The US House of Representatives has passed an $848 billion defence policy bill with new provisions for cybersecurity and AI. Lawmakers voted 231 to 196 to approve the chamber’s version of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA).
The bill mandates that the National Security Agency brief Congress on plans for its Cybersecurity Coordination Centre and requires annual reports from combatant commands on the levels of support provided by US Cyber Command.
It also calls for a software bill of materials for AI-enabled technology that the Department of Defence uses. The Pentagon will be authorised to create up to 12 generative AI projects to improve cybersecurity and intelligence operations.
An adopted amendment allows the NSA to share threat intelligence with the private sector to protect US telecommunications networks. Another requirement is that the Pentagon study the National Guard’s role in cyber response at the federal and state levels.
Proposals to renew the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act and the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program were excluded from the final text. The Senate is expected to approve its version of the NDAA next week.
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Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed that data was affected in a cyberattack that has kept its UK factories idle for more than a week. The company stated that it is contacting anyone whose data was involved, although it did not clarify whether the breach affected customers, suppliers, or internal systems.
JLR reported the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office and immediately shut down IT systems to limit damage. Production at Midlands and Merseyside sites has been halted until at least Thursday, with staff instructed not to return before next week.
The disruption has also hit suppliers and retailers, with garages struggling to order spare parts and dealers facing delays registering vehicles. JLR said it is working around the clock to restore operations in a safe and controlled way, though the process is complex.
Responsibility for the hack has been claimed by Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, a group linked to previous attacks on Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, and Las Vegas casinos in the UK and the US. The hackers posted alleged screenshots from JLR’s internal systems on Telegram last week.
Cybersecurity experts say the group’s claim that ransomware was deployed raises questions, as it appears to have severed ties with Russian ransomware gangs. Analysts suggest the hackers may have only stolen data or are building their own ransomware infrastructure.
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A team of international researchers has shown how training neural networks directly with light on photonic chips could make AI faster and more sustainable.
A breakthrough study, published in Nature, involved collaboration between the Politecnico di Milano, EPFL Lausanne, Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, and the Max Planck Institute.
The research highlights how physical neural networks, which use analogue circuits that exploit the laws of physics, can process information in new ways.
Photonic chips developed at the Politecnico di Milano perform mathematical operations such as addition and multiplication through light interference on silicon microchips only a few millimetres in size.
By eliminating the need to digitise information, these chips dramatically cut both processing time and energy use. Researchers have also pioneered an ‘in-situ’ training technique that enables photonic neural networks to learn tasks entirely through light signals, instead of relying on digital models.
The result is a training process that is faster, more efficient and more robust.
Such advances could lead to more powerful AI models capable of running directly on devices instead of being dependent on energy-hungry data centres.
An approach that paves the way for technologies such as autonomous vehicles, portable intelligent sensors and real-time data processing systems that are both greener and quicker.
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OpenAI is set to argue in an Ontario court that a copyright lawsuit by Canadian news publishers should be heard in the United States. The case, the first of its kind in Canada, alleges that OpenAI scraped Canadian news content to train ChatGPT without permission or payment.
The coalition of publishers, including CBC/Radio-Canada, The Globe and Mail, and Postmedia, says the material was created and hosted in Ontario, making the province the proper venue. They warn that accepting OpenAI’s stance would undermine Canadian sovereignty in the digital economy.
OpenAI, however, says the training of its models and web crawling occurred outside Canada and that the Copyright Act cannot apply extraterritorially. It argues the publishers are politicising the case by framing it as a matter of sovereignty rather than jurisdiction.
The dispute reflects a broader global clash over how generative AI systems use copyrighted works. US courts are already handling several similar cases, though no clear precedent has been established on whether such use qualifies as fair use.
Publishers argue Canadian courts must decide the matter domestically, while OpenAI insists it belongs in US courts. The outcome could shape how copyright laws apply to AI training and digital content across borders.
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Sam Altman, X enthusiast and Reddit shareholder, has expressed doubts over whether social media content can still be distinguished from bot activity. His remarks followed an influx of praise for OpenAI Codex on Reddit, where users questioned whether such posts were genuine.
Altman noted that humans are increasingly adopting quirks of AI-generated language, blurring the line between authentic and synthetic speech. He also pointed to factors such as social media optimisation for engagement and astroturfing campaigns, which amplify suspicions of fakery.
The comments follow OpenAI’s backlash over the rollout of GPT-5, which saw Reddit communities shift from celebratory to critical. Altman acknowledged flaws in a Reddit AMA, but the fallout left lasting scepticism and lower enthusiasm among AI users.
Underlying this debate is the wider reality that bots dominate much of the online environment. Imperva estimates that more than half of 2024’s internet traffic was non-human, while X’s own Grok chatbot admitted to hundreds of millions of bots on the platform.
Some observers suggest Altman’s comments may foreshadow an OpenAI-backed social media venture. Whether such a project could avoid the same bot-related challenges remains uncertain, with research suggesting that even bot-only networks eventually create echo chambers of their own.
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A malvertising campaign is targeting IT workers in the EU with fake GitHub Desktop installers, according to Arctic Wolf. The goal is to steal credentials, deploy ransomware, and infiltrate sensitive systems. The operation has reportedly been active for over six months.
Attackers used malicious Google Ads that redirected users to doctored GitHub repositories. Modified README files mimicked genuine download pages but linked to a lookalike domain. MacOS users received the AMOS Stealer, while Windows victims downloaded bloated installers hiding malware.
The Windows malware evaded detection using GPU-based checks, refusing to run in sandboxes that lacked real graphics drivers. On genuine machines, it copied itself to %APPDATA%, sought elevated privileges, and altered Defender settings. Analysts dubbed the technique GPUGate.
The payload persisted by creating privileged tasks and sideloading malicious DLLs into legitimate executables. Its modular system could download extra malware tailored to each victim. The campaign was geo-fenced to EU targets and relied on redundant command servers.
Researchers warn that IT staff are prime targets due to their access to codebases and credentials. With the campaign still active, Arctic Wolf has published indicators of compromise, Yara rules, and security advice to mitigate the GPUGate threat.
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Ransomware groups have evolved into billion-dollar operations targeting critical infrastructure across multiple countries, employing increasingly sophisticated extortion schemes. Between 2020 and 2022, more than 865 documented attacks were recorded across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK.
Criminals have escalated from simple encryption to double and triple extortion, threatening to leak stolen data as added leverage. Attack vectors include phishing, botnets, and unpatched flaws. Once inside, attackers use stealthy tools to persist and spread.
BlackSuit, formerly known as Conti, led with 141 attacks, followed by LockBit’s 129, according to data from the Australian Institute of Criminology. Ransomware-as-a-Service groups hit higher volumes by splitting developers from affiliates handling breaches and negotiations.
Industrial targets bore the brunt, with 239 attacks on manufacturing and building products. The consumer goods, real estate, financial services, and technology sectors also featured prominently. Analysts note that industrial firms are often pressured into quick ransom payments to restore production.
Experts warn that today’s ransomware combines military-grade encryption with advanced reconnaissance and backup targeting, raising the stakes for defenders. The scale of activity underscores how resilient these groups remain, adapting rapidly to law enforcement crackdowns and shifting market opportunities.
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Universal Internet connectivity by 2030 could cost up to $2.8 trillion, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space, and Technology (CST) Commission. The blueprint urges global cooperation to connect the one-third of humanity still offline.
The largest share, up to $1.7 trillion, would be allocated to expanding broadband through fibre, wireless, and satellite networks. Nearly $1 trillion is needed for affordability measures, alongside $152 billion for digital skills programmes.
ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin emphasised that connectivity is essential for access to education, employment, and vital services. She noted the stark divide between high-income countries, where 93% of people are online, and low-income states, where only 27% use the Internet.
The study shows costs have risen fivefold since ITU’s 2020 Connecting Humanity report, reflecting both higher demand and widening divides. Haytham Al-Ohali from Saudi Arabia said the figures underscore the urgency of investment and knowledge sharing to achieve meaningful connectivity.
The report recommends new business models and stronger cooperation between governments, industry, and civil society. Proposed measures include using schools as Internet gateways, boosting Africa’s energy infrastructure, and improving localised data collection to accelerate digital inclusion.
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Users reported search queries failing to return results, frozen pages, and an inability to connect to Google servers. Social media posts suggested the disruption extended beyond Türkiye, affecting users in Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Armenia, the Netherlands, and Germany.
The Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency confirmed outages across parts of Southeastern Europe. Turkish Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Omer Fatih Sayan, said the issue impacted Android and related services in Türkiye and the wider European region.
He added that the National Cyber Incident Response Centre had requested a technical report from Google and is monitoring the situation closely.
As of 10:57 a.m. local time, 4 September 2025, access to Google services in Türkiye had been restored. Google has yet to issue an official statement regarding the cause of the disruption.
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The United States has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s licence to ship advanced technology from America to China. The decision follows similar restrictions on South Korean firms Samsung and SK Hynix, increasing uncertainty for chipmakers operating Chinese facilities.
TSMC confirmed that Washington has notified that its authorisation will expire by the end of the year. The company said it would discuss the matter with the US government and stressed its commitment to keeping operations in China running without disruption.
The curbs are part of broader US measures to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductors. While they could complicate shipments and force suppliers to seek individual approvals, analysts suggest the direct impact on TSMC will be limited, as its sole Chinese plant in Nanjing makes older-generation chips that contribute only a small share of revenue.
Chinese customers may increasingly turn to domestic chipmakers, even if their technology lags. Such a shift could spur innovation in less performance-critical areas, while global suppliers grapple with higher costs and regulatory hurdles.
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