Cyber stability is increasingly tested by geopolitical fragmentation, rapid technological change, and tightly coupled digital supply chains. Open source software sits at the centre of these dynamics: widely embedded in critical digital infrastructure, globally developed, and governed through models that were not designed for today’s security, policy, and geopolitical pressures.
In 2026, the Geneva Dialogue will focus on stress-testing cybersecurity practices and agreed cyber norms under real-world conditions. hrough a scenario-based engagement framework, the Dialogue brings together policymakers, private sector actors, technical communities, and civil society to examine how responsibilities, incentives, and governance arrangements hold up when systems are under strain, with insights from Costin G. Raiu, Mika Lauhde, and Roman Zhukov.
Ransomware attacks are increasingly relying on stolen passwords rather than traditional malware, according to Cloudflare’s latest annual threat report. Attackers now exploit legitimate account credentials to blend into regular traffic, making breaches harder to detect and contain.
Manufacturing and critical infrastructure organisations account for over half of targeted attacks, reflecting their high operational stakes.
Cloudflare highlighted that AI is enabling attackers to prioritise speed and scale over technical sophistication. Generative AI lets criminals automate fraud, hijacking email threads and targeting a ~$49,000 sweet spot to maximise profit while avoiding scrutiny.
Nation-state actors also leverage legitimate platforms for command-and-control operations, with Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea each following distinct cyber strategies.
Researchers warned that modern ransomware is less a malware crisis and more an identity and access challenge. Attackers using authorised credentials can bypass defences and execute high-impact extortion, marking a significant shift in global threat vectors.
The report urges businesses to strengthen identity security, monitor access, and defend against AI-driven attacks that exploit impersonation and automation at scale.
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The European Commission is preparing more stringent requirements for ageing data centres rather than allowing legacy infrastructure to operate under looser rules.
A draft strategy tied to the EU’s tech sovereignty package signals that older sites will face higher efficiency expectations and stricter sustainability checks as part of an effort to modernise the digital backbone of the EU.
The proposal outlines minimum performance standards for new data centres by 2030, aiming to align the entire sector with the bloc’s climate and resilience goals. Officials want to reduce energy waste and improve monitoring across facilities that have long operated without uniform benchmarks.
The draft points to an expanded role for the Cloud and AI Development Act, which is expected to frame future obligations for cloud providers instead of relying on fragmented national measures.
Brussels sees consistent rules as essential for supporting secure cloud services, AI infrastructure and cross-border digital operations.
The strategy underscores that modernisation is central to the EU’s vision of tech sovereignty. Older centres would need upgrades to maintain compliance, ensuring that Europe’s digital infrastructure remains competitive, efficient and less dependent on external providers.
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Europe is building a federated cloud and AI infrastructure intended to reduce reliance on US and Chinese technology providers and avoid ongoing strategic vulnerability.
The project, known as EURO-3C, was announced in Barcelona by Telefónica and is backed by the European Commission. More than seventy organisations across telecommunications, technology and emerging companies have joined the effort.
Architects of the scheme argue that linking national infrastructures into a shared network of nodes offers a realistic path forward, particularly as Europe cannot easily create a hyperscale cloud provider from scratch.
The initiative follows a series of US cloud outages that exposed the risks of excessive dependence on external infrastructure and raised questions about sovereignty, resilience and long-term competitiveness.
Commission officials described the programme as a way to build a secure cross-border digital ecosystem that supports industries such as automotive, e-health, public administration and sovereign government cloud.
Telefónica stressed that agentic AI, capable of taking autonomous actions, will play a central role in enabling Europe to develop technology rather than import it.
The partners view the project as a foundation for a unified and independent digital environment that strengthens industrial supply chains and prepares European sectors for the next phase of cloud and AI adoption.
They present the initiative as a significant step toward reducing strategic exposure while stimulating domestic innovation.
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Deutsche Telekom is turning to satellite connectivity to address Europe’s persistent mobile coverage gaps, rather than relying solely on terrestrial networks.
The company announced a partnership with Starlink during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, arguing that non-terrestrial networks can help reach remote forests, mountains and islands that remain underserved despite broad coverage elsewhere.
A collaboration that aims to support direct-to-device satellite links by 2028, enabling future smartphones to connect to Starlink’s MSS spectrum without additional hardware.
Telecommunications leaders describe the plan as a step toward an ‘everywhere network’, extending reliable service to areas long constrained by topographical and conservation barriers. The partnership follows earlier joint work with SpaceX to eliminate dead zones.
Deutsche Telekom is also increasing its use of agentic AI, integrating autonomous network-enhancing systems intended to improve translation, search and service features across devices.
Executives say these capabilities work even on older phones, reducing dependence on apps and creating a more inclusive digital environment.
Although committed to European digital sovereignty, the company insists that global collaboration remains necessary for long-term competitiveness.
Leadership argues that precise regulation and controlled data environments aligned with European standards can balance international cooperation with privacy protection. They remain confident that European technology firms and start-ups will continue driving meaningful innovation across the sector.
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Anthropic has enhanced its Claude AI chatbot to make switching from other platforms easier. Users on the free plan can now activate Claude’s memory feature, which allows them to import data from other AI platforms using a new dedicated tool.
The update ensures that users don’t have to start over when transferring context and history from competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini.
The memory import option, first introduced in October for paid subscribers, now appears under ‘settings’ → ‘capabilities’ for all users. The tool lets users copy a prompt from their previous AI and paste the output into Claude, seamlessly transferring past interactions.
The recent popularity of Claude has been driven by tools such as Claude Code and Claude Cowork, as well as the launch of the Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6 models. Upgrades enhance Claude’s coding, spreadsheet, and complex task capabilities, boosting its appeal to new users.
Anthropic’s visibility has also increased amid debates with the Pentagon, as the company refuses to loosen AI safeguards for military use, drawing ‘red lines’ around mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.
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Google has outlined a plan to strengthen Chrome’s HTTPS security against future quantum-computing threats. Rather than expanding traditional X.509 certificate chains in Chrome with post-quantum cryptography, the company is developing a new model based on Merkle Tree Certificates (MTCs).
The proposal from the PLANTS working group seeks to modernise the web public key infrastructure. Under the MTC model, a Certification Authority signs a single ‘Tree Head’ covering many certificates. Browsers receive a lightweight proof instead of a full certificate chain.
Google said this structure reduces authentication data exchanged during TLS handshakes while supporting post-quantum algorithms. By decoupling cryptographic strength from certificate size, the approach seeks to preserve performance as stronger security standards are adopted.
The company is already testing MTCs with real internet traffic. Phase one involves feasibility studies with Cloudflare, while phase two, in early 2027, will invite selected Certificate Transparency log operators to support initial public deployment.
By the third quarter of 2027, Google plans to establish requirements for onboarding certificate authorities to the quantum-resistant Chrome Root Store, which exclusively supports MTCs. The company described the initiative as foundational to maintaining long-term web security resilience.
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Thailand has published a draft public guidance document to help citizens use AI safely and responsibly. The ‘AI Guide for Citizens’ outlines key AI concepts, benefits, limitations, and practical examples for users engaging with generative AI tools.
Data safety is a central focus, with officials warning against entering personal identifiers, financial data, confidential information, or government secrets into public AI platforms.
The guide also details technical risks such as AI’ hallucinations,’ prompt injection, and data poisoning, advising users to verify outputs and treat AI as a support tool rather than a decision maker.
The guidance addresses ethical and legal responsibilities, warning against using AI to generate misinformation, deepfakes, or harmful content. It emphasises fairness and bias, noting AI systems can inherit human prejudices from training data.
Citizens encountering AI-related scams or harmful content are advised to collect evidence, report incidents to cybercrime authorities, and contact Thailand’s personal data protection agency if privacy is compromised.
The draft aligns Thailand’s AI policies with national rules and international standards, including ISO governance principles and the EU AI Act. The initiative aims to boost AI literacy and safeguards as AI becomes more integrated into daily life.
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Hundreds of academics urged governments to halt plans for mandatory age checks on social media, rather than accelerating deployment without assessing the risks.
Researchers argue that current systems expose people to privacy breaches, security vulnerabilities and malicious sites that ignore verification rules instead of offering meaningful protection.
They say scientific consensus has not yet formed on the benefits or harms of age-assurance technologies, making large-scale implementation premature and potentially discriminatory.
The letter stresses that any credible system would require cryptographic safeguards for every query, protecting data in transit rather than leaving identity checks to platforms without robust technical guarantees.
Academics believe such infrastructure would be complex to build globally and would create friction that many providers may refuse to adopt.
Concern escalated after early deployments in Italy and France, where verification is already mandatory.
Signatories, including Ronald Rivest and Bart Preneel, warn that governments risk introducing a socially unacceptable system that increases exposure to data misuse instead of ensuring children’s safety online.
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The South Korean electronics company, Samsung, has completed a multi-cell test that brings its virtualised RAN software together with accelerated computing from NVIDIA.
A validation that took place in a realistic network environment confirms that the combined architecture is nearing commercial readiness as AI-native networks continue to evolve.
The company plans to highlight the achievement at Mobile World Congress 2026 as part of its broader push toward software-driven networks that use AI instead of fixed hardware optimisation.
Samsung will demonstrate an AI-based MIMO beamformer running on NVIDIA infrastructure, which offers operators higher throughput and improved spectral efficiency by extracting more value from existing spectrum.
NVIDIA and Samsung are also advancing a unified processor design that integrates CPU and GPU within a single chipset, enabling faster and more efficient data exchange.
Recently, Samsung integrated its vRAN software with the NVIDIA ARC Compact platform equipped with the Grace CPU and L4 GPU, taking another step toward commercial AI-RAN deployments.
The firm says that experience from large-scale vRAN rollouts and close collaboration with industry computing partners strengthens its position in delivering AI-powered network platforms for operators worldwide.
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