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Korean Air employee data breach exposes 30,000 records after cyberattack

Investigators are examining a major data breach involving Korean Air after personal records for around 30,000 employees were exposed in a cyberattack on a former subsidiary.

An incident that affected KC&D Service, which previously handled in-flight catering before being sold to private equity firm Hahn and Company in 2020.

The leaked information is understood to include employee names and bank account numbers. Korean Air said customer records were not impacted, and emergency security checks were completed instead of waiting for confirmation of the intrusion.

Korean Air also reported the breach to the relevant authorities.

Executives said the company is focusing on identifying the full scope of the breach and who has been affected, while urging KC&D to strengthen controls and prevent any recurrence. Korean Air also plans to upgrade internal data protection measures.

The attack follows a similar case at Asiana Airlines last week, where details of about 10,000 employees were compromised, raising wider concerns over cybersecurity resilience across the aviation sector of South Korea.

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New York orders warning labels on social media features

Authorities in New York State have approved a new law requiring social media platforms to display warning labels when users engage with features that encourage prolonged use.

Labels will appear when people interact with elements such as infinite scrolling, auto-play, like counters or algorithm-driven feeds. The rule applies whenever these services are accessed from within New York.

Governor Kathy Hochul said the move is intended to safeguard young people against potential mental health harms linked to excessive social media use. Warnings will show the first time a user activates one of the targeted features and will then reappear at intervals.

Concerns about the impact on children and teenagers have prompted wider government action. California is considering similar steps, while Australia has already banned social media for under-16s and Denmark plans to follow. The US surgeon general has also called for clearer health warnings.

Researchers continue to examine how social media use relates to anxiety and depression among young users. Platforms now face growing pressure to balance engagement features with stronger protections instead of relying purely on self-regulation.

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SK Telecom introduces South Korea’s first hyperscale AI model

The telecommunications firm, SK Telecom, is preparing to unveil A.X K1, Korea’s first hyperscale language model built with 519 billion parameters.

Around 33 billion parameters are activated during inference, so the AI model can keep strong performance instead of demanding excessive computing power. The project is part of a national initiative involving universities and industry partners.

The company expects A.X K1 to outperform smaller systems in complex reasoning, mathematics and multilingual understanding, while also supporting code generation and autonomous AI agents.

At such a scale, the model can operate as a teacher system that transfers knowledge to smaller, domain-specific tools that might directly improve daily services and industrial processes.

Unlike many global models trained mainly in English, A.X K1 has been trained in Korean from the outset so it naturally understands local language, culture and context.

SK Telecom plans to deploy the model through its AI service Adot, which already has more than 10 million subscribers, allowing access via calls, messages, the web and mobile apps.

The company foresees applications in workplace productivity, manufacturing optimisation, gaming dialogue, robotics and semiconductor performance testing.

Research will continue so the model can support the wider AI ecosystem of South Korea, and SK Telecom plans to open-source A.X K1 along with an API to help local developers create new AI agents.

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Quantum computing milestone achieved by Chinese researchers

Chinese researchers have reported a significant advance in quantum computing using a superconducting system. The Zuchongzhi 3.2 computer reached the fault-tolerant threshold, at which point error correction improves stability.

Pan Jianwei led the research and marks only the second time globally that this threshold has been achieved, following earlier work by Google. The result positions China as the first country outside the United States to demonstrate fault tolerance in a superconducting quantum system.

Unlike Google’s approach, which relies on extensive hardware redundancy, the Chinese team used microwave-based control to suppress errors. Researchers say this method may offer a more efficient path towards scalable quantum computing by reducing system complexity.

The breakthrough addresses a central challenge in quantum computing: qubit instability and the accumulation of undetected errors. Effective error management is crucial for developing larger systems that can maintain reliable quantum states over time.

While practical applications remain distant, researchers describe the experiment as a significant step in solving a foundational problem in quantum system design. The results highlight the growing international competition in the quest for scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computers.

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New AI directorates signal Türkiye’s push for AI

Türkiye has announced new measures to expand its AI ecosystem and strengthen public-sector adoption of the technology. The changes were published in the Official Gazette, according to Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir.

The Ministry’s Directorate General of National Technology has been renamed the Directorate General of National Technology and AI. The unit will oversee policies on data centres, cloud infrastructure, certification standards, and regulatory processes.

The directorate will also coordinate national AI governance, support startups and research, and promote the ethical and reliable use of AI. Its remit includes expanding data capacity, infrastructure, workforce development, and international cooperation.

Separately, a Public AI Directorate General has been established under the Presidency’s Cybersecurity Directorate. The new body will guide the use of AI across government institutions and lead regulatory work on public-sector AI applications.

Officials say the unit will align national legislation with international frameworks and set standards for data governance and shared data infrastructure. The government aims to position Türkiye as a leading country in the development of AI.

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Phishing scam targets India’s drivers in large-scale e-Challan cyberattack

Cybercriminals are exploiting trust in India’s traffic enforcement systems by using fake e-Challan portals to steal financial data from vehicle owners. The campaign relies on phishing websites that closely mimic official government platforms.

Researchers at Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs say the operation marks a shift away from malware towards phishing-based deception delivered through web browsers. More than 36 fraudulent websites have been linked to the campaign, which targets users across India through SMS messages.

Victims receive alerts claiming unpaid traffic fines, often accompanied by warnings of licence suspension or legal action. The messages include links directing users to fake portals displaying fabricated violations and small penalty amounts, with no connection to government databases.

The sites restrict payments to credit and debit cards, prompting users to enter full card details. Investigators found that repeated payment attempts allow attackers to collect multiple sets of sensitive information from a single victim.

Researchers say the infrastructure is shared with broader phishing schemes that impersonate courier services, banks, and transportation platforms. Security experts advise users to verify fines only through official websites and to avoid clicking on links in unsolicited messages.

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La Poste suffers DDoS attack as Noname057 claims responsibility

Authorities in France are responding to a significant cyber incident after a pro-Russian hacker group, Noname057, claimed responsibility for a distributed denial-of-service attack on the national postal service, La Poste.

The attack began on 22 December and forced core computer systems offline, delaying parcel deliveries during the busy Christmas period instead of allowing normal operations to continue.

According to reports, standard letter delivery was not affected. However, postal staff lost the ability to track parcels, and customers experienced disruptions when using online payment services connected to La Banque Postale.

Recovery work was still underway several days later, underscoring the increasing reliance of critical services on uninterrupted digital infrastructure.

Noname057 has previously been linked to cyberattacks across Europe, mainly targeting Ukraine and countries seen as supportive of Kyiv instead of neutral states.

Europol led a significant operation against the group earlier in the year, with the US Department of Justice also involved, highlighting growing international coordination against cross-border cybercrime.

The incident has renewed concerns about the vulnerability of essential logistics networks and public-facing services to coordinated cyber disruption. European authorities continue to assess long-term resilience measures to protect citizens and core services from future attacks.

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EU targets addictive gaming features

Video gaming has become one of Europe’s most prominent entertainment industries, surpassing a niche hobby, with over half the population regularly engaging in it.

As the sector grows, the EU lawmakers are increasingly worried about addictive game design and manipulative features that push players to spend more time and money online.

Much of the concern focuses on loot boxes, where players pay for random digital rewards that resemble gambling mechanics. Studies and parliamentary reports warn that children may be particularly vulnerable, with some lawmakers calling for outright bans on paid loot boxes and premium in-game currencies.

The European Commission is examining how far design choices contribute to digital addiction and whether games are exploiting behavioural weaknesses rather than offering fair entertainment.

Officials say the risk is higher for minors, who may not fully understand how engagement-driven systems are engineered.

The upcoming Digital Fairness Act aims to strengthen consumer protection across online services, rather than leaving families to navigate the risks alone. However, as negotiations continue, the debate over how tightly gaming should be regulated is only just beginning.

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IMF calls for stronger AI regulation in global securities markets

Regulators worldwide are being urged to adopt stronger oversight frameworks for AI in capital markets after an IMF technical note warned that rapid AI adoption could reshape securities trading while increasing systemic risk.

AI brings major efficiency gains in asset management and high-frequency trading instead of slower, human-led processes, yet opacity, market volatility, cyber threats and model concentration remain significant concerns.

The IMF warns that AI could create powerful data oligopolies where only a few firms can train the strongest models, while autonomous trading agents may unintentionally collude by widening spreads without explicit coordination.

Retail investors also face rising exposure to AI washing, where financial firms exaggerate or misrepresent AI capability, making transparency, accountability and human-in-the-loop review essential safeguards.

Supervisory authorities are encouraged to scale their own AI capacity through SupTech tools for automated surveillance and social-media sentiment monitoring.

The note highlights India as a key case study, given the dominance of algorithmic trading and SEBI’s early reporting requirements for AI and machine learning. The IMF also points to the National Stock Exchange’s use of AI in fraud detection as an emerging-market model for resilient monitoring infrastructure.

The report underlines the need for regulators to prepare for AI-driven market shocks, strengthen governance obligations on regulated entities and build specialist teams capable of understanding model risk instead of reacting only after misconduct or misinformation harms investors.

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Drones and AI take over Christmas tree farms

Across Christmas tree farms, drones and AI are beginning to replace manual counting and field inspections.

Growers in Denmark and North Carolina are now mapping plantations using AI-driven image analysis instead of relying on workers walking the fields for days.

Systems can recognise and measure each tree, give it a digital ID and track health and growth over time, helping farmers plan harvests and sales more accurately.

The technology is proving particularly valuable in large or difficult terrain. Some plantations in North Carolina sit on steep slopes where machinery and people face higher risks, so farmers are turning to laser-scanning drones and heavy-duty robotic mowers instead of traditional equipment.

Experts say the move saves time, improves safety and reduces labour needs, while accuracy rates can reach as high as 98 percent.

Adoption still depends on cost, aviation rules and staff training, so smaller farms may struggle to keep pace. Yet interest continues to rise as equipment becomes cheaper and growers grow more comfortable with digital tools.

Many industry specialists now see AI-enabled drones as everyday agricultural equipment rather than experimental gadgets.

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