Governance, Regulation, Legislation

EU approves simplified AI rules under Omnibus VII

(DigWatch) The Council of the European Union has given its final approval to a regulation that simplifies parts of the EU’s AI framework as part of the broader ‘Omnibus VII’ package to reduce regulatory complexity. The updated rules revise the implementation timeline for high-risk AI systems, postponing full application until December 2027 for standalone systems and August 2028 for AI systems integrated into regulated products. The regulation also strengthens safeguards by explicitly prohibiting AI-generated non-consensual sexual content, including manipulated intimate imagery and AI-generated child sexual abuse material. – https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2026/06/29/artificial-intelligence-council-gives-final-green-light-to-simplify-and-streamline-rules/

NVIDIA and Palantir expand sovereign AI for US government

(DigWatch) Palantir has announced a new sovereign AI capability built on NVIDIA’s open-source Nemotron models, enabling US government agencies and critical infrastructure operators to deploy, customise and continuously improve AI models within highly secure environments. The platform combines NVIDIA Nemotron open models with Palantir’s Sovereign AI Operating System, allowing organisations to retain full control over their data, model weights and deployment infrastructure. The system is designed for air-gapped and highly regulated environments where sensitive information cannot be connected to external networks. – https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/palantir-secure-ai-us-agencies-nemotron-open-models/

Spain’s AI sandbox offers early test for biometric AI compliance

(DigWatch) Spain’s AI regulatory sandbox is becoming an early test of how high-risk AI systems may prepare for compliance with the EU AI Act, with facial recognition among the technologies examined. Spanish company Herta said it has completed the sandbox process for its facial-recognition video-surveillance system, BioSurveillance. The company presented the pilot as a step towards AI Act-ready deployments in public settings. Herta describes BioSurveillance as a real-time video-surveillance system capable of detecting multiple faces, enrolling individuals during operation, identifying previously registered people and managing alerts. Its BioSurveillance NEXT product is designed for simultaneous identification in crowded and changing environments. – https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/herta-says-ai-sandbox-lays-ground-for-ai-act-compliant-public-facial-recognition

Malaysia adopts AI-centred digital strategy to 2030

(DigWatch) Malaysia has launched the Malaysia Digital Action Plan 2030 (MD2030), a national roadmap that places the Ministry of Digital at the centre of efforts to achieve the country’s ambition of becoming an AI-driven nation by 2030. Unveiled by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the strategy aims to transform Malaysia from a consumer of technology into a producer of homegrown digital innovation through a coordinated, whole-of-government approach. – https://dig.watch/updates/malaysia-ai-digital-strategy-2030

OECD maps AI and citizen participation

(DigWatch) The OECD has published a report examining how AI could support citizen participation and democratic innovation while highlighting the safeguards needed for its responsible use. The report, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Citizen Participation, was approved and declassified by the OECD Public Governance Committee on 22 June 2026. It was produced as part of the OECD Public Governance Reviews series in collaboration with the Bertelsmann Stiftung. – https://dig.watch/updates/oecd-ai-citizen-participation-democracy

EU launches funding for youth-centred social media platforms

(DigWatch) The European Commission has launched a €1.48 million call for proposals to support the development and testing of safer, more inclusive social media platforms designed for young people. The initiative aims to involve young people from diverse backgrounds in designing digital services that prioritise privacy, well-being, accessibility and user safety. –  https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/new-call-proposals-shape-safer-and-more-inclusive-social-media-platforms

South Korea unveils national AI infrastructure strategy

(DigWatch) South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT has announced a comprehensive whole-of-government strategy to expand the country’s AI computing infrastructure and strengthen national AI capabilities. The strategy is built around three pillars: expanding AI computing infrastructure, developing next-generation AI models, and accelerating AI adoption across public services. To strengthen computing capacity, the government aims to secure 18,000 high-performance GPUs by the first half of 2026, with 10,000 acquired through a public-private National AI Computing Centre and another 8,000 deployed as part of a sixth national supercomputer. – https://dig.watch/updates/south-korea-national-ai-infrastructure-strategy

South Korea plans $518 billion semiconductor hub for AI demand

(DigWatch) Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have announced plans to invest a combined 800 trillion won, about $518 billion, in a new semiconductor manufacturing hub in South Korea’s southwest. The two companies, which together produce around two-thirds of the world’s memory chips, will each build two new fabrication plants outside their existing manufacturing base in Gyeonggi Province. Samsung’s new facilities are planned for the city of Gwangju, with several possible sites under consideration, including land linked to a military air base planned for relocation. – https://apnews.com/article/korea-samsung-ai-hynix-chips-22352d95c7a821c5f4548b2d1a4ebde8

Singapore launches Online Safety Commission for online harms

(DigWatch) Singapore’s Online Safety Commission has begun operations, giving victims of online harms a dedicated channel to seek faster support and redress. The commission was established to support the office of the Commissioner of Online Safety under the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act 2025. Specified provisions on statutory torts under the Act also came into effect on 29 June 2026. – https://dig.watch/updates/singapore-launches-online-safety-commission-for-online-harms

Security and Surveillance

The Readiness Gap: What Wimbledon Reveals About Modern Cyber Defense

(Matthew Andriani – Infosecurity Magazine) During Wimbledon, 500,000 spectators will move through one of the most popular sporting events in the world. Millions more fans follow it through live scores, streaming, brand platforms, and mobile updates. The athletes have spent months preparing for the pressure of Centre Court. The organizations behind the tournament, including the cybersecurity teams, have prepared as well. But preparation can create its own blind spot. Many organizations believe they are protected from cyber-attacks in general, and DDoS attacks in particular, because they have protections in place and have tested them before. But infrastructure never stands still. Over time, the gap between what was tested and what is actually running can grow surprisingly wide. Wimbledon offers a useful lens for a problem that extends far beyond sport: the gap between assuming defenses are ready vs actually proving they work. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/opinions/what-wimbledon-reveals-about-cyber/

ClickFix Now Cybercriminals’ Favorite Malware Delivery Technique

(Danny Palmer – Infosecurity Magazine) The ClickFix social engineering technique has become the leading means of cybercriminals delivering malware to victims. According to analysis by researchers at ReliaQuest, which examined cyber-attacks taking place between March 1 and May 31, 2026, ClickFix dominated malware delivery. ClickFix is a potent attack vector, because it socially engineers the victim into pasting attacker-supplied commands into trusted system dialogs. In ClickFix-style attacks, the user enters the command, which  bypasses many anti-virus and cyber defense tools that categorize the action as legitimate. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/clickfix-cybercriminals-favorite/

Hackers Leverage Blockchain to Hit Japan’s Hotels Through Booking.comPhishing

(Kevin Poireault – Infosecurity Magazine) Cyber threat actors are targeting employees of Booking.com partner accommodations in Japan, using phishing emails that impersonate guest complaints and review requests to trick hotel staff into executing malicious files. The malware delivered through this campaign, TONResolver, is hosted on a smart contract and leverages blockchain technology – specifically, The Open Network (TON) blockchain platform. It functions as an initial access and command-execution foothold, with follow-on activity indicating potential credential theft and further compromise. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/hackers-blockchain-japan-hotels/

UK Healthcare Sector Records Tenfold Increase in Cyber-Attacks

(Phil Muncaster – Infosecurity Magazine) The UK’s healthcare sector is being “stress-tested to breaking point,” with a tenfold increase in attacks during January-May 2026 compared to the whole of 2025, according to SonicWall. The security vendor’s data comes from its intrusion prevention system (IPS) sensors dispersed across UK healthcare clients.They recorded 264,000 individual events in the first five months of the year compared to just 27,000 for 2025. That represents around 11,000 events per sensor in January-May 2026; more than any other vertical, according to the vendor. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uk-healthcare-tenfold-increase/

Over 300 UK Firms Hit by Ransomware in a Year

(Phil Muncaster – Infosecurity Magazine) UK organizations suffered more than 26 successful ransomware attacks each month last year, with SMEs hit hardest, according to new data from Report Fraud. The UK’s cybercrime and fraud reporting service was contacted by 323 corporate ransomware victims between April 2025 and March 2026, according to City of London Police. Over 50% of reports were from small and mid-sized companies. Financial losses associated with these incidents increased 50% annually to around £270,000 ($357,000), although the police force admitted this was likely an underestimate given many businesses do not fully disclose the figure. Not all victims confirmed their vertical, but of those that did, the manufacturing industry accounted for most reports (42), followed by the scientific and technical sector (21) and education (19). – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/over-300-uk-firms-hit-ransomware/

What platform disclosures reveal about persistent inauthentic activity

(Julia Voo, Dara Janelle Eoy – IISS) Read individually, platform takedown reports (i.e., disclosures of platform removals of online accounts, domains, channels and other assets associated with inauthentic activity) between 2024 and 2025 suggest isolated incidents. Taken together, however, they reveal a persistent, adaptive and often multilingual pattern of covert influence operations by states and other actors. For this analysis, IISS compiled a dataset of 844 takedowns disclosed by Google, Meta and TikTok from 2024 to 2025, comprising 508,599 removed assets. While limited to three companies, the dataset provides a useful cross-platform assessment of recurring actors, narratives and operating models linked to 53 countries. Inauthentic activity refers to coordinated and deceptive online behaviour that utilises fake or misrepresented identities and affiliations to shape the information environment and structure political choice. For states and other actors, covert influence operations are a relatively low-cost means to shape perceptions, undermine rivals, reinforce narratives and influence political choices. As global strategic competition intensifies, the incentives to keep using them are likely to endure. – https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/charting-cyberspace/2026/06/what-platform-disclosures-reveal-about-persistent-inauthentic-activity/

Defense, Intelligence, Warfare

Better to use (and lose) robots than soldiers: Ukraine’s UGV drive

(David Kirichenko – ASPI The Strategist) In fighting an asymmetric war against a much larger adversary, Ukraine has sought to leverage technology wherever possible. First came the proliferation of first-person-view (FPV) drones across the battlefield. Now, uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) are beginning to spread across the front line. For Ukraine, manpower has been one of the war’s greatest constraints. Heavy casualties have made preserving soldiers increasingly important, driving efforts to replace people with machines wherever possible. ‘In April, UGVs performed over 10,000 missions. Most of these are logistic operations: delivering supplies to the front line and back,’ said Ihor Shmyryov, head of the UGV department at procurement organisation Brave1. He believes Ukraine should be able to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky’s target of supplying 50,000 UGVs to the armed forces this year with ease. – https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/better-to-use-and-lose-robots-than-soldiers-ukraines-ugv-drive/

Frontiers

MIT develops AI system to improve robot understanding

(DigWatch) Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a system that helps robots interpret vague human instructions while using significantly less training data. The approach, called Masked Inverse Reinforcement Learning (Masked IRL), uses two large language models to clarify tasks and identify the details that matter for safe robot movement. One model expands ambiguous instructions based on user demonstrations. A second model filters out irrelevant information and highlights factors the robot should include in its motion plan. – https://news.mit.edu/2026/llms-help-robots-understand-vague-instructions-and-focus-key-details-0626