Governance
Twenty Years On: What WSIS+20 Means For International Digital Governance
(Rose Payne, Ellie McDonald – Tech Policy Press) The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) concluded its twenty-year review on December 17, closing WSIS+20, a process revisiting one of the United Nations’ most influential experiments in digital governance. Historically, WSIS is significant because it marked the first time governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society came together to address the social and governance implications of the Internet. When the original summits took place in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005), there was no settled concept of “Internet governance” as a policy field, and no overarching framework for digital cooperation. WSIS helped to create both. – https://www.techpolicy.press/twenty-years-on-what-wsis20-means-for-international-digital-governance/
Global AI Adoption in 2025—A Widening Digital Divide
(Microsoft) Global adoption of artificial intelligence continued to rise in the second half of 2025, increasing by 1.2 percentage points compared to the first half of the year, with roughly one in six people worldwide now using generative AI tools, remarkable progress for a technology that only recently entered mainstream use. To track this trend, we measure AI diffusion as the share of people worldwide who have used a generative AI product during the reported period. This measure is derived from aggregated and anonymized Microsoft telemetry and then adjusted to reflect differences in OS and device-market share, internet penetration, and country population. No single metric is perfect, and this one is no exception. Through the Microsoft AI Economy Institute, we continue to refine how we measure AI diffusion globally, including how adoption varies across countries in ways that best advance priorities such as scientific discovery and productivity gains. For this report, we rely on the strongest cross-country measure available today, and we expect to complement it over time with additional indicators as they emerge and mature. Despite progress in AI adoption, the data shows a widening divide: adoption in the Global North grew nearly twice as fast as in the Global South. As a result, 24.7 percent of the working age population in the Global North is now using these tools, compared to only 14.1 percent in the Global South. – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/topics/AI-Economy-Institute/reports/Global-AI-Adoption-2025/
What Counts as “From Scratch”? Korea’s AI Project Faces Its First Real Test
(Korea Tech Today) South Korea’s national artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model project, promoted as a cornerstone of the country’s push for AI sovereignty, has entered a critical phase after allegations surfaced that some leading participants relied on components from Chinese AI models. What began as a technical debate among developers has evolved into a broader policy question: how should “development from scratch” be defined in large-scale, government-backed AI projects? Two of the five consortia selected for the initiative—led by Naver Cloud and Upstage—have been drawn into the controversy. Both were accused by parts of the developer community of falling short of the project’s requirement to independently design and train core AI technologies. – https://koreatechtoday.com/what-counts-as-from-scratch-koreas-ai-project-faces-its-first-real-test/
Portugal government backs AI with €400 million plan
(DigWatch) Portugal has announced a €400 million investment in AI over the period 2026-2030, primarily funded by European programmes. The National Artificial Intelligence Agenda (ANIA) and its Action Plan (PAANIA) aim to strengthen Portugal’s position in AI research, industry, and innovation. – https://dig.watch/updates/portugal-government-backs-ai-with-e400-million
Spotlight on New York: 2026 kicks off with AI action
(AXIOS) New York officials are kicking off 2026 with new AI proposals and probes aimed at protecting consumers. Why it matters: The action is coming shortly after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed the RAISE Act, a major frontier AI model safety bill, into law late last year. – https://www.axios.com/2026/01/09/new-york-2026-ai-bills
The Grok Disaster Isn’t An Anomaly. It Follows Warnings That Were Ignored
(Bruna Santos, Shirin Anlen – Tech Policy Press) The recent revelations about Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot generating and publishing nonconsensual, sexualized images of women and children in response to user prompts on X are being treated as a scandal. They should instead be understood as the most severe phenomenon yet in a disaster that started years ago. According to WIRED, separate from the images posted on X, a cache of around 1,200 links to outputs created on the Grok app or website is currently available, and some of these have already been shared on adult deepfake forums or indexed by Google. These images, WIRED reports, are “disturbing sexual videos that are vastly more explicit than images created by Grok on X.” 404Media reports that on Telegram, users are repeatedly jailbreaking Grok to produce “far worse.”. This is what happens when gender-based abuse becomes scalable: long-standing forms of harm are not only amplified by generative systems that lack meaningful controls over what users can prompt and produce, but also rapidly migrate across platforms–moving from private tools to public forums, from fringe channels to mainstream search results—making the abuse harder to contain, remove or remediate once it spreads. – https://www.techpolicy.press/the-grok-disaster-isnt-an-anomaly-it-follows-warnings-that-were-ignored/
Geostrategies
How will the United States and China power the AI race?
(Kyle Chan, Samantha Gross, Liza Tobin, and David G. Victor – Brookings) As artificial intelligence (AI) drives a surge in energy demand in both the United States and China, each country faces choices about how to expand power generation in order to remain at the technological frontier. Washington and Beijing will need to find ways to increase access to energy within an atmosphere of geopolitical competition. The decisions and trade-offs both countries make in sourcing energy to support AI advances will have spillover effects far beyond their borders, shaping global markets, infrastructure, and supply chains. To assess these dynamics, the Global China project convened four authors representing a diversity of viewpoints. In the written exchange below, they wrestle with how energy demand may constrain each country’s AI advances. They also offer diverging views on whether the United States should welcome Chinese investment in American clean energy technology and manufacturing or whether America should wall itself off from Chinese participation in its market. The written exchange centers on the following key questions: How will rising energy demand shape geopolitical competition between the two countries? As China and the United States pursue energy partnerships abroad, which regions are likely to become central to the AI race? Will Beijing leverage its dominance in clean energy technologies to gain a strategic advantage? And should the United States allow Chinese investment in American clean-energy technology and manufacturing—and if so, under what conditions? – https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-will-the-united-states-and-china-power-the-ai-race/
200,000 satellites: China seeks approval for one of largest satellite constellations
(Interesting Engineering) A growing number of Chinese companies are laying the groundwork for an unprecedented expansion of satellite infrastructure. Recent filings indicate that Chinese firms are planning to deploy more than 200,000 internet satellites, with formal submissions submitted to a UN agency shortly after Beijing publicly raised concerns over the congestion caused by Elon Musk’s SpaceX constellation. Toward the end of last month, more than a dozen separate proposals from Chinese satellite operators were lodged with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the global body responsible for coordinating radio spectrum and orbital slots. – https://interestingengineering.com/space/china-largest-satellite-constellations-approval
Security and Surveillance
Crypto Crime Reaches Record High in 2025 as Nation‑State Sanctions Evasion Moves On‑Chain at Scale
(Chainalysis) In 2025, we tracked a notable rise in nation-state activity in crypto, marking the latest phase in the maturation of the illicit on-chain ecosystem. Over the past few years, the crypto crime landscape has become increasingly professionalized; illicit organizations now operate large-scale on-chain infrastructure to help transnational criminal networks procure goods and services and launder their ill-gotten crypto. Against that backdrop, we have seen nation-states moving into this space, both by tapping into these same professionalized service providers and by standing up their own bespoke infrastructure to evade sanctions at scale. As nation-states plug into the illicit crypto supply chains originally built for cybercriminals and organized crime groups, government agencies and compliance and security teams now face significantly higher stakes on both the consumer protection and national security fronts. – https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/2026-crypto-crime-report-introduction/
World Economic Forum: Deepfake Face-Swapping Tools Are Creating Critical Security Risks
(Kevin Poireault – Infosecurity Magazine) The rapid advancement of deepfakes is becoming a major challenge for sustaining trust in digital identity systems, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has warned. Deepfake-generating technologies, and especially face-swapping tools are enabling malicious actors to bypass know-your-customer (KYC) and remote verification processes, creating financial, operational and systemic risks for any institution that relies on digital trust. A new report for the World Economic Forum’s Cybercrime Atlas, published on January 8, noted that this advancement coincided with other worrying trends, such as threat actors increasingly targeting financial services and cryptocurrency – particularly prone to KYC bypass attacks. “Criminals are now combining AI-generated or stolen identity documents, advanced face swaps and camera injection to bypass live verification,” reads the report. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/wef-deepfake-faceswapping-security/
FBI Warns of North Korean QR Phishing Campaigns
(Phil Muncaster – Infosecurity Magazine) US law enforcers have issued a new alert to domestic and foreign organizations about ongoing North Korean phishing campaigns that use QR codes to bypass email security. The FBI Flash report issued yesterday claimed that Pyongyang’s prolific Kimsuky APT group targeted think tanks, academic institutions and US and foreign “government entities” with the tactic in 2025. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fbi-warns-north-korean-qr-phishing/
Europol Leads Global Crackdown on Black Axe Cybercrime Gang, 34 Arrested
(Danny Palmer – Infosecurity Magazine) Almost three dozen people have been arrested as part of multi-national law enforcement operation targeting the international cybercriminal group Black Axe. With support from Europol, the Spanish National Police, working alongside the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, arrested suspects across Spain: 28 in Seville, three in Madrid, two in Málaga and one in Barcelona. A statement by Europol said co-ordinated action has resulted in “significant disruptions” to Black Axe’s operations and that €119,352 ($138,971) in bank accounts has been frozen, while €66,403 ($77, 318) in cash was seized during house searches – as seen in images released by the authorities. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/europol-crackdown-on-black-axe/
A massive breach exposed data of 17.5M Instagram users
(Pierluigi Paganini – Security Affairs) Since January 10, 2026, a million users have received password reset emails, sparking confusion and fears of a global cyberattack. Security experts warn this is a serious privacy breach with real-world risks, and affected data may already be circulating on the dark web. The researchers found a sensitive database for sale on a cybercrime forum, described as a “doxxing kit” affecting nearly 18 million Instagram users. Unlike past data scrapes, this leak includes physical home addresses linked to Instagram user IDs. – https://securityaffairs.com/186765/data-breach/a-massive-breach-exposed-data-of-17-5m-instagram-users.html
Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) suffered a data breach that impacted 700K individuals
(Pierluigi Paganini – Security Affairs) The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS ) disclosed a data breach after misconfigured privacy settings exposed personal and health data of nearly 700,000 residents. On September 22, 2025, IDHS discovered that internal maps meant for planning were publicly accessible due to misconfigured privacy settings. “On September 22, 2025, IDHS discovered that maps created by the IDHS Division of Family and Community Services’ Bureau of Planning and Evaluation on a mapping website were publicly viewable due to incorrect privacy settings. These maps were created to assist IDHS with resource allocation decisions, such as determining where to open new local offices, and were intended for internal IDHS use only.” reads the press release published by IDHS. – https://securityaffairs.com/186745/data-breach/illinois-department-of-human-services-idhs-suffered-a-data-breach-that-impacted-700k-individuals.html
China-linked UAT-7290 spies on telco in South Asia and Europe using modular malware
(Pierluigi Paganini – Security Affairs) China-linked threat actor UAT-7290 has conducted espionage attacks since at least 2022, targeting South Asia and Southeastern Europe. UAT-7290 primarily targets telecom providers, it conducts espionage by deeply embedding in victim networks and also operates Operational Relay Box (ORB) infrastructure later reused by other China-nexus actors, suggesting a dual role as both espionage and initial-access provider. The threat actor uses a broad toolset, including open-source tools, custom malware, and one-day exploits against edge networking devices, favoring Linux malware but also deploying Windows implants like RedLeaves and ShadowPad. Attacks are preceded by extensive reconnaissance and rely on PoC exploits and SSH brute force. Its TTPs, infrastructure, and victimology overlap with known China-aligned groups such as APT10 and Red Foxtrot, linked to PLA Unit 69010. – https://securityaffairs.com/186698/security/china-linked-uat-7290-spies-on-telco-in-south-asia-and-europe-using-modular-malware.html
AI-Powered Truman Show Operation Industrializes Investment Fraud
(Phil Muncaster – Infosecurity Magazine) Security researchers have uncovered a highly sophisticated, AI-assisted investment fraud operation in which victims are drawn into a personalized Truman Show-style controlled reality. Check Point discovered the scam in October 2025 after observing victims being targeted via SMS and messaging apps. What it subsequently found was an extensive, reusable fraud operation featuring mobile applications, attacker-controlled backend infrastructure and AI-assisted social engineering. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ai-truman-show-industrializes/
Are Hacktivists Going Out of Business? Or Just Out of Style
(Josh Taylor – Infosecurity Magazine) Having a discussion on hacktivism is interesting these days because it’s there – and it’s not. We’ve experienced a definite departure from the hacktivism of the 90’s and early 2000’s (think movies like Hackers), where it was a couple of guys with some Raspberry Pi’s in a basement somewhere doing it for “the love of the game.”. Now, more hackers have an agenda, or have been swallowed up by some larger entity that does, and can, pay well for i). But here’s the million-dollar question; are hacktivists something that should be on the risk radar for your company? And if they are, how would you know it, and what would they look like? As we scope out the threat landscape of 2025, it would seem that hacktivists are no longer to be found. But they, and the things they do, persist. Just maybe under a different banner. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/opinions/are-hacktivists-going-out-of/
Frontiers and Markets
Top 5 Global Robotics Trends 2026
(International Federation of Robotics) The global market value of industrial robot installations has reached an all-time high of US$ 16.7 billion. Future demand will be driven by a number of technological innovations, market forces and new fields of business. The International Federation of Robotics reports on the top 5 trends for the robotics industry for 2026. – https://ifr.org/ifr-press-releases/news/robot-sales-hit-new-records-in-the-food-industry