents designed to steal information, South Korean cybersecurity firm Genians said in a report published Monday. North Korea has provided troops to fight in the war in Ukraine as well as other military support to Russia since 2024. “Kimsuky’s attacks against Ukraine may be aimed at collecting information on the war, the extent of North Korean troop losses, developments in the questioning and handling of prisoners of war, and the details of consultations between South Korea and Ukraine,” researchers said, adding that most of the observed attacks were unsuccessful. Genians said the transfer of two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces to South Korea in September could also be of intelligence interest to Pyongyang, particularly what the prisoners might disclose about North Korean military operations and casualties. – https://therecord.media/north-korea-hackers-russia-ukraine

Two arrested as DOJ takes down laptop farms responsible for $3 million in North Korean revenue – The Department of Justice disrupted multiple laptop farms across Texas allegedly being used by North Korean nationals to facilitate an IT worker scheme that allows the country to earn millions from U.S. companies.  The laptop farm raids, which were conducted September 21-25, targeted more than 40 residences, the DOJ said. Law enforcement seized 187 laptops and other devices used by North Koreans. Such schemes have earned millions over the last eight years by tricking U.S. companies into hiring workers remotely into lucrative IT roles through stolen or purchased identities. – https://therecord.media/north-korea-laptop-farms-worker-scams-doj-raids-texas

Russian internet provider SkyNet reports outages after cyberattack claimed by Ukrainian hackers – A major internet provider in Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, has reported days of service disruptions following a cyberattack claimed by a Ukrainian hacking group. SkyNet said in a statement on Friday that its network had been disrupted by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack since October 6, affecting services including online gaming, voice calls and video conferencing. The company said customers could experience slow connections, high latency and interruptions to audio and video services as it worked to mitigate the attack. It did not say when normal operations would resume. – https://therecord.media/russian-internet-provider-skynet-reports-outages-ddos

Ledger says hardware implant in cryptocurrency wallets stole recovery phrases – Cryptocurrency wallet maker Ledger said Tuesday that devices sold through Southeast Asian reseller CryptoBilis contained hidden hardware implants that captured users’ recovery phrases, allowing attackers to steal their funds. In a series of social media posts, the Paris-based company said its security research team found the affected devices contained implants that read data displayed on the screens. During setup, the implants detect users’ 24-word recovery phrase and transmit it over an LTE connection using an embedded eSIM. Unknown attackers subsequently used the phrase to access users’ funds. – https://therecord.media/ledger-cryptocurrency-wallet-implant-theft

European Retail Firms Confirm Cyber Incidents – Several retail firms across Europe have confirmed cyber incidents that are causing operational disruptions. On October 12, Netherlands-based multinational retail company Ahold Delhaize confirmed it was experiencing “a security issue” within its networks and had to take “some systems offline” to protect them. The disruption was reported to affect three of the group’s brands, including supermarket chain Albert Heijn, operating in the Netherlands and Belgium, Dutch drugstore chain Etos and Dutch liquor store chain Gall & Gall. The next day, Reuters reported that South African retail group The Foschini Group (TFG), owner of high-street fashion brands Hobbs and Whistles, was investigating a “cyber incident”. The press agency said TFG became aware of an incident on October 11 affecting its UK subsidiary TFG London, with “certain IT systems” impacted. Specifically, it was reported that the affected brands include Phase Eight and Hobbs and Whistles brands. The South African group added there is “no reason to believe that payment information is at risk” at this stage. Other TFG high street brands, including Inside Story and White Stuff, are not affected.  The group’s TFG Africa and TFG Australia subsidiaries are also not experiencing any operational disruption. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/retail-firms-confirm-cyber/

Hackers cranked French supermarkets’ freezers up to 50 degrees, causing hundreds of stores to lose their stock – Overnight from Sunday to Monday, a large cyberattack hit the refrigeration systems of hundreds of French supermarkets, BFMTV revealed. The attackers targeted equipment from the Danish maker Danfoss that many French stores use to regulate their cold. Fresh and frozen stock was destroyed, and the Paris prosecutor says there were also fires. The method is simple and nasty. Refrigeration systems have a forced defrost function that clears ice buildup, and the attackers appear to have triggered it remotely in a continuous mode, with a temperature setting of 50 degrees. The equipment heated for several hours instead of keeping goods cold, and when staff opened the fridges and freezers in the morning, a sector source told BFM, “a wave of heat” came out. “300 Intermarché and Netto stores, and fewer than 100 U stores, were affected on Monday, October 12, by a cyberattack targeting the refrigeration control systems of the Danish manufacturer Danfoss, according to the two retailers.” reports BFMTV. “Hackers reportedly remotely altered the temperatures of the systems, causing the destruction of stocks of fresh and frozen products. – https://securityaffairs.com/200863/hacking/hackers-cranked-french-supermarkets-freezers-up-to-50-degrees-causing-hundreds-of-stores-to-lose-their-stock.html

 

8.6 million records exposed in japanese entertainment supply-chain incident – A malware incident at Nippon Columbia, a Japanese contractor serving entertainment-system maker Daiichi Kosho operating 521 karaoke venues nationwide, has exposed more than 8.6 million customer and employee records, according to reporting published by BleepingComputer on 11 October 2026. The incident highlights the risks organisations face when personal information is processed or stored by external service providers, and how a compromise affecting one company can create consequences for another organisation’s customers and workforce. Daiichi Kosho, known for its karaoke and audio-related systems, disclosed that a malware infection at Nippon Columbia had exposed the records. The publicly available reporting identifies the scale of the affected data but provides limited detail on the full technical sequence of the incident, the malware involved, how the attacker initially gained access, or whether the information has been published or offered for sale. Those questions should remain open until the companies or investigators provide further evidence. – https://dig.watch/updates/8-6-million-records-exposed-in-japanese-supply-chain-incident

Defence, Military

Anduril’s new missile swaps boosters to slash costs and take on hypersonic threats – Anduril is developing a new interceptor missile family designed to help the US military counter aerial threats without exhausting its most expensive defensive weapons. Called Steelfin, the system lets engineers adjust missile configurations for different missions while retaining a common underlying design. The concept addresses a growing problem for American air defenses. Cheap drones and mass-produced missiles can force military units to expend costly interceptors against relatively inexpensive targets. Over a prolonged conflict, replacing those weapons could become a serious challenge. Anduril wants Steelfin to offer a more affordable way to defend against threats across multiple categories. Steelfin’s shared architecture could also help the US military diversify its interceptor inventory without creating additional missile programs for every emerging threat. – https://interestingengineering.com/military/anduril-steelfin-modular-missile-interceptor

 

Raytheon tests new drone-killer missile in just 15 months with faster rocket power – American military firm Raytheon has completed three development tests of its Coyote Block 2C+RM counter-drone interceptor, advancing the upgrade from concept to testing in just 15 months. Announced on October 12, the company-funded effort aims to equip the military with a faster response to evolving drone threats, including more advanced Group 3 drones. RTX is replacing the existing interceptor’s turbojet propulsion with a solid rocket motor and adding a new seeker and warhead. – https://interestingengineering.com/military/rocket-powered-coyote-completes-three-tests