How AI is supercharging Russia's online disinformation campaigns

Security experts warn that Kremlin-aligned actors are deploying AI-generated synthetic videos at scale to shape public opinion across Europe and the US, while Western governments lack adequate tools and laws to respond. A King's College London professor's identity was hijacked via AI voice-over deepfake for a Russia-linked operation dubbed "matryoshka," which embeds false claims in layers of ambient re-posts from compromised accounts.

Anthropic says Claude Code transformed programming. Now Claude Cowork is coming for the rest of the enterprise.

Anthropic launched Claude Cowork, expanding its enterprise AI platform with private plugin marketplaces, deep integrations with Google Workspace, Salesforce, and financial data providers, and administrative controls for usage and cost tracking. Early enterprise deployments show substantial efficiency gains: Novo Nordisk reduced regulatory documentation creation from 10 weeks to 10 minutes, while Thomson Reuters achieved 94% accuracy in legal research tasks using Claude.

Critical Cisco SD-WAN bug exploited in zero-day attacks since 2023

Cisco disclosed CVE-2026-20127, a maximum-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Catalyst SD-WAN Controller and Manager products that has been actively exploited since 2023. The flaw allows unauthenticated remote attackers to gain administrative privileges and establish persistent access as rogue peers within SD-WAN fabric networks. CISA issued Emergency Directive 26-03 and added the vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, ordering federal civilian agencies to patch within 24-48 hours.

US tells diplomats to lobby against foreign data sovereignty laws

The Trump administration has ordered U.S. diplomats to lobby against foreign governments' data sovereignty laws, arguing that regulations restricting how American tech companies handle foreigners' data would disrupt global data flows, increase costs and cybersecurity risks, limit AI and cloud services, and expand government control. A February 18 State Department cable signed by Secretary Marco Rubio instructs diplomatic posts to push back against data localization requirements in Europe and other jurisdictions.

Inside the story of the US defense contractor who leaked hacking tools to Russia

Doogie Williams, former general manager of Trenchant — an L3Harris division developing offensive hacking and surveillance tools for U.S. intelligence — pleaded guilty to stealing and selling classified zero-day exploits to a Russian firm. Prosecutors said Williams, a 39-year-old Australian citizen with security clearance, abused full network access to download tools onto portable drives over an extended period. The case exposes critical vulnerabilities in contractor vetting for offensive cyber capabilities and raises questions about which foreign actors ultimately obtained these tools.

How scammers are using AI deepfakes to steal money from taxpayers

Workday hits over five-year low as sluggish sales forecast sparks AI disruption fears

Workday shares plunged to a five-year low after the HR and payroll software provider issued a soft sales forecast, intensifying investor concerns about AI-driven competitive threats. The company is facing pressure from AI tools that could directly disrupt its core offerings, alongside broader hiring slowdowns as AI adoption reduces demand for HR software. Australian software firm WiseTech Global announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs (one-third of its workforce) in a two-year AI-linked restructuring. Workday's struggles exemplify how AI is reshaping enterprise software markets, with investors punishing companies perceived as vulnerable to AI disruption while rewarding those positioned to capture AI productivity gains.

Hide from Meta's spyglasses with this new Android app

Developer Yves Jeanrenaud has released "Nearby Glasses," an open-source Android application that detects nearby Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses via Bluetooth signals. The app arrives as Meta reportedly prepares to add facial recognition capabilities to its wearable devices, raising concerns from domestic abuse charities about enabling stalkers to covertly identify and track individuals in public spaces.

OpenAI COO says 'we have not yet really seen AI penetrate enterprise business processes'

OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap stated that AI has not achieved meaningful penetration of enterprise business processes despite industry hype. Days later, OpenAI announced the "Frontier Alliance" — partnerships with Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, Accenture, and Capgemini to deploy its agentic AI platform in enterprise environments. The company also signed an enterprise compute contract.

Meta's AI sending 'junk' tips to DoJ, US child abuse investigators say

Meta's AI-powered content moderation systems are flooding US law enforcement with low-quality, unreliable reports about child sexual abuse material, according to officers from the Internet Crimes Against Children task force. The flood of useless tips is draining investigative resources and hindering actual cases. The issue emerged during a New Mexico lawsuit against Meta over child safety on its platforms, where the company has defended its cooperation with law enforcement while facing questions about whether its automated detection systems create more noise than signal.

America's Digital Empire Has a Trust Problem

The Trump administration's weaponization of American hyperscaler infrastructure for foreign policy objectives is accelerating global efforts to reduce dependence on US tech giants, according to Council on Foreign Relations analysis. Nations are pursuing digital sovereignty through hybrid strategies that balance the technological dominance of American and Chinese cloud providers against the risks of foreign control. Russia's experience illustrates the cost: three years after Western tech withdrawal, the country faces a structural deficit requiring 30,000 new data center racks annually while projecting only 4,600 additions in 2025.

Can A.I. Detection Tools Really Spot Fake Images and Videos?

The New York Times conducted over 1,000 tests of AI detection tools used to verify content authenticity online, finding several capabilities alongside significant weaknesses. The testing reveals the uneven effectiveness of current detection technologies as synthetic media proliferation accelerates ahead of 2026 elections. Newsrooms and platforms are increasing investment in verification teams and forensic methods, but detection remains a game of catch-up against rapidly evolving generation tools.

Tech Companies Shouldn't Be Bullied Into Doing Surveillance

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that the Secretary of Defense has issued an ultimatum to AI company Anthropic, threatening to terminate government contracts if the company does not make its technology available to the U.S. military without use restrictions. The EFF is urging Anthropic to refuse the demands and maintain its principles against surveillance applications.

AP report: Hegseth warns Anthropic to let the military use company's AI tech as it sees fit

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei a Friday deadline to allow unrestricted military use of the company's AI technology or risk losing its Pentagon contract. The ultimatum applies to a $200 million defense contract awarded last summer alongside Google, OpenAI, and xAI. Pentagon officials threatened to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk or invoke the Defense Production Act to compel compliance. The pressure campaign follows months of tension between Anthropic's state-level AI regulation advocacy and the administration's deregulation agenda.

Breaking encryption with a quantum computer just got 10 times easier

Researchers have developed a more efficient quantum computing approach using qLDPC codes that reduces qubit requirements for breaking RSA encryption by an order of magnitude. The new method enables qubits to interact beyond nearest neighbors, increasing information density and reducing the estimated qubit count from millions to approximately 100,000.

Fed's Cook says AI triggering big changes, sees possible short-term unemployment rise

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook warned that artificial intelligence represents the most significant reorganization of work in generations, cautioning that job displacement may precede creation and could temporarily raise unemployment even as productivity gains materialize. She noted AI investment may initially push neutral interest rates higher before potentially lowering them if gains concentrate among the wealthy, creating monetary policy trade-offs that traditional demand-side tools cannot address.

Companies That Signal They Are Replacing Workers With AI: HP, Klarna

Major corporations including HP, Amazon, and Klarna are publicly acknowledging AI-driven workforce reductions as automation enables strategic restructuring. HP CEO Enrique Lores projected 30% of roles could be automated within five years; Klarna's Sebastian Siemiatkowski credited AI for operating with one-third fewer employees while maintaining human connection roles. The transparency marks a shift from earlier industry reluctance to attribute layoffs directly to automation technology.

CrowdStrike says attackers are moving through networks in under 30 minutes

CrowdStrike's 2026 Global Threat Report found the average time from intrusion to lateral network movement plummeted to 29 minutes in 2025, a 65% increase in attack speed. State-sponsored threat actors increased cloud intrusion activity by 266% while AI-enabled adversary activity surged 89%. Chinese threat groups achieved immediate system access in two-thirds of vulnerability exploitations, with 40% targeting edge devices. North Korea's Lazarus Group orchestrated the largest cryptocurrency theft in history stealing $1.46 billion from Bybit.

600+ FortiGate Devices Hacked by AI-Armed Amateur

A Russian-speaking threat actor used commercial generative AI tools to compromise more than 600 Fortinet FortiGate firewalls across 55 countries in five weeks. Researchers from Amazon Web Services found the attacker was not state-sponsored but used LLMs to automate attack scripting, credential extraction, and lateral movement. The campaign exploited exposed management ports and weak credentials, with AI enabling the low-skilled actor to achieve outcomes previously requiring substantial technical expertise.

US antitrust enforcers to revamp guidelines on rivals collaborating

The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission launched a public inquiry to develop updated antitrust guidance for businesses on competitor collaborations, including data sharing and pricing information exchange. The agencies seek input by April 24 on how new technologies have changed competitive dynamics, building on 2000-era guidelines that predate modern data aggregation and AI-driven business alliances.

If Big Tech cared about fighting AI slop, we wouldn't be drowning in it

Analysis argues that C2PA provenance standards and platform labeling efforts are failing to stem AI-generated "slop" flooding social media because adoption remains fragmented and detection tools cannot match industrial-scale synthetic content production. Platforms including YouTube, Instagram, and Meta have only partially implemented authentication systems while X has abandoned C2PA entirely following Musk's acquisition, allowing millions of daily users to remain unprotected from engagement-optimized synthetic media that buries authentic creator content.

AI robots may outnumber workers in a few decades as firms ramp up investment

Citi predicts AI robots could exceed 4 billion by 2050, with payback periods under 10 weeks for a $15,000 robot replacing a $41/hour worker. AI played a role in 55,000 U.S. layoffs. Microsoft's Work Trend Index shows 80% of leaders expect AI agents integrated into their strategy within 12-18 months. Firms including Amazon, Salesforce, Accenture, Heineken, and Lufthansa cited AI in thousands of role eliminations.

Flagship-backed Generate Biomedicines eyes $2.2 billion valuation in US IPO

Generate Biomedicines, founded in 2018 by Flagship Pioneering (the venture firm behind Moderna), announced plans to raise up to $425 million in a Nasdaq IPO that would value the company at $2.17 billion. The company uses AI to replace traditional trial-and-error drug discovery by generating novel protein-based therapeutics computationally. Its lead candidate, GB-0895 for severe asthma, is currently in late-stage trials. Menlo Ventures, which cited Aurora Therapeutics' bespoke CRISPR work as validation of the approach, has invested $16 million in AI-driven genetic medicine startups.

Hundreds of FortiGate Firewalls Hacked in AI-Powered Attacks: AWS

Amazon Web Services threat researchers identified a Russian-speaking hacker who compromised over 600 Fortinet FortiGate firewall instances across 55 countries using generative AI tools. The attacker exploited exposed management ports and weak credentials, then used AI to generate Python scripts for credential extraction and lateral movement. AWS confirmed the threat actor is not associated with any advanced persistent threat group, demonstrating how commercial AI services lower technical barriers for unsophisticated attackers to execute scaled campaigns.

Orbital space race heats up in Arctic north

Europe's commercial space sector is accelerating with Norway's Andøya Spaceport now cleared for orbital launches. Munich-based Isar Aerospace, which saw its Spectrum rocket crash after 30 seconds in its first attempt last year, is targeting a March retry. The facility joins new spaceports in Portugal's Azores and other European locations as commercial companies displace government agencies in what could become 40,000-50,000 satellite constellations within years.

Discord distances itself from Persona age verification after user backlash

Discord has removed references to testing Persona's age verification technology in the UK amid privacy concerns. Security researchers discovered exposed code at a government-authorized endpoint containing 2,456 files showing an interface pairing facial recognition with financial reporting. Persona's CEO confirmed the company has no government contracts, though the exposed code appeared powered by an OpenAI chatbot. Discord emphasized it also uses k-ID for age verification, which deletes identity documents and selfies immediately after age confirmation.