Governance, Regulation, Legislation, Geostrategies

Infosecurity Europe: OWASP Forms New Agentic Research Council

(Kevin Poireault – Infosecurity Magazine) At Infosecurity Europe 2026, the Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) will formally unveil the Agentic Research Council, a coordinated research effort created to close the widening gap between fast‑moving agentic AI capabilities and the slower pace of conventional security research and standards. The Agentic Research Council is being launched from within OWASP’s GenAI Security Project by its Agentic Security Initiative, the same community that produced the well‑adopted Top 10 guidance for LLM security. It will be formally announced during Infosecurity Europe’s OWASP GenAI Summit, on Thursday, June 4. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/owasp-new-agentic-research-council/

OECD links AI openness to innovation and economic growth

(DigWatch) The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has published a discussion paper for the G7 on the potential economic and strategic benefits of AI openness. The paper, prepared at the request of France’s 2026 G7 Presidency, is intended to inform discussions in the G7 Digital and Technology Working Group ahead of the G7 Digital and Technology Ministerial Meeting in Paris. AI openness is defined by the OECD as the broad public availability and ease of access to key artefacts and documentation across the AI stack, including model weights and code, datasets, documentation, safety tooling, and compute resources. The paper examines how openness can affect economic outcomes, innovation dynamics, and national or regional AI ecosystems. – https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2026/05/benefits-of-ai-openness_40eaff39/746e8c9a-en.pdf

G7 agrees on the first common principles on protecting children online

(DigWatch) G7 digital ministers have agreed a shared set of principles for protecting children and young people from online harm for the first time, marking the first coordinated approach adopted by the group on the issue. The agreement, reached during talks in Paris, sets shared principles for addressing risks linked to harmful content, exploitation and the use of AI chatbots. The principles call for stronger digital literacy, robust online safety practices by digital service providers and safety measures built into digital services from the start. The agreement also sets expectations for effective age assurance and closer cooperation between providers, children, parents and guardians. – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/g7-nations-agree-first-ever-joint-approach-to-protecting-children-online-and-drive-safe-ai-growth-that-delivers-for-all

Singapore and Japan launch mutual recognition of IoT cybersecurity labels

(DigWatch) Singapore and Japan have launched mutual recognition of their cybersecurity labelling schemes for Internet of Things (IoT) under a Memorandum of Cooperation that entered into force on 1 June 2026. The arrangement covers Singapore’s Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme and Japan’s JC-STAR scheme. The Memorandum of Cooperation was signed by Rahayu Mahzam, Singapore’s Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, and Ino Toshiro, Japan’s State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry agreed to recognise cybersecurity labels issued under either scheme. – https://www.csa.gov.sg/news-events/press-releases/singapore-signs-memorandum-of-cooperation-with-japan-on-mutual-recognition-of-internet-of-things-cybersecurity-schemes/

Digital citizenship education key focus at Council of Europe policy forum

(DigWatch) The second European Forum on digital citizenship education has concluded in Strasbourg, bringing together policymakers, educators, civil society groups, youth organisations, and parents to discuss responsible participation in digital societies. Participants examined practical approaches to digital citizenship education, with discussions focusing on AI in education, children’s rights online, critical thinking, inclusion, and safe participation in digital spaces. Particular attention was given to the role of parents and families in helping young people develop responsible and informed online behaviours. – https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/digital-citizenship-education-vital-for-responsible-use-of-technology?p_l_back_url=%2Fen%2Fweb%2Fportal%2Fnewsroom

UK and France launch AI partnership to transform health research

(DigWatch) The United Kingdom and France have launched a science and technology partnership focused on applying AI, advanced imaging, and data science to major healthcare challenges, including women’s health, infectious diseases, and antimicrobial resistance. The UK-France Strategic Biomedical Alliance in Health and AI will bring together institutions including the University of Oxford, Université Paris Cité, Institut Pasteur, Diamond Light Source, and Synchrotron SOLEIL. The partnership aims to make it easier for British and French institutions to cooperate on biomedical research, share expertise, and develop joint projects and funding bids. –  https://www.gov.uk/government/news/millions-to-benefit-from-sci-tech-deal-between-uk-and-france

Finland proposes rules for EU Cyber Resilience Act

(DigWatch) The Finnish Government has proposed the approval of national provisions supplementing the EU Cyber Resilience Act, which sets cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements. The legislation will enter into force on 1 June 2026, with phased application aligned with the Cyber Resilience Act’s transitional periods during 2026 and 2027. The aim is to improve the cybersecurity of connected devices and software placed on the EU market. – https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/-/1410829/provisions-supplementing-the-cyber-resilience-act-to-enter-into-force-improving-cybersecurity-of-smart-devices-and-software

EU Council inaugurates new science diplomacy framework to boost global leadership and secure cooperation

(DigWatch) The Council of the European Union has adopted a recommendation setting out a new EU framework for science diplomacy, intended to strengthen the Union’s position as a global leader in science and technology and to use scientific cooperation to advance foreign policy objectives. Nicodemos Damianou, Cyprus’s Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, said that in a period of geopolitical fragmentation and rapid technological change, science diplomacy has become a strategic imperative, relying on the ‘universal language of science’ and on open yet secure collaboration to support an autonomous EU that remains open to the world. – https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8931-2026-ADD-1/en/pdf

Security and Surveillance

Infosecurity Europe: AI SOCs Will Still Need SOC Analysts, Security Vendors Say

(Kevin Poireault – Infosecurity Magazine) Offerings of fully autonomous security operations centers (SOCs) are flourishing on the cybersecurity market and trigger anxiety about a future with empty desks. In reality, however, top security vendors exhibiting at Infosecurity Europe 2026 actually agree on one thing: AI won’t replace the SOC. It will replace the mind-numbing copy-pasting and routine ticket-taking. Speaking to Infosecurity, Brett Candon, VP of International at Dropzone AI, said AI is shifting the traditional multi-tiered SOC model into a leaner, smarter operation powered by accelerated ‘tier-1.5’ analysts and strategic engineers. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ai-soc-still-need-analysts/

FSB Group Gamaredon Hides Worm in Windows Data Streams

(Alessandro Mascellino – Infosecuriy Magazine) A Russian state-linked worm has been observed hiding its components inside a little-used Windows file feature, allowing it to spread across Ukrainian networks while leaving almost no trace on infected machines. According to new analysis from Sekoia, the worm is the latest tool of Gamaredon, a long-running espionage group that Ukraine’s security service has formally tied to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). The group focuses almost entirely on Ukraine, targeting government, military and critical infrastructure to steal documents and keep long-term access. Working from artifacts on compromised hosts and more than 70 samples from a partner, the team reconstructed an infection chain seen in January 2026 and still active at the time of writing. The campaign has moved almost entirely to fileless VBScript, a clear step up in stealth from Gamaredon’s earlier tooling. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/gamaredon-worm-ntfs-data-streams/

Attackers Abuse Shared Content for ChatGPT Phishing Campaign

(Phil Muncaster – Infosecurity Magazine) Threat actors are delivering malware from phishing pages hosted on legitimate ChatGPT domains, Push Security has warned. The vendor claimed that hackers are abusing ChatGPT’s code-rendering feature to build pages spoofing the brand. These redirect victims to a fake download page designed to deliver a malicious executable. “These are essentially InstallFix attacks — a variant of the ClickFix family that Push documented earlier this year — and they exploit the fact that AI tools have normalized command-line installation workflows for a population of users who lack the experience to distinguish a legitimate terminal command from a malicious one,” it explained. It’s unclear exactly what the payload is although infostealer malware is suspected. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/attackers-shared-content-chatgpt/

Unknown hacker group targeted Russian maritime universities, diplomats for nearly two years

(Daryna Antoniuk – The Record) A previously unknown hacking group has spent nearly two years quietly targeting Russian maritime universities, energy facilities, diplomatic missions and government agencies, according to new research. The campaign, which researchers at Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky said dates back to at least 2024, remained undetected for years and featured long periods of inactivity that helped conceal the group’s operations. – https://therecord.media/unknown-hacking-group-targeting-russia-for-nearly-two-years

Inspector general finds NIST mistakes have made vulnerability database ineffective

(Suzanne Smalley – The Record) A key cybersecurity vulnerability database run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been crippled by mismanagement and other strategic failings, leading to an extreme backlog, according to a new internal watchdog report. NIST’s National Vulnerability Database (NVD) backlog mushroomed from 13,000 unprocessed security vulnerabilities in February 2024 to more than 27,000 by the end of 2025, “undermining the NVD’s utility and public trust,” according to a report published by the inspector general of the Department of Commerce Tuesday. The NVD is a critical tool that industry and government cybersecurity workers use to prioritize which cybersecurity vulnerabilities need to be addressed in what order. The worsening backlog first became a serious issue in February 2024 when NIST stopped paying the contractors who process the security flaws. – https://therecord.media/nist-mistakes-vulnerability-database-inspector-general

Afghan finance officials targeted by suspected Pakistani cyberespionage campaign

(Daryna Antoniuk – The Record) A suspected Pakistan-linked hacking group has targeted Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance and provincial government officials in a new cyberespionage campaign, researchers have found. Indian cybersecurity firm Seqrite attributed the operation with medium-to-high confidence to SideCopy, a threat actor widelyl linked to Pakistan and known for targeting government, military and diplomatic entities across South Asia. The attackers used phishing emails containing ZIP archives with a malicious file masquerading as an internal government document. The file’s title, written in Pashto, claimed to contain a list of employees who had participated in a seminar on intellectual and psychological warfare. – https://therecord.media/afghan-officials-targeted-by-sidecopy

Ransomware Operators Keep Business Hours. The Data Proves It

(Pierluigi Paganini – Security Affairs) Someone analyzed 16,699 ransomware leak-site posts across 200 groups over two years and asked the question most threat intelligence reports dance around: when does this actually happen? The answer is mundane and useful. Ransomware runs on a workweek, peaks during European office hours, spikes every October, and the operator population is growing fast. Nobody who defends networks for a living should still be planning around the hooded-hacker-at-3am image. The day-of-week breakdown is unambiguous. Monday absorbed 3,080 posts across the 24-month window. Tuesday came in at 3,073. Sunday posted 1,189. “The mythology around ransomware involves anonymous hooded figures hammering keys at 3am. The data says the opposite.” reads the report published by Ransomnews Research Team. “The operators who post leak-site listings are running this as a business with a working week. Sunday is the slowest day in the corpus, with only 1,189 posts across all 200 groups over 24 months, less than 40% of Monday’s volume.” – https://securityaffairs.com/192969/cyber-crime/ransomware-operators-keep-business-hours-the-data-proves-it.html

The Pentagon Finally Admits That Location Data Is a Battlefield Problem

(Pierluigi Paganini – Security Affairs) For years, security researchers, privacy advocates, and intelligence analysts have been warning about the same thing: smartphone location data isn’t just an advertising product. It’s surveillance infrastructure that anyone with enough money can access. Now the Pentagon is saying the quiet part out loud. According to a letter from U.S. Central Command obtained by Senator Ron Wyden and reported by Reuters, American military personnel deployed in active conflict zones have already been targeted using commercially available location data. Not hypothetically. Not as a future risk. It’s happening. The disclosure matters because it marks the first known official acknowledgment that adversaries are using the commercial data ecosystem to track or surveil U.S. troops in theater. CENTCOM stated that it had received multiple reports involving hostile actors exploiting commercial location data against deployed personnel. “In a letter shared with Reuters by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, opens new tab, U.S. Central Command said it had “received multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil U.S. personnel in theater.”” reads the report published by Reuters.”The message, sent on April 14, offered no further specifics, but Centcom’s area of responsibility includes the Gulf, ​where U.S. forces are facing off against the Iranian military over the Strait of Hormuz.” – https://securityaffairs.com/192942/cyber-warfare-2/the-pentagon-finally-admits-that-location-data-is-a-battlefield-problem.html

Frontiers

Australian trial tests AI-guided radiotherapy for liver cancer

(DigWatch) The Central Coast Cancer Centre in New South Wales is playing a lead role in a clinical trial exploring how AI can improve the precision of radiotherapy for liver cancer. Led by the University of Sydney’s Image X Institute, the trial uses AI-powered X-ray imaging to track liver tumours in real time as patients breathe. The Central Coast Cancer Centre is the lead site for liver cancer in the study. Current treatment practices often involve surgically implanting markers into the liver to help locate the tumour as it moves with the patient’s breathing. The AI tool maps and tracks tumour location with high precision, potentially reducing the need for invasive surgical intervention. – https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/central-coast-cancer-centre-plays-leading-role-pioneering-liver-cancer-clinical-trial-using-ai