cybersecurity Archives | Digital Watch Observatory

EU privacy bodies back cybersecurity overhaul

The European Data Protection Board and the European Data Protection Supervisor have backed proposals to strengthen the EU cybersecurity law while safeguarding personal data. Their joint opinion addresses reforms to the Cybersecurity Act and updates to the NIS2 Directive.

Regulators support plans to reinforce the mandate of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity and expand cybersecurity certification across digital supply chains. Clearer coordination between ENISA and privacy authorities is seen as essential for consistent oversight.

Advice also calls for limits on the processing of personal data and for prior consultation on technical rules affecting privacy. Certification schemes should align with the GDPR and help organisations demonstrate compliance.

Additional recommendations include broader cybersecurity skills training and a single EU entry point for personal data breach notifications. Proposed changes would also classify digital identity wallet providers as essential entities under the EU security rules.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

AI added to St Helens council strategic risk register

In the UK, the St Helens Council has added AI and digital disruption to its strategic risk register as it seeks to strengthen governance and oversight. The change reflects growing concern about how emerging technologies could affect operations and services.

The updated register, now featuring 12 strategic risks, was presented ahead of the audit and governance committee meeting. UK officials said effective risk management is vital to meeting the council’s objectives and mitigating potential challenges.

AI and digital disruption were cited for the first time alongside risks linked to extreme weather and community cohesion. The council noted that ethical, data privacy and workforce confidence issues are among the challenges associated with integrating AI into public services.

Leaders said other risks, including cybersecurity threats and budget pressures, remain under review. The move comes as local authorities across the UK weigh the impacts of new technologies on service delivery and strategic planning.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Deepfake abuse crisis escalates worldwide

AI-generated deepfake abuse is emerging as a serious global threat, with women and girls disproportionately affected by non-consensual and harmful digital content. Advances in AI make it easy to create manipulated content that can spread across platforms within minutes and reach millions.

Data highlights the scale of the issue. The vast majority of deepfake content online consists of explicit material, overwhelmingly targeting women.

Accessible and often free tools have lowered the barrier to entry, enabling widespread misuse. At the same time, the ability to endlessly replicate and share such content makes removal nearly impossible once it is published.

Legal responses remain fragmented, with many pre-existing laws leaving gaps in addressing AI-generated deepfake abuse. Enforcement issues, such as cross-border challenges and limited digital forensics capabilities, make it unlikely that perpetrators will face consequences.

Pressure is mounting on governments and technology platforms to act. Calls for reform include clearer legislation, faster obligations to remove content, improved law enforcement capabilities, and stronger support systems for victims.

Without coordinated global action, deepfake abuse is set to expand alongside the technologies enabling it.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

AI agent causes internal data leak at Meta

Meta recently confirmed that an AI agent inadvertently exposed sensitive company and user data to some employees. The leak happened when an engineer followed the AI agent’s forum suggestion, exposing data for about two hours.

Meta stated that no user data was mishandled and emphasised that human errors could cause similar issues.

The incident reflects broader challenges in deploying agentic AI tools within major tech companies. Amazon faced similar issues, with internal AI tools causing outages and operational errors, showing risks of quickly integrating AI into critical workflows.

Experts describe these deployments as experimental, with companies testing AI at scale without fully assessing potential risks.

Security specialists note that AI agents lack the contextual awareness that human engineers accumulate over years of experience. Lacking long-term operational knowledge, AI can make decisions that compromise security, a factor in the Meta breach.

Analysts warn that such errors are likely to recur as AI adoption accelerates.

The episode comes amid growing attention on agentic AI’s potential to disrupt workflows, affect productivity, and introduce new vulnerabilities. Industry observers caution that AI tools must be carefully monitored and accompanied by robust safeguards to prevent future incidents.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

AI fuels rise in cyber scams

Cybercrime incidents have surged as AI tools enable more convincing scams, leading to sharply rising losses in Estonia. Authorities reported thousands of phishing and fraud cases affecting individuals and businesses.

Criminals are using AI to generate fluent messages in Estonian, removing a key warning sign that once helped people detect scams. Experts say language accuracy has made fraudulent calls and messages harder to identify.

Growing awareness of scams is also fuelling public anxiety, with some users considering abandoning digital services. Officials warn that loss of trust could undermine confidence in digital systems.

Authorities are urging stronger safeguards and public education to counter the cybersecurity threats. Banks, telecom firms and digital identity providers are introducing new protections while campaigns aim to improve digital awareness.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Cyber operation led by INTERPOL dismantles 45,000+ malicious IP addresses

An INTERPOL-coordinated operation targeting phishing, malware, and ransomware infrastructure has resulted in the takedown of more than 45,000 malicious IP addresses and servers.

Law enforcement agencies from 72 countries and territories participated in Operation Synergia III (from 18 July 2025 to 31 January 2026). The operation resulted in 94 arrests, with 110 additional individuals under investigation. A total of 212 electronic devices and servers were seized.

During the operation, INTERPOL processed threat data into actionable intelligence, facilitated cross-border coordination, and provided tactical operational support to participating countries. Preliminary investigations informed a series of coordinated national actions, including searches of identified locations and the disruption of malicious cyber infrastructure.

Several investigations remain ongoing. Preliminary case reports illustrate the range of criminal methods. For instance, in Macau, China, law enforcement identified more than 33,000 phishing and fraudulent websites impersonating casinos, banks, government portals, and payment services.

The sites were used to collect payments via fraudulent top-up mechanisms or to harvest users’ personal and financial data.

In Togo, police arrested 10 suspects operating from a residential location. The group’s activities included unauthorised access to social media accounts and social engineering schemes such as romance fraud and sextortion.

After compromising accounts, suspects contacted the account holder’s connections, impersonating the original user to initiate fraudulent relationships or solicit money transfers from secondary victims.

In Bangladesh, police arrested 40 suspects and seized 134 electronic devices linked to a range of schemes, including fraudulent loan and employment offers, identity theft, and credit card fraud.

INTERPOL collaborated with private sector partners Group-IB, Trend Micro, and S2W to monitor illicit cyber activity and identify malicious servers during the operation.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

EU adopts cyber-related sanctions on companies based in China and Iran

The European Union imposed sanctions on two China-based companies and one Iranian company in connection with cyber operations targeting the EU member states. The Council’s official press release does not specify the underlying operations. The designated entities are Integrity Technology Group and Anxun Information Technology, both based in China, and Emennet Pasargad, based in Iran.

According to an EU statement, Integrity Technology is assessed to have facilitated the compromise of over 65,000 devices across six member states. Anxun is assessed to have provided offensive cyber capabilities targeting critical infrastructure, and two of the company’s co-founders have been individually designated for their roles in these operations.

Emennet is assessed to have a compromised digital advertising infrastructure to disseminate disinformation during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The sanctions entail an asset freeze and a travel ban for the listed individuals. The EU citizens and entities are additionally prohibited from making funds available to the designated companies.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

Phishing attack on Starbucks employee portal exposes nearly 900 workers

Starbucks has disclosed a data breach affecting 889 employees after attackers gained unauthorised access to Starbucks Partner Central accounts, the internal platform workers use to manage their employment details, payroll, and benefits information.

The company discovered suspicious activity on 6 February 2026, with investigators finding that accounts had been compromised between 19 January and 11 February.

Attackers obtained valid login credentials by directing employees to fraudulent websites designed to impersonate the legitimate Partner Central login page, a phishing tactic that allowed them to authenticate into real accounts without ever directly breaching Starbucks’ core infrastructure.

The exposed data included full names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and financial account and banking routing numbers linked to direct deposit records.

Starbucks notified law enforcement, strengthened security controls on Partner Central, and confirmed the breach does not affect customers. The company is offering affected employees two years of free credit monitoring and identity protection through Experian IdentityWorks.

Cybersecurity experts have warned that the exposed data, including Social Security numbers and financial identifiers, retains value to criminal groups for years and cannot simply be reset like a password.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

AI browsers expose new cybersecurity attack surfaces

Security researchers have demonstrated that agentic browsers, powered by AI, may introduce new cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Experiments targeting the Comet AI browser, developed by Perplexity AI, showed that attackers could manipulate the system into executing phishing scams in only a few minutes.

The attack exploits the reasoning process used by AI agents when interacting with websites. These systems continuously explain their actions and observations, revealing internal signals that attackers can analyse to refine malicious strategies and bypass built-in safeguards.

Researchers showed that phishing pages can be iteratively trained using adversarial machine learning methods, such as Generative Adversarial Networks.

By observing how the AI browser responds to suspicious signals, attackers can optimise fraudulent pages until the system accepts them as legitimate.

The findings highlight a shift in the cybersecurity threat landscape. Instead of deceiving human users directly, attackers increasingly focus on manipulating the AI agents that perform online actions on behalf of users.

Security experts warn that prompt injection vulnerabilities remain a fundamental challenge for large language models and agentic systems.

Although new defensive techniques are being developed, researchers believe such weaknesses may remain difficult to eliminate.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!

AI and quantum computing reshape the global cybersecurity landscape

Cybersecurity risks are increasing as digital connectivity expands across governments, businesses and households.

According to Thales Group, a growing number of connected devices and digital services has significantly expanded the potential entry points for cyberattacks.

AI is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape by enabling attackers to identify vulnerabilities at unprecedented speed.

Security specialists increasingly describe the environment as a contest in which defensive systems must deploy AI to counter adversaries using similar technologies to exploit weaknesses in digital infrastructure.

Security concerns also extend beyond large institutions. Connected devices in homes, including smart cameras and speakers, often lack robust security protections, increasing exposure for individuals and networks.

Policymakers in Europe are responding through measures such as the Cyber Resilience Act, which will introduce mandatory security requirements for connected products sold in the EU.

Long-term risks are also emerging from advances in quantum computing.

Experts warn that powerful future machines could eventually break widely used encryption systems that currently protect communications, financial data and government networks, prompting organisations to adopt quantum-resistant security methods.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!