Cryptocurrency theft intensified in 2025, with total stolen funds exceeding $3.4 billion despite fewer large-scale incidents. Losses became increasingly concentrated, with a few major breaches driving most of the annual damage and widening the gap between typical hacks and extreme outliers.
North Korea remained the dominant threat actor, stealing at least $2.02 billion in digital assets during the year, a 51% increase compared with 2024.
Larger thefts were achieved through fewer operations, often relying on insider access, executive impersonation, and long-term infiltration of crypto firms rather than frequent attacks.
Laundering activity linked to North Korean actors followed a distinctive and disciplined pattern. Stolen funds moved in smaller tranches through Chinese-language laundering networks, bridges, and mixing services, usually following a structured 45-day cycle.
Individual wallet attacks surged, impacting tens of thousands of victims, while the total value stolen from personal wallets fell. Decentralised finance remained resilient, with hack losses low despite rising locked capital, indicating stronger security practices.
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DDoS attacks in 2025 became short and automated, often ending in minutes with minimal warning. Traditional response times are now insufficient against these high-speed threats.
Attackers increasingly use multiple hosts and blended vectors, including TCP, UDP, DNS, and SYN floods. IoT botnets and residential proxies amplify scale, with global capacity exceeding 250 Tbps.
Algorithmic orchestration allows attacks to adapt and escalate automatically. Even low-tech campaigns remain disruptive to weaker networks, highlighting the need for continuous monitoring.
Defenders must adopt AI-driven, sub-minute mitigation and self-defending architectures. Real-time detection is now essential to maintain uptime and prevent reputational damage.
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UAE telecom operator ‘du’ has deployed the country’s first tri-band Radio Remote Unit on the 600MHz spectrum in partnership with Huawei. The rollout marks progress in the UAE’s 5G-Advanced network development.
Improved indoor coverage and faster speeds are delivered through dynamic power sharing and multi-band functionality. The upgrade supports services such as 5G Fixed Wireless Access and Voice over New Radio.
Lower energy consumption and a compact design reduce the environmental footprint of network infrastructure. The deployment aligns with national sustainability goals while improving long-term network efficiency.
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Reports suggest Solana was targeted by a sustained DDoS campaign in mid-December, with peak traffic estimates close to 6 Tbps. Public dashboards showed full uptime and no visible disruption for users.
Recent upgrades appear central to the outcome, as they move spam filtering and prioritisation closer to the network edge. QUIC traffic handling, stake-weighted routing and local fee markets helped limit congestion.
Focus is shifting from outage risks to resilience under pressure. The episode suggests major blockchains are now engineered and attacked like Tier 1 internet infrastructure.
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The San Francisco-based software company Salesforce has opened a significantly expanded office in Stockholm, reinforcing its long-term investment in Sweden and its broader Northern European strategy.
A new location that reflects the growing demand for AI-driven enterprise tools as regional businesses increasingly adopt agent-based technologies across their operations.
Located at Sveavägen 20, the Stockholm office is four times larger than Salesforce’s previous space and has been designed to support hybrid work, collaboration and innovation.
The opening event highlighted the focus of Salesforce on real estate as a strategic enabler for AI transformation, bringing together employees, partners, customers and community organisations.
A launch that also featured the Agentforce Sweden Nonprofit Hackathon, where Swedish charities presented AI agent solutions to improve efficiency and impact.
Majblomman received SEK 150,000 for an autonomous financial aid agent, underlining Salesforce’s ambition to position the Stockholm office as a regional hub for agentic enterprise development and responsible AI adoption.
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The European Commission and the European Investment Bank have approved €1.8 billion in new clean energy funding under the EU Modernisation Fund, supporting 45 projects across 12 member states.
Portugal receives funding for the first time after becoming eligible in 2024, while total support from the Fund since 2021 has now reached €20.7 billion across 294 investments.
Financed through revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System, the Fund targets high-impact projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in energy, industry and transport, while improving energy efficiency and strengthening energy security.
In 2025 alone, total disbursements reached €5.46 billion, with significant allocations directed to Czechia, Poland, Romania and Hungary, alongside support for Greece, Portugal and Slovenia.
All projects approved during 2025 focus on renewable electricity generation, energy storage, grid modernisation and efficiency upgrades in public infrastructure and industry.
The Modernisation Fund plays a central role in supporting national climate plans, reducing dependence on fossil fuel imports and advancing the EU’s Fit for 55 and REPowerEU objectives, with further investment proposals scheduled for early 2026.
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Retailers face escalating cyber threats as hackers increasingly target customer data, eroding trust and damaging long-term brand value.
Deloitte warns that data breaches and ransomware attacks are becoming more frequent and costly, with some retailers facing losses reaching hundreds of millions, alongside declining consumer confidence.
The expansion of AI-driven personalisation has intensified privacy concerns, as customers weigh convenience against data protection.
While many shoppers accept sharing personal information in exchange for value, confidence depends on clear safeguards, transparent data use and credible security practices across digital channels.
Deloitte argues that leading retailers integrate cybersecurity into their core business strategy, rather than treating it as a compliance obligation.
Priorities include protecting critical digital assets, modernising security operations and building cyber-aware cultures capable of responding to AI-enabled fraud, preserving customer trust and sustaining revenue growth.
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Vietnam’s 5G network now reaches approximately 59 percent of the population, slightly over one year after commercial services launched in October 2024.
Government data presented at Internet Day 2025 show that Vietnam ranks 10th globally for fixed broadband speed and 15th for mobile broadband, reflecting rapid improvements in national connectivity.
Officials described the Internet as a second living space for citizens, with nearly 80 million users spending an average of seven hours online each day for work, education and social interaction.
Authorities highlighted that expanded 5G coverage supports the development of a digital economy, e-government services and a more connected digital society.
Alongside infrastructure growth, policymakers stressed the need for stronger digital trust.
Vietnam is shifting towards clearer legal frameworks instead of reliance on voluntary self-regulation, while prioritising cybersecurity, data governance and protection against online fraud, deepfakes and AI-driven deception to sustain long-term digital transformation.
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AI is entering a new phase, with 2026 expected to mark a shift from experimentation to real-world collaboration. Microsoft executives describe AI as an emerging partner that amplifies human expertise rather than replacing it.
Microsoft says the impact is becoming visible across healthcare, software development, and scientific research. AI tools embedded in Microsoft products are supporting diagnosis, coding, and research workflows.
With the expansion of AI agents across all platforms, organisations are strengthening safeguards to manage new risks. Security leaders argue agents will require clear identities, restricted access, and continuous monitoring.
Microsoft also points to changes in the infrastructure powering AI. The company says future systems will prioritise efficiency and intelligence output, supported by distributed and hybrid cloud architectures.
Looking further ahead, the convergence of AI, supercomputing, and quantum technologies stands out as the main highlight. Hybrid approaches, the company says, are bringing practical quantum advantage closer for applications in materials science, medicine, and research.
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The US tech company, Oracle, has expanded Oracle Database@Google Cloud to India, making the service available through Google Cloud’s Mumbai region.
Enterprises can access Oracle Exadata, Autonomous AI Database and AI Lakehouse services while keeping data in the region to meet sovereignty and regulatory requirements.
The multicloud offering allows organisations to combine Oracle enterprise data with Google Cloud analytics and AI tools, including BigQuery, Vertex AI and Gemini models.
Customers can modernise applications and migrate mission-critical workloads without sacrificing performance, security or low-latency access.
Oracle Database@Google Cloud is available through the Google Cloud Marketplace, enabling customers to procure services via trusted partners instead of navigating complex contracting models.
Oracle and Google Cloud partners can also integrate the service into broader multicloud solutions.
The launch reflects growing demand for flexible multicloud architectures in India, supporting AI-driven innovation, advanced analytics and accelerated IT modernisation across regulated and data-intensive industries.
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