A new free cyber training resource designed for students across Scotland has been launched by Graeme Dey MSP, the Scottish Government’s Minister for higher and further education, at the Abertay cyberQuarter.
Cyber Resilience and You! is an online training module that teaches students how to tackle cyber threats relevant to student life. This includes identifying phishing attempts, avoiding online scams, and protecting their devices with essential security updates.
Throughout the module, learners interact with five fictional students as they navigate various online challenges, helping them recognise potential cyber threats and mitigate the risks of the digital world.
This resource was funded by the Scottish Government and developed in collaboration with Scottish universities and colleges. Student feedback was incorporated to ensure it meets their needs.
The module takes approximately one hour to complete and will be distributed to every college and university in Scotland.
“As we become increasingly digitally connected, the threat of cyber-attacks is constant, making it crucial for students to be prepared to deal with these risks during their study,” Mr Dey said.
“This new learning resource provides an opportunity for everyone to enhance their cyber resilience and safeguard against potential threats, whether they are a beginner or already familiar with cybersecurity.”
The new resource was launched during the University’s inaugural Cyber Student Showcase, a public event featuring innovative projects of final year Computing, Cybersecurity, and Ethical Hacking students.
Over 20 student projects were showcased on a variety of topics, including the development of a user-friendly automated vulnerability assessment tool using network mapping, a one-time password (OTP) authentication system created in Python, a methodology for attributing cyber-attacks to specific threat groups, and a low-interaction honeypot simulating satellite communications to analyse threats in the space industry.
“I am delighted to see the Abertay cyberQuarter hosting the launch of this important resource, reaffirming our status as Scotland’s hub for cybersecurity research and innovation. This launch is particularly meaningful, as it aligns perfectly with our commitment to fostering the next generation of cybersecurity professionals,” Dr Natalie Coull, head of the department of cybersecurity and computing, said.
“I am also glad that Mr Dey had the opportunity to engage with our talented students as they showcase their impressive work. Their innovative thinking and commitment showcase their abilities and suggest bright prospects for their futures in cybersecurity and computing.”
Digital misinformation has reached a “crisis” point in the UK, charity fact checking organisation Full Fact wrote in its latest report.
Full fact described the current time as one of “global upheaval,” routinely pointing to the Trump administration influence on rewriting the rules of truth and disinformation, impacting the way online giants moderate content.
The charity lamented the lack of progress made in the UK to tackle the rise of digital misinformation, despite the increased powers given to Ofcom through the Online Safety Act.
A major concern the group noted was Meta’s move to remove independent fact checking from its content moderation methods.
The charity urges the UK government not to fall to the pressures from the US regime to lessen its online safety regulations, which should be emboldened by the Online Safety Act.
Still, Ofcom has removed the word ‘misinformation’ from the name of its advisory committee, and the UK’s AI Safety Institute recentered its focus to national security threats rather than misinformation.
In response to these troubling changes, and in the wake of riots last number that was found to have been amplified by digital misinformation, Full Fact is calling on UK authorities to strengthen their commitment to battling disinformation online, and to put action to their words.
Full Fact is urging the UK government to treat misinformation as a legislative priority, when when it does not meet the threshold of illegal content.
It also urges Meta to not abandon third-party fact checking globally, and that Community Notes models should be collaborating with high-quality, independent fact checkers.
For Ofcom, it says the online regulator should be more proactive, vocal, and engages, and expand its media literacy work to reflect the challenges of today.
“Access to accurate information is not a luxury, it is the foundation of our democracy,” said Chris Morris Full Fact chief executive.
“We cannot let large online platforms which wield so much influence over our daily lives walk away from commitments to make our online world a safer place.
“Government and regulators must hold them to account, to the full extent of the law. This is no time for half measures.”
ScotRail is introducing satellite Wi-Fi technology to six of its trains supported by satellites from Starlink via a partnership with Clarus Networks.
Bathgate-based Clarus Networks sells access to Starlink satellite connections, providing trains operating in the Scottish Highlands with improved Wi-Fi over a six-month trial.
ScotRail has worked with Clarus Networks to design a new system which allows the trains operating in Scotland’s more rural and remote regions to connect with a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network operated by Starlink.
“This project marks a major step forward in closing the digital divide for rural rail routes. By harnessing the power of Low Earth Orbit satellite technology, we’re able to deliver fast, reliable connectivity in some of the most remote parts of the UK rail network,” Mike Butler, Clarus Networks director of rail and innovation, said.
“This approach helps overcome the coverage and performance limitations of traditional mobile networks – a challenge faced by rail operators globally. We’re proud to work with ScotRail and our partners to prove what’s possible and help shape the future of rail communications – improving both operational performance and the experience for passengers.”
The six trains, all class 158, will be in service in the north of Scotland from Inverness to Wick, Thurso, Kyle of Lochalsh, and Aberdeen.
The project aims to address long-standing train connectivity challenges the region faces, and is supported by the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and the Scottish Futures Trust.
“This trial in the Scottish Highlands builds on our expertise of creating innovative solutions to deliver connectivity in many underserved locations across Scotland,” Neil Rutheford, Scottish Futures Trust head of digital connectivity, said.
“Our work is very much about considering new ways of delivering the telecoms infrastructure and mobile signal that communities and businesses regard as vital and is reflected in other groundbreaking initiatives we are currently trialling with satellites on board Orkney ferries, providing passengers with ultra-fast internet access.”
ScotRail hopes the the promised connectivity improvements via the partnership will bring a range of improvements to its customer experience, including improved Wi-Fi, increased Wi-Fi called capabilities, better GPS tracking of trains, live on-board CCTV access and download, and improved on-train journey information for customers.
Trains will be fitted with stickers and signage to alert customers that they are riding on upgraded train, as well as a new updated on-train Wi-Fi landing page when they connect.
The pilot aligns with the Scottish Government’s efforts to provide better services to rural communities, ultimately encouraging community growth, repopulation and greater resilience in rural areas.
If successful, the trail could lead to the roll-out of the technology across the remaining class 158 trains in the ScotRail fleet, which would cover other rural lines including the West Highlands, Stranraer, Dumfries and the Borders.
It will also help to influence the inclusion of this technology in the procurement of new fleets and new trains.
“This technology is set to be a boost for Highland commuters and visitors, improving access to digital services – a central theme at today’s Convention of the Highlands and Islands,” business minister Richard Lochhead MSP said.
“It will enable passengers to access services and apps that will make their journeys more enjoyable and more productive.
“As set out in last week’s Programme for Government, the Scottish Government places great emphasis on digital connectivity. It supports Scotland’s economic resilience and helps everyone, regardless of location, to access improved public services and opportunities.”
Scott Prentice, ScotRail Strategy and Planning Director, said: “The launch of this trial is fantastic news for our customers using services in the north of the country, and will have a very positive impact on their journey experience.
“There has been a lot of hard work by our staff and our partner, Clarus Networks, to get to this point, and I am looking forward to seeing how customers interact with the new technology on our trains.
“The project addresses the long-standing challenges we’ve had for train connectivity in the region, and we hope it will lead to a future roll-out of the technology across other rural routes in Scotland.”
The UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDR) has introduced a new cyber-attack assessment framework to build on existing frameworks.
“The international community and non-technical stakeholders often face several challenges in understanding malicious [information communication technology] activities, either due to the complex language used by the technical community or the frequently simplistic language used by media to portray ICT incidents,” the UN wrote.
The new UNIDR Intrusion Path Framework is an accessible framework to analyse both malicious and security activities in the information communication technologies (ICT) environment, built around the concept of the network perimeter, which categorises the ICT environment into the dichotomy of outside and inside according to an organisation’s network.
With this spatial understanding of the ICT environment, it aims to help visualise the different layers where ICT activities can take place, thus offering a tool to make cyber diplomacy more inclusive and better informed.
A network perimeter refers to those systems that delimit a specific network from the broader internet, mostly by managing security of and access to internal networks.
This then creates three key layers of analysis, outside, on, and inside the perimeter.
Outside the perimeter encompasses all systems, networks, and data sources that exist beyond an organisation’s direct control.
On the perimeter represents the boundary between an organisation’s internal systems and the external world: a boundary that is protected by layers of security meant to filter, monitor, and control access.
Inside the perimeter is the internal, private part of an organisation’s network, often characterised by a series of segmented and monitored subnetworks and devices that house sensitive data and operational systems.
The UNIDIR Intrusion Path model builds on and compliments two well-established tools – MITRE ATT&CK and the Kill Chain Frameworks – for analysing malicious ICT activities.
The UN says that its elements are compatible and include each to these framework’s categorisations.
“As malicious activities in the ICT environment increase and pose growing threats to international peace and stability, it is essential to equip policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders with tools to understand, inform and act for a more transparent, stable and peaceful digital space,” the UN wrote. “We hope that the UNIDIR Intrusion Path will contribute to this end.”
Ofcom has opened investigations into two pornographic services over the potential for children to access age-inappropriate content on the sites due to a lack of proper age assurance protocols.
Under the Online Safety Act, online services must ensure children cannot access pornographic content on their sites. In January, Ofcom wrote to online services that display or publish their own pornographic content to explain that the requirements for them to have highly effective age checks in place to protect children had come into force.
While many services confirmed that they were implementing, or had plans to implement the age assurance systems, certain services failed to respond to the request.
Ofcom is now opening investigations into Itai Tech Ltd – a service which runs the nudifcation site Undress.cc – and Score Internet Group LLC, which runs the site Scoreland.com. Both of these sites appear to have no highly effective age assurance in place and are potentially in breach of Online Safety Act and their duties to protect children from pornography.
Since the Online Safety Act was ratified, platforms operating in the UK have been scrambling to introduce age verification systems that do not invade user privacy while protecting children from accessing inappropriate content.
These checks can range from providing verified photo ID to facial scanning and age verification techniques.
Platforms must prove to Ofcom that the measures they take are robust enough to keep children out of their sites.
The Children’s Commissioner has recently insisted that the government take further action, calling for an outright ban on AI apps that can create deepfake images or are capable of ‘nudification’ since they have the potential to make sexually explicit images of minors.
Still, while these measures are created to protect children, some critics say that these will push younger people, including minors, to darker corners of the web and less regulated sites with more harmful and illegal content.
Misplaced confidence about cybersecurity could be putting banks and other financial services firms at risk of being hacked, according to a new study.
Around 82% of professionals in the sector believe they’ve been targeted by cybercriminals in the past 12 months, and 85% say they’re confident they could spot an attempt.
But 59% go on to admit they’ve clicked on a link they later believed to be a phishing scam or potential cyber-attack, of which 20% say they’ve done this ‘many times’.
Over a third (37%) also use weak or easy-to-guess passwords such as ‘password123’ for work-related accounts or systems – and 42% say they don’t receive regular training and advice about cybersecurity.
The figures have been published by compliance skills training provider Skillcast in its latest report, Careless Clicks: Could your team spot a cyber attack?. It surveyed 200 UK finance professionals earlier this year to understand whether knowledge gaps and complacency are leaving their company vulnerable to an attack.
Vivek Dodd, CEO and Co-founder of Skillcast, said: “We probably all think we can identify a badly-worded email as a phishing attempt but today’s highly-convincing and targeted communications could catch even the most security-conscious employees off guard.
“Our survey revealed a disconnect between confidence levels, good practice and training. Cyber threats are changing all the time, so employees need to be alert to the latest tactics hackers use and get the basics right too – like choosing strong passwords, and not clicking on unsolicited links.
“This is why it’s so worrying that regular training and advice is sporadic, or non-existent, in some organisations, despite training and competence, and good cybersecurity processes, being key requirements of the FCA.
“Complacency, lack of awareness of the current risks, and poor procedures for flagging concerns make for a dangerous mix. If systems are brought down, and sensitive commercial and customer information is compromised, firms could face significant operational disruption, not to mention the loss of consumer and investor confidence, and substantial fines.”
Dr John Kingston, senior lecturer in cybersecurity at Nottingham Trent University and one of the report’s contributors, added that identifying cyber-attacks is becoming more difficult in the age of artificial intelligence (AI):
“Poor quality content used to be one of the telltale signs of a cyber-attack but AI has allowed hackers to become more sophisticated. One of the biggest emerging threats is deepfake AI, where the faces and voices of employees and employers are cloned to extort valuable information or money.
“Hackers target weak systems – but ultimately they’re more likely to target humans because they’re easiest to deceive.”
The number of UK employers expecting to increase headcount in the next three months has fallen to a record low, outside of the pandemic, as they grapple with rising employment costs and growing global uncertainties.
This is according to the latest Labour Market Outlook report from the CIPD, which shows that the rate of employers expecting to increase headcount has fallen sharply among large private sector employers, and in retail in particular.
The report’s overall net employment balance (NEB) – the difference between employers expecting an increase in staff levels and those expecting a decrease in the next three months – fell from +13 last quarter to +8 this quarter. This marks a record low, outside of the pandemic, since the CIPD began collecting this measure in 2014.
The net employment balance has fallen into negative territory in the public sector, from +3 to -4, and has continued to fall in the private sector, from +16 to +11, which is a record low outside of 2020 (the pandemic).
One in four employers (24%) plan redundancies in the next three months. This is consistent with last quarter but higher than the 21% registered in Autumn.
The retail and education sectors are facing acute pressure, the research found. The NEB for trail has fallen from +23 in Autumn 2024 to -19 this quarter. Just one in ten (11%) retail employees expect there will be an increase in staff levels in the next three months, with three in ten (30%) expecting a fall in staffing levels.
The NEB is also in negative territory, -13 among employers in compulsory education which includes primary and secondary education, and -7 among those in non-compulsory education, which includes vocational and higher education institutions.
Overall, 61% of employers plan to recruit in the next three months, down from 64% in the previous quarter and 67% in Autumn 2024.
The fall in employers expecting to increase staffing levels in the next three months is driven by large private sector employers. Last quarter 39% of private sector employers expected there would be an increase in their staffing levels but this has fallen to 32%.
“From April, employers across the UK have begun to feel the full effect of increases to National Insurance Contributions and the National Living Wage outlined in last year’s budget,” James Cockett, senior labour market economist at the CIPD said.
“They’re also looking at the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill on employments costs and plans, and this comes at a time of global uncertainty. Employer confidence is low which is being reflected in their hiring plans.
“The Employment Rights Bill is landing in a fundamentally different landscape to the one expected when it formed part of the Labour manifesto in summer of last year. It was always going to be a huge change for employers but they’re operating in an even more complex world now.
“It’s vital the government works closely with employers to balance the very real risk of reductions in investment in people, training and technology with their desire to reduce poor employment practice. The government can address employer nerves around the bill by prioritising an implementation plan with a clear phased timeline, alongside support and guidance for employers, and smaller businesses in particular.”
The report also found that over a quarter of employers (27%) conducted a redundancy programme in the last 12 months.
Of those, half (50%) offered affected workers an enhanced redundancy package, going beyond what the law requires. 41% offered the minimum statutory amount, with the remaining 9% not knowing what offer was made.
Smaller employers (less than 250 employees) were far more likely to offer statutory redundancy pay (54%) than larger private sector employers (37%).
After a phishing attack locked thousands out of learning material on Friday – with exams set to start in the coming days and weeks – students were forced to attend schools in Edinburgh on Saturday in order to reset their passwords.
According to the City of Edinburgh Council, the attempted cyber-attack resulted in no compromised data, taking place on Friday during an exam revision period for students.
Pupils had been locked out of their schools’ IT networks as a precaution due to the attempted attack, blocking them from accessing revision resources. Pupils returned to school on Saturday to reset their passwords as they face exams in the week following the attack.
Around 2,500 students returned to Edinburgh schools on Saturday, supported by school staff.
“We saw approximately 2,500 young people attend their secondary schools to reset their passwords this morning and I’m delighted that our dedicated school staff were on hand to support them and minimise the impact on their exam preparations,” Edinburgh council’s education convener, James Dalgleish, said.
The attempted phishing attack was detected on Friday by a member of staff that saw “unusual and suspicious” activity on the IT network for Edinburgh’s schools and early years education.
“My thanks once again to our colleagues for their quick thinking and vigilance, without which this could have been far worse, and for their work throughout the weekend to ensure the attack was contained and our networks remain secure and protected.
“Close monitoring will continue over the coming days and we’re keeping the Scottish Government and Police Scotland up to date.
“I’d like to wish all of our students sitting exams in the coming days and weeks the very best of luck.”
Staff were also affected by the password reset, meaning that they were also unable to log into the network until they reset their passwords.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “City of Edinburgh Council is being supported by the Scottish Cyber Co-ordination Centre.
“Schools remain open and ministers have not been advised of any impact on exam arrangements.
“Cybersecurity matters are reserved to the UK Government. However, the Scottish Government is determined to do whatever it can within its powers to build Scotland’s cyber resilience and to reduce the impact of cyber incidents across our sectors.”
More than 50% of fraud now involves the use of AI, research from Feedzai, a fraud prevention firm found in its new global report.
Generative AI has emerged as a powerful tool for criminals, enabling the creation of hyper-realistic deepfakes, synthetic identities, and AI-powered phishing scams.
Financial institutions are quickly catching on, with nine in ten banks already using AI to detect fraud, and two-thirds have integrated AI within the past two years.
The Feedzai latest report revealed that 90% of financial institutions are combating emerging fraud with AI-powered solutions to safeguard consumers and counter rising threats.
While banks are adopting AI to combat fraud, they face significant roadblocks in implementation, especially ensuring the technology is ethical and transparent.
In contrast, criminals using AI focus solely on exploiting the technology for illegal gain, without the constraints that banks face in adhering to strict ethical and regulatory frameworks.
The Scale of the Issue
The vast majority (92%) of the financial institutions surveyed indicate that fraudsters use generative AI, and only 8% noted that they do not see GenAI being used by criminals.
According to the report, 44% of financial professionals report that deepfakes are used in fraudulent schemes, and 56% of professionals cite social engineering, a set of manipulative tactics used by fraudsters to exploit human psychology and trick individuals into revealing sensitive information, as another significant tactic powered by AI.
Fraudsters are also utilising voice cloning techniques, with 60% of professionals recognising this as a major concern, followed by 59% citing SMS and phishing scams powered by AI to deceive victims.
AI-driven fraud tactics, including deepfakes social engineering, and voice cloning, often result in account takeovers and scams, which, as unauthorised fraud, are generally reimbursable under most circumstances and harder to detect.
While deepfakes alone don’t provide direct access to accounts, they play a critical role in building trust during the entrapment stage of scams, where criminals deceive victims into believing they are dealing with legitimate parties.
“Today’s scams don’t come with typos and obvious red flags—they come with perfect grammar, realistic cloned voices, and videos of people who’ve never existed,” said Anusha Parisutham, Feedzai senior director of Product and AI.
“We’re seeing scam techniques that feel genuinely human because they’re being engineered by AI with that intention. But now, financial institutions also have to deploy advanced AI technologies to fight fire with fire to combat scams.”
Data and Ethics Challenges
Despite AI’s potential and benefits, data management remains a significant challenge for financial institutions. 87% of banks cite data management as their biggest hurdle, with fragmented data sources sources and regulatory constraints slowing AI adoption, particularly among smaller institutions.
As AI becomes essential in fraud prevention, ethical considerations are paramount. The report finds that 89% of banks prioritise explainability and transparency in their AI systems, demanding governance frameworks that ensure fairness, security, and accountability.
“In some ways, AI is like a car. When automakers design a car, they don’t just think about horsepower. They also consider safety features such as seatbelts, airbags, and anti-lock brakes that will keep drivers and passengers safe. The same is true for AI. Models that aren’t designed with trust at the forefront can lead to significant problems for users,” said Pedro Bizarro, Ph.D., co-founder and chief science officer, Feedzai. “
By ensuring that AI decisions are transparent, robust, unbiased, secure, and tested (TRUST), businesses will accelerate innovation and reinforce customer confidence.”
In the face of criminals using AI, banks also embrace it as a central defence mechanism. The report reveals that 90% of financial institutions use AI to expedite fraud investigations and detect new tactics in real-time.
AI is used for scam detection (50%), transaction fraud (39%), and anti-money laundering (30%), positioning it as the critical tool in the battle against financial crime.
Looking ahead, AI will not replace human roles but will continue to augment them, the report said.
Forty-three percent of financial professionals report increased efficiency within fraud teams, allowing experts to focus on higher-value, complex fraud cases.
As AI evolves, the future will see even more powerful AI-powered solutions, such as behavioral analytics and real-time anomaly detection, to stay ahead of emerging threats.
Crowdstrike, the global security titan, has announced it will lay off 500 workers – approximately 5% of its workforce – as part of its “strategic plans” to amass $10 bn in annual recurring revenue, looking to AI.
The company – which made global headlines last summer after a faulty update to its Falcon Sensor security software disrupted a wide range of systems relying on Microsoft, even grounding planes at major airports.
After a lawsuit from shareholders and a $500 million damages suit from Delta, the company is making dramatic changes for the future, planning on investing in AI to streamline its operations.
“We’re operating in a market and technology inflection point, with AI reshaping every industry, accelerating threats, and evolving customer needs,” CEO George Kurtz said in a note to staff.
“To lead at scale, with nearly 10,000 CrowdStrikers and a clear path to $10 billion in ARR, we are evolving how we operate.”
In its strategic plan, the first concrete step appears to be the cut of 500 roles, though the company plans to hire in “key strategic areas” over the year.
These new hires will be centering on product engineering as well as customer facing roles. The firm has not been specific in where they will cut roles, but will begin discussions with affected staff this week.
The company is also making big moves to integrate AI into its systems, with CEO Kurtz saying to staff that “AI is a force multiplier throughout the business.”
“It streamlines go-to-market, improves customer outcomes, and drives efficiencies across both the front and back office,” he said in the note to staff.
Kurtz also said that market demand – for its NG-SIEM, Identity, Cloud, and Exposure Management – has poised the company for continued growth.
CrowdStrike reported that it last year it had a “record full year operating cash flow of $1.38 billion and record full year free cash flow of $1.07 billion.”
The UK government is set to roll out passkey technology for its digital services later this year as an alternative to the current SMS-based verification system.
The NCSC promises that this will offer a more secure and cost-effective solution that could save several million pounds annually.
Announced on the first day of the government’s flagship cybersecurity event, CYBERUK, the move to implement passkey technology for the government’s GOV.UK services marks a major step forward in strengthening the nation’s digital security.
Passkeys are unique digital keys that are today tied to specific devices, such as a phone or a laptop, that help users log in safely, without needing an additional text message or other code.
When a user logs in to a website or app, their device uses this digital key to prove the user’s identity without needing to send a code to a secondary device or to receive user input.
This method is considered more secure because the key remains stored on the device and cannot be easily intercepted or stolen, making them phishing-resistant by design. As a result, even if someone attempts to steal a password or intercept a code, they would be unable to gain access without the physical device that contains the passkey.
The NCSC considers passkey adoption as vital for transforming cyber resilience at a national scale, and the UK is already leading internationally with the NHS becoming one of the first government organisations in the world to offer passkeys to users.
In addition to enhanced security and cost savings, passkeys offer users a faster login experience, saving approximately one minute per login when compared to entering a username, password, and SMS code.
“The rollout of passkeys across GOV.UK services marks another major step forward in strengthening the UK’s digital defences while improving the user experience for millions,” AI and digital government minister Feryal Clark said.
“Replacing older methods like SMS verification with modern, secure passkeys will make it quicker and easier for people to access essential services — without needing to remember complex passwords or wait for text messages.
“This shift will not only save users valuable time when interacting with government online, but it will reduce fraud and phishing risks that damage our economic growth.”
The NCSC has also announced that it has joined the FIDO Alliance, the global body shaping the future of password-free authentication. This step will allow the UK to play an active role in the evolution of passkey standards.
“The UK government’s adoption of passkeys across its digital services reflects a profound decision that stands to protect UK citizens while providing the government with greater security and operational efficiency,” executive director and CEO of the FIDO Alliance Andrew Shikiar said.
“By prioritising modern, phishing-resistant authentication, the UK is setting a strong example for both the public and private sectors in the UK and beyond.
“We’re also very pleased that the NCSC has joined the FIDO Alliance, which allows agencies across the UK government to collaborate with other thought leaders in the Alliance to advance the development and deployment of foundational technologies that will strengthen our collective cyber resilience.”
As described in a recent blog, the NCSC views passkeys as the future of online authentication, and is working with vendors and organisations to make passkeys widely available as an option for users.
A landmark US-UK trade deal will see the UK retain its Digital Services Tax and even opens the door to future technology partnerships and collaboration between the two countries.
Since the election of President Donald Trump a second time, and the implementation of his tariffs, the future of UK and US trade has remained uncertain.
Among his many trade policies, Trump hit out against the UK and other nations for their levies and taxes against American tech companies, mainly Google, Meta, and Amazon, saying that these were unfair to American firms.
However, the trade deal, which has provided more clarity on car and steel tariffs, has also allowed Britain to retain the Digital Services Tax.
The tax is a 2% levy on online services that have worldwide sales of over £500m, £25m of which is sourced from the UK. Major tech companies have therefore been targeted in the levy, which is estimated to contribute over £500m to the UK economy, if not more.
Trump’s earlier policies urged the US government to ‘defend’ its US companies from these taxes, which exist in Britain and other countries.
A loss of the Digital Services Tax could have been disastrous for Labour, especially with its rise of National Insurance contributions and changes to benefits which sparked controversy for many businesses and workers. Losing the funds gained from the tax, and providing an easier playing field to massive foreign companies, may not have been a popular move for the party.
Now, however, the Digital Services Tax will remain in tact, and instead, the UK and US will work on a digital trade deal which could decrease the paperwork necessary for UK firms trying to export to the US.
This would put “rocket boosters” on the economy, the UK government said.
“This historic deal delivers for British business and British workers,” prime minister Keir Starmer said after the deal with announced in Washington DC. “My government has put Britain at the front of the queue because we want to work constructively with allies for mutual benefit rather than turning our back on the world.
“As VE Day reminds us, the UK has no greater ally than the United States, so I am delighted that eight decades on, under president Trump the special relationship remains a force for economic and national security.
“My government is determined to go further and faster to strengthen the UK’s economy, putting more money in working people’s pockets as part of our Plan for Change.”
Trump also agrees that the deal was a “good for both countries” at a press conference after the deal was settled.
“Both countries have agreed that economic security is national security and will be working together as allies to ensure that we have a strong industrial base, appropriate export controls, and protections for key technologies and industries.”
This is the second major tech trade deal of the week for the UK, which also reached a free trade agreement with India and even changed national insurance contributions for some workers on short-term visas from the country.
Match, the dating app giant behind Tinder, Hinge, Match.com, Meetic, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and OurTime, is cutting 13% of its workforce to cut costs.
The layoff is expected to affect around 325 employees from the estimated 2,500 workforce currently at Match. The tech firm has also closed open roles.
The reorganisation is meant to streamline its managerial layers, affecting about 20% of all managers. The cuts are also part of a restructuring effort to centralise functions, such as data services, content moderation, market functions, customer care, and media buying.
The cuts and restructuring are in an effort to consolidate the company, and better integrate the operations of the various brands Match manages, according to CEO Spencer Rascoff.
Rascoff said the company could save over $100 million annually as part of the cost cutting and reorganisations efforts, with about $45m of these savings occurring in 2025.
The cuts come after the company faced a revenue decline of 3% in the first quarter of 2025, likely related to a 5% decline in the number of users paying for a subscription or premium service.
The firm’s net profit dropped 4.6% year-on-year to $117.6 million.
Match joins a number of major tech firms turning to layoffs to decrease costs amid economic turbulence. As global instability threatens economic certainty, many people are cutting costs across their own budgets, with paid dating app prescriptions taking a hit.
Tinder’s paid user base dropped 8% year-on-year by the end of 2024, though Hinge saw its subscriptions rise in the same timespan. Overall, Match saw a net 5% drop year on year decline in paid subscriptions by the close of 2024’s final quarter.
The company faced a class action lawsuit in 2024 in the US over claims it was designed to gamify dating and hook users, with false advertisements.
Over 1.2 million people in the UK were affected by the pay day banking outages of four major banking groups that occurred in February.
The scale of the outages was revealed in a series of letters from the banks that were sent to Commons Treasury Committee Chair, Dame Meg Hillier, from Lloyds, HSBC, TSB, and Nationwide, concerning the outages that took place on 28 February.
The letters revealed further details, such as the scale of interruptions from each banking group, and other ways the outages impacted customers.
For instance, HSBC customers had to wait on average two hours for support from the bank’s customer service team, while HSBC’s target wait time is just five minutes.
It was revealed that Lloyds banking customers were hardest hit, with 700,000 people from Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, and MBNA saying they could not access their accounts on the first log in attempt.
The banking group claimed that this did not mean the bank suffered an ‘outage’ as five million customers successfully logged in during the ‘outage’ period.
About a quarter of a million TSB customers, 196,255 Nationwide customers, and 60,000 from HSBCfaced disruptions in accessing their accounts on the Friday.
So far, the banks have collectively paid £114,000 in compensation to affected customers, with Nationwide paying the bulk (£84,341).
The letters also said that the banks found no evidence that outages happened more during pay days, or any increase in fraud during the outages.
The February pay day outage was not the only time banking outages have caused major disruptions to UK customers.
The treasury committee of the House of Commons found 158 incidents of IT failure in banks between January 2023 and February 2025, which did not even include the pay day outage.
Together, bank and building society outages had accumulated to 803 hours – about 33 days – in that two year time period.
UK girls tend to be more concerned about AI bias than UK boys, new research from InnovateHer has found.
The social enterprise focused on gender parity in tech, asked over a thousand students from the ages of 12 to 17 about their opinions on AI, finding gender discrepancies in interest.
Boys were more interested in the subject than girls (69% vs 54%), but the research found further differences in what areas of AI drew the most focus. While girls were more concerned about bias, boys showed more concern about AI’s implications in cybersecurity.
“While it’s encouraging to see such interest [in AI] from both sides, these differences risk reinforcing long-standing stereotypes,” co-founder and CEO of InnovateHer, Chelsea Slater, said. “We believe these patterns stem from the messages young people receive from an early age about careers, tech and who belongs in those spaces.”
The differences went further, with girls more interested in the ethics of AI, as well as AI policy and data analysis. Boys tended to show a proclivity for robotics, AI development, and machine learning.
Further, girls and boys have different ideas on how AI will affect their future – only about three in ten (29%) girls think AI will create more jobs, compared with over half (53%) of boys.
Almost seven in ten girls think that AI will actually make it more difficult for women to break into the tech sector, believing that AI bias will discriminate against them in the hiring process, compounding the lack of role models present in the sector.
Most girls (79%) also want to see tougher regulations on AI, especially to prevent bias, as 71% had concerns that AI would only reinforce the already existing gender bias in the tech sphere.
Boys are again, less concerned with bias, and more concerned about AI regulations when it comes to privacy and cybersecurity.
Girls were also more concerned about AI’s affects on social media algorithms, saying that this has lead to worsening mental health, ranging from worsening body image to online bullying.
Only about three in ten (29%) of boys said they felt that AI plays a role in online harms, with less thinking this could lead to worse mental health.
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has launched a legal challenge against the Online Safety Act as it says its users and contributors could be unfairly targeted in the new regulations.
Wikipedia has long shown concerns on how the Online Safety Act would impact its operations, often raising challenges to age verification on content deemed ‘harmful’.
Now, the Wikimedia Foundation, the firm behind Wikipedia, is challenging the Online Safety Act’s categorisation which ranks platforms on their user numbers and influence, placing more stringent regulations on more popular sites.
Wikipedia claims it will be designated as a Category 1 platform and will therefore face more regulations, including user verification and filtering, which it says could endanger its fleet of volunteers that create, edit, and review content across the platform.
New duties, which were made to mainly target social media platforms, could disrupt Wikipedia’s system for content creation which tries to ensure the accuracy of posts.
Wikipedia warns that the fallout could mean that malicious actors could post false or harmful content and then block volunteer editors before it can be removed.
Wikipedia says that since it is a “public interest” site – it does not advertise, sell personal data, or operate for profit – many of the regulations stipulated in the Online Safety Act does not apply in the same way to Wikipedia.
Content creators on Wikipedia may have to have their identities verified, which Wikipedia says could infringe on their identity, lead to data breaches, doxxing, and even legal ramifications.
While Wikipedia has said that it does not want to challenge the Online Safety Act outright, or the idea of a Category 1 designation, it is challenging the regulations that the Act has made for designating these categories, which says they are not appropriately recognising the nuances in regulating platforms such as Wikipedia compared to other sites.
“We do not dispute the need for sensible online regulation. Wikimedia’s free knowledge projects are safe and important resources through which people across the UK—and the wider world—learn, share knowledge, collaborate, and gain media literacy, in over 300 languages,” Phil Bradley-Shmeig, lead council for the Wikimedia Foundation, wrote in a blog post.
“But for services like Wikipedia to thrive, it is essential that new laws do not endanger charities and public interest projects.”
He also added that Wikipedia is just one of many ‘outlier’ websites that may be unfairly targeted in the new regulations.
“As designed, the regulations will also fail to catch many of the services UK society is actually concerned about, like misogynistic hate websites,” he said.
Still, Wikipedia will face a steep challenge in its lawsuit against the already in-place law: this is the first judicial review brought up against the law.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has announced two initiatives to help improve national cyber resilience at the CYBERUK conference.
The new Cyber Resilience Test Facilities (CTRFs) programme is developing a national network of assured facilities which will allow technology vendors to demonstrate the cyber resilience of their products in a consistent and structured way, enabling independent audits and assessments by public and private sector organisations, including the UK government.
The CRTFs will adopt a Principles-Based Assurance (PBA) methodology, moving away from traditional compliance-based schemes, to enhance consumer confidence in the cyber resilience of products and broaden the range of assured products.
The NCSC will also be launching a new scheme for Cyber Adversary Simulation (CyAS) in early summer. Companies assured under the Cyber Adversary Simulation Scheme will deliver services to test an organisation’s cyber resilience, including their ability to prevent, detect, and respond to simulated cyber-attacks.
These initiatives are the latest in the NCSC’s efforts to help organisations bolster resilience and work towards addressing issues raised by CEO Richard Horne towards the end of last year about the growing gap between cyber threats and existing defences.
“The Cyber Resilience Test Facilities and Cyber Adversary Simulation schemes mark a significant step forward in our mission to enhance the UK’s cyber resilience,” NCSC director for national resilience Jonathon Ellison said.
“The test facilities will allow consumers to be more confident in the security of connected products. And through testing their response to simulated cyber attacks, the UK’s most critical infrastructure will be further empowered to defend against evolving online threats.”
The CyAS scheme has been developed in partnership with cyber oversight bodies, cyber regulators and government, who are exploring the use of the scheme in their sectors.
It has been designed as a means for providing end-to-end assurance and evidence for any organisation of sufficient maturity and critically to test their cyber defences.
The scheme will launch as a Minimum Viable Product and is expected to evolve as the user community grows.
The UK and India have signed a landmark trade deal ushering in new rules for Indian companies and Indian tech workers, as well as UK companies working with Indian suppliers.
The deal will not only offer cuts to tariffs on UK goods such as whiskey, cars, and clothing, but will also exempt temporary workers from India from paying National Insurance contributions.
Indian workers in the UK on a three year visa will no longer have to pay into UK social security, mainly targeting workers in the UK on Intra Company Transfers.
These visas involve companies that have UK operations and bring in workers from overseas, with legislation originally designed to suit US companies bringing in staff to the UK. Indian companies however, have typically taken advantage of this type of visa, with a large number of Indian IT firms brining in workers to the UK.
Now, these workers will be exempt from paying into National Insurance if they are in the country for three years, rather than just one, though not without controversy.
Conservatives and LibDems claim the new move will disenfranchise UK workers from being hired as NIC have increased this year. Labour says these qualms are a misunderstanding, as short-term workers are often exempt from paying into two social security programmes – when working abroad, workers on the short-term visa will only pay social security into their home country’s system.
The trade deal with India also extends to procurement trade deals to boost the UK’s clean energy industry, new rules of origin for medical devices, and the promotion of digital systems and paperless trade.
The UK also hopes their new national insurance regime for Indian workers will encourage companies to come to the UK and bring more workers, rather than head to Silicon Valley or return to India.
India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement: “The exemption for Indian workers who are temporarily in the UK and their employers from paying social security contributions in the UK for a period of three years under the Double Contribution Convention will lead to significant financial gains for the Indian service providers and enhance their competitiveness in the UK market that would create new job opportunities, as well as benefit large number of Indians working in the UK.”
Cyber-attacks are costing UK businesses about £64 billion annually, with £37.4bn in direct costs and £26.7bn in indirect costs, new research from ESET found.
Their report on the true costs of cyber-attacks found that these remain a significant challenge for businesses, with over half (53%) reporting an attack in the past three years. Looking ahead, 43% of respondents believe their organisation is likely to experience a cyber-attack within the next year.
ESET identified the most common cyber-attack models were phishing, malware, and followed by attacks or attempted attacks on online bank accounts.
Direct and indirect costs were both staggering, with around two thirds of organisations noting the most common direct cost being extra time and staff needed to mitigate the effects of an attack.
Ransom payments, lost or stolen funds, legal costs, operational disruptions, and third-party hiring costs also added up to the high price tag, let along higher cyber insurance costs.
Cyber-attacks often lead to firms needing more robust protections, meaning an increase in cyber budgets hence the mounting indirect costs of an attack. The loss of clients, redirecting resources, and the loss of a competitive advantage due to stolen assets or reputational damage also indirectly negatively impacted organisations.
In the long-term sense, over two in five organisations reported being restricted growth in their business as a result of a cyber-attack, with some (14%) having to even downsize, enter administration (15%), or undergo a merger or acquisition (16%).
Small businesses were hardest hit by these long-term affects (45%), the research found, while larger enterprises were more likely to need more funding to recover (46%).
Still, despite these long-term impacts and expectations that these threats will increase, nearly half (45%) of UK businesses manage cybersecurity fully in-house, while 42% adopt a hybrid model combining in-house and outsourced functions and only 13% fully outsource their cybersecurity functions.
Still, most businesses (77%) plan to increase their budget in the upcoming year, with growing cyber risk concerns (69%), greater financial resources (46%), and recent cyber-attacks (16%) influencing these budget decisions.
The majority of businesses (53%) do note that cybersecurity has a positive impact on turnover beyond just improving security. Cybersecurity investment boosts UK companies revenue by 0.5%, which translates to £27bn. Key channels through which cybersecurity investment positively impacts growth included winning clients (70%), and IT system improvements (68%). The information and communication sector saw the highest positive impact, with an average impact on turnover amounting to 1.2%.
Over the next two years, a growing divide will emerge between organisations that can keep pace with AI-enabled threats and those that fall behind – exposing them to greater risk and intensifying the overall threat to the UK’s digital infrastructure, cyber chiefs warn.
A new report from Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, outlines how AI will impact the cyber threat landscape from now to 2027, highlighting how AI will almost certainly continue to make elements of cyber intrusion operations more effective and efficient.
It warns that, by 2027, AI-enabled tools are set to enhance threat actors’ ability to exploit known vulnerabilities, adding that whilst the time between the disclosure and exploitation has already shrunk to days, AI will almost certainly reduce this further, posing a challenge for network defenders.
The report also suggests that the growing incorporation of AI models and systems across the UK’s technology base, particularly within critical national infrastructure and where there are insufficient cybersecurity controls, will almost certainly present an increased attack surface and opportunities for adversaries.
As AI technologies become more embedded in business operations, the NCSC is urging organisations to act decisively to strengthen cyber resilience and mitigate against AI-enabled cyber threats.
“We know AI is transforming the cyber threat landscape, expanding attack surfaces, increasing the volume of threats, and accelerating malicious capabilities,” Paul Chichester, NCSC director of operations said.
“While these risks are real, AI also presents a powerful opportunity to enhance the UK’s resilience and drive growth—making it essential for organisations to act.
“Organisations should implement strong cyber security practices across AI systems and their dependencies and ensure up-to-date defences are in place.”
The integration of AI and connected systems into existing networks requires a renewed focus on fundamental security practices. The NCSC has published a range of advice and guidance to help organisations take action, including by using the Cyber Assessment Framework.
The report also highlights, in the rush to provide new AI models, developers will almost certainly prioritise the speed of developing systems over providing sufficient cybersecurity, increasing the threat from capable state-linked actors and cyber criminals.
Only 4% of organisations worldwide have achieved a ‘mature’ level of cyber readiness required to effectively withstand today’s cybersecurity threats, according to Cisco.
The firm released their latest 2025 Cybersecurity Readiness Index, which shows there is a 1% year-on-year increase in the number of organisations displaying mature cyber readiness.
Despite this slight improvement, global cybersecurity preparedness remains low as hyperconnectivity and AI introduce new complexities for security practitioners.
AI is revolutionising security and escalating threat levels, with nearly nine in ten organisations (86%) facing AI-related security incidents last year.
However, only around half (49%) are confident their employees fully understand AI related threats, while about another half (48%) believe their teams fully grasp how malicious actors are using AI to execute sophisticated attacks. This awareness gap can leave organisations critically exposed.
AI is compounding an already challenging threat landscape. In the last year, nearly half of organisations (49%) suffered cyber-attacks, hindered by complex security frameworks with disparate point solutions.
Looking forward, respondents view external threats like malicious actors and state-affiliated groups (58%) as more significant to their organizations than internal threats (42%), underscoring the urgent need for streamlined defense strategies to thwart external attacks.
“As AI transforms the enterprise, we are dealing with an entirely new class of risks at unprecedented scale – putting even more pressure on our infrastructure and those who defend it,” said Cisco chief product officer Jeetu Patel. “This year’s report continues to reveal alarming gaps in security readiness and a lack of urgency to address them. Organisations must rethink their strategies now or risk becoming irrelevant in the AI era.”
The lack of cybersecurity readiness globally is alarming, as seven in ten (71%) respondents anticipate business disruptions from cyber incidents in the next 12 to 24 months.
Still Cisco’s report revealed other trends, such as the deployment of AI and its associated risks, and investment shifts.
Most organisations are using AI in their cyber stack for a range of deployments, including understanding threats better (89%), threat detection (85%), and response and recovery (70%).
Further, GenAI tools are widely adopted, with about half (51%) of employees using approved third-party tools. However, nearly a quarter (22%) have unrestricted access to public GenAI, and 60% of IT teams are unaware of employee interactions with the tech, underscoring major oversight challenges.
This becomes even more troublesome considering 60% of organisations lack confidence in detecting unregulated AI deployments, or shadow AI, posing significant cybersecurity and data privacy risks.
Even with the advent of AI, other threats persist. Within hybrid work models, 84% of organisations face increased security risks as employees access networks from unmanaged devices, further exacerbated by using unapproved genAI tools.
With all these threats, organisations are reconsidering their priorities.
While 96% of organisations plan to upgrade their IT infrastructure, only 45% allocate more than 10% of their IT budget to cybersecurity, down 8% year-on-year. This emphasises a critical need for more focused investment in comprehensive defence strategies, which is incredibly important as threats are showing no sign of slowing down.
But when it comes to cyber investment, organisations may not know where to start due to over-complexity. Over three quarters (77%) or organisations report that their complex security infrastructures, dominated by the deployment of more than ten point security solutions, are impeding their ability to respond swiftly and effectively to threats.
Compounding all these factors is the talent shortage: a staggering 86% of respondents identify the shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals as a major challenge, with more than half reporting more than ten positions to fill.
In order to survive and expand in the UK’s competitive broadband market, almost all (96%) alnets are considering mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with other service providers, new research from Neos Networks shows.
The research highlights some of the hurdles many altnets face, such as competition with up to four other providers in regions where they have networks.
Tough economic conditions are also affecting growth strategies for altnets with almost half (48%) of those surveyed saying that it has been difficult to access funding over the past year.
High interest rates are exacerbating this challenge with 48% of altnets citing them as the primary reason behind their struggle for funding. Regulatory constraints and strict lending criteria were also cited as significant barriers as altnets looked to secure financing.
Altnets also face other regulatory challenges, including the knock-on impact of BT’s closure of its copper network as it transitions to full fibre.
As part of this modernisation, most altnets are now under pressure to remove equipment from BT’s exchanges, which are due to start closing in January 2027. They say it will cost them, on average, £1.4m, according to Neos Networks’ research.
As altnets look for a path forward, almost all (98%) said they expect to move beyond just offering traditional residential broadband to broaden their services and appeal. This was also cited as the number one long-term ambition for altnets in the survey.
Of these, nearly half (46%) say they plan to launch smart home technology, 43% say they will offer enterprise connectivity, 42% say they will launch security solutions and packages, and 35% say they will start offering multi-service solutions like TV and entertainment.
Over half (55%) of the altnets surveyed say that improving customer satisfaction is their primary goal for the next few years, beating out other, more revenue-critical operations such as increasing customer subscriptions and driving operational efficiencies.
When asked what technologies they were using to help them differentiate themselves from their competitors, the majority of respondents said they were deploying software-defined networking and network function virtualisation (53%). 5G fixed wireless access (39%) and AI/ML enabled BSS/BSS automation also ranked highly.
“Altnets have played a pivotal role in reshaping the UK’s connectivity landscape, driving the expansion of full-fibre networks and challenging established incumbents,” Lee Myall, CEO at Neos Networks said.
“However, the industry now stands at a crucial crossroads. Heightened competition, financial pressures, and shifting regulatory frameworks mean that Altnets must evolve rapidly to secure their long-term future.
“Our research highlights that Altnets are exploring a variety of strategies – from mergers and acquisitions to strategic partnerships and service diversification – to strengthen their market position and pave the way for sustainable growth.”
A majority (60%) of CIOs believe that a recession in 2025 is likely, or already underway, as companies respond to turbulent economics with reprioritisation of budgets and investments.
This is according to Boston Consulting Groups’ (BCG) latest CIO survey taken in April 2025 which reflects the growing turmoil brought on by US tariffs and the potential trade war.
As a result, CIOs have recalibrated their IT priorities, exhibiting caution as a rule when it comes to investment.
63% of CIOs ranked cost management as a top-three priority, just outperforming growth (58%) for the first time since 2023.
Still, a third (36%) of leaders ranked company growth as their number one priority, while 17% said the same for controlling costs and spending.
Prior to the tariff announcements, over three quarters of IT leaders surveyed by BCG planned on increasing their budgets – since then, this declined to just 56%.
BCG found that, while this sentiment is true across most sectors, industrial goods, retail, and travel and tourism are seeing the largest slowdown in IT budgets. Financial services, healthcare, and tech expect smaller declines in overall growth.
The report shows that leaders are moving quickly to reduce the impact of global economic uncertainty – nearly 60% said they had already began cost-cutting measures in late 2024, though half were also investing in AI and automation.
Nearly half (44%) have stalled or paused a range of IT projects in response to uncertainty and shifting priorities, with about a third hoping to restart these projects within the next six months, with half not expecting to go ahead in the next year.
Even with these project delays, almost 60% plan to invest in AI and automation over the next year aiming to mitigate the impact of the tariffs.
CIOs are also rethinking long-term plans when it comes to trade disruptions, with four in ten expecting to reassess their contracts and global sourcing.
Overall in long-term views, 62% plan on introducing cost controls, while 58% are planning for AI and automation investment.
Over half of telecoms service providers expect SMS to experience an increase in fraud in 2025, with less than a third expecting SMS to become a cleaner channel in this period.
This is according to a new report from XConnect and Mobilesquared, which found that total SMS traffic is expected to fall by a quarter (25.9%) between 2024 and 2029, which can be attributed to the overall health of the SMS marketplace.
At the same time, the average cost to send an SMS internationally leapt by 85.2% between an aggregator and mobile operator are one of the main contributing factors for excessively driving up international termination rates (ITR).
“After the meteoric growth and global adoption of SMS over the last decade, the channel has been exposed to a set of dynamics that come with maturity: over-monetisation, price increases, interconnect fraud and artificially inflated traffic (AIT)”, said Tim Ward, at XConnect.
“The users of SMS have been responding to these challenges in many different ways. One of the key conclusions from the report is that there are precautions that can be taken by identifying the high-risk destinations and applying simple real-time checks to guarantee the safe passage of traffic. This becomes essential to restoring trust in SMS as the messaging market grows more complex.”
The ‘good’ markets (NISQ growth below 500% and an international termination rate below $0.10) account for 84.2% of total A2P SMS traffic in 2024. By region, 67% of North America and 60% of West Europe are ‘good’ markets.
The ‘bad’ markets (NISQ growth in excess of 500% and an ITR over $0.10)accounted for 3.58% of total traffic.
Almost 80% of total NISQs in 2024 occurred in good markets, 13.5% in bad markets, and 6.94% in indifferent markets. This confirms the research data from XConnect customers that they are using NISQ to ensure safe passage of their SMS traffic.
Nearly a third (32%) of employees using GenAI tools at work say they are keeping it a secret from their employer, new research from Ivanti says.
The enterprise software company surveyed over 6,000 office workers and 1,200 IT and cybersecurity professionals to explore the challenges and opportunities in the modern workforce, ranging from new technologies, hybrid working, and geopolitical issues.
Amid economic turbulence, a stagnating job market, return-to-office mandates, and fewer opportunities to climb the corporate career ladder, the Ivanti report finds that a significant number of employees are feeling heightened concerns around the use of technology to enhance productivity, as well as job dissatisfaction and a lack of motivation at work.
In fact, Ivanti found that 30% of employees who use GenAI tools at work worry their job may be cut and 27% experience AI-fueled imposter syndrome, saying they don’t want people to question their ability.
“Ivanti’s research shows that employees continue to want greater autonomy over their work lives and AI solutions that help them do their best work,” said Brooke Johnson, Ivanti chief legal counsel and SVP of HR and Security.
“To address this, organizations should consider building a sustainable AI governance model, prioritizing transparency and tackling the complex challenge of AI-fueled imposter syndrome through reinvention.
“Employers who fail to approach innovation with empathy and provide employees with autonomy run the risk of losing valuable staff and negatively impacting employee productivity.”
More employees admit to using GenAI at work in 2025 (42%) compared to 2024 (26%), despite concerns expressed about GenAI’s impact on job security.
Additionally, 48% of employees admit feeling resenteeism (when someone dislikes their job but stays despite the negative feelings).
Further, 39% admit to presenteeism (when an employee comes into the office to be ‘seen’ as working, but not necessarily to be productive.
For IT professionals, if left unaddressed, resenteeism and presenteeism can have a ripple effect on the productivity and security of the organization.
Although 83% of IT professionals view flexible work as high-value or essential, only 25% say their current job is highly flexible and 64% say they’re feeling pressure from employers to come back to the office. Considering the ongoing competition for skilled IT workers, it is crucial for employers to make efforts to retain these employees.
Further, while return-to-office mandates are increasing, 85% of employees log in remotely during non-work hours, for instance, to check emails or complete a work tasks. Employers therefore need to ensure they have the capability to secure and manage all forms of work, even if workers are forced back into the office.
The research also found that younger workers are more likely to switch jobs, with both gen Z (54%) and millennials (53%) saying they would consider quitting in exchange for workplace flexibility.
Nearly half of office workers (48%) claim that when their employer is inflexible about their schedule, it’s a sign they don’t value them or their work, underscoring a significant shift in workplace expectations around flexibility and autonomy.
In 2025, companies will spend trillions on new technology, yet nearly half (46%) of IT professionals report a rise in ticket volumes due to new software deployments. These increase complexity, risk, and technical debt, which can hinder the very innovation they promise. Until organisations gain control over their existing tech stack and break down data silos, AI’s benefits will struggle to be fully realised.
Thousands of girls in the UK will be eligible for financial support to improve their participation in studying maths in an aim to better prepare them for an AI future, the UK government has announced.
7,500 girls will be eligible for part of the £8.2m of funding announced to improve the participation and teaching of advanced maths.
The funding, part of the refreshed Advanced Maths Support Programme, will target support to thousands of pupils from 400 disadvantaged secondary schools – breaking the link between background and success so all young people have the chance to progress in careers of the future.
Currently, only a third of A level maths pupils are girls, while currently only 22% of professionals working in AI related roles like software engineer or data science are women.
“Today’s brightest maths minds are tomorrow’s AI pioneers, and this government is opening the door for groups who have so far been left behind in the AI revolution,” education secretary Bridget Phillipson said.
“Through our Plan for Change we are breaking down barriers to opportunity, backing our young people and going further and faster for AI growth, ensuring the next generation can progress in the exciting careers of the future.”
The updated Advanced Maths Support Programme includes pilot teacher training and student enrichment courses on the key maths concepts and skills needed for AI, with the government saying this will benefit 540 students and 360 teachers from September.
“AI is the defining technology of our generation, improving our public services, sparking fresh economic growth, and unlocking the jobs of the future. We can only harness that potential if we have a pipeline of talent equipped with the skills they need for the jobs of tomorrow,” science secretary Peter Kyle said.
“This package of support will help us deliver our Plan for Change and do exactly that. This is the first step in our plan to give every young person in the country the opportunity to develop the tools which will put them front and centre in delivering our AI-powered future.”
The investment in maths education comes at a time when Scotland is struggling to find enough computing science teachers to educate its children as the number of teachers crashed in recent years.
Computing science education is in a crisis in Scotland, reports show, putting children at risk of falling behind in digital skills compared to other nations.
Heriot-Watt researchers have developed an advanced simulation tool that accurately predicts underwater landslides caused by offshore wind turbines.
The new method enables developers to assess seabed stability not only at the design stage but throughout a wind farm’s lifespan, helping to optimise placement and ensure long-term resilience.
Underwater landslides – when sections of the seabed suddenly shift – can impact the stability of wind turbines, particularly in areas with soft seabeds and gentle slopes.
While engineering structures like monopiles (the foundations of some offshore wind turbines) can contribute to seabed stress, predicting the extent of this effect has been challenging.
The Heriot-Watt tool quickly and precisely identifies potential landslide zones, helping developers strengthen seabed stability and avoid costly downtime.
Qingping Zou, professor of coastal dynamics at the Lyell Centre, Heriot-Watt’s Global Research Institute for earth and marine sciences, said: “Offshore wind farms represent millions of pounds of investment and have the potential to transform our energy supply.
“To protect these assets, developers need accurate and efficient tools to assess seabed stability—not just when choosing turbine locations, but as an ongoing part of wind farm operations and monitoring.
“Our method gives a clear understanding and fast prediction of how the seabed will respond once turbines are in place, ensuring that sites are most suitable and projects remain safe, resilient and productive.”
The Heriot-Watt tool combines soil mechanics theory with a shear strength reduction method to analyse how the seabed holds together under stress.
Benjian Song, a PhD student at Heriot-Watt, said: “We tested our method on 3D models of the ocean floor, including real-world locations like Silver Pit, off the coast of Lincolnshire—a region with a history of submarine landslides.
“Our tool maps potential landslide zones and assesses how turbine foundations influence seabed conditions over time. Crucially, it also solves a major issue for existing models, which struggle to simulate multiple landslides occurring simultaneously.”
The research highlights how turbines’ foundations and storm activity influence seabed stability.
Dr Cathal Cummins from Heriot-Watt’s School of Mathematical and Computing Science explained: “Monopiles, which are large steel cylinders driven into the seabed, are widely used to anchor offshore wind turbines.
“Our simulations show that these structures create stress concentrations that can affect long-term seabed stability.
“We also found that increasing the diameter and depth of monopiles enhances overall slope stability, offering a potential design solution to mitigate risk.
“Storms further weaken the seabed, and the dynamic loads transferred through monopiles can reduce soil strength.
“Our tool allows developers to factor in these effects and make decisions about wind farm resilience.”
Dr Cummins says the team is keen to collaborate with offshore developers to integrate seabed stability assessments into wind farm design and maintenance.
“Our tool is a fast, accurate way to predict underwater landslides, with minimal computational requirements.
“By using it, developers can ensure their offshore wind farms remain stable and reach their full renewable energy potential.”
An Aberdeen cyber academy is entering a partnership with Bahrain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to deliver cyber safety education to 70,000 students in the country.
The OSP Cyber Academy’s partnership will feature culturally tailored cyber awareness courses that are gamified, aiming to enhance the understanding of cybersecurity best practices as well as digital citizenship.
The programme will feature four interactive courses that will provide cyber awareness to children from the age of 6 up to 17 years old.
The courses will feature the avatars of ‘guiding learners’ that will walk children through real-world online safety scenarios set against the backdrop of landscapes inspired by Bahrain’s key landmarks.
The initiative has been launched in collaboration with His Excellency Sheikh Salman bin Mohammed AlKhalifa, CEO of NCSC Bahrain.
It builds upon the Aberdeen academy’s ongoing relationship with Bahrain – the OSP Cyber Academy hosts the UK pavilion at the Arab International Cyber Security Summit in Bahrain each year.
It also hosted a Guinness World Record in 2023 for the ‘most people to take an online internet safety lesson in 24 hours’ during the event, which featured 1550 people from 44 countries.
“We are absolutely delighted to announce our new partnership with NCSC Bahrain and to bring our online courses to such an important demographic. Children grow up in a digital world and it is vital they know how to navigate the environment safely,” Tommy McCarthy, CEO of OSP CyberAcademy, said.
“Whether it’s learning, socialising, playing games or interacting with friends, the online world hosts a huge proportion of a child’s life. We must ensure that children understand the risks that lurk online, have the ability to spot danger and understand security best practices.
“Our courses have been designed specifically to suit these needs but in a format that is enjoyable for children. The games are interactive, fun, but they also provide guidance for children which will help keep them safe online.”
Ransomware attacks were down in April, according to research from Comparitech, which found a significant decline in the number of attacks compared to the first three months of the year.
Comparitech researchers logged 749 ransomware attacks in total in April 2025, 39 of which were confirmed by the targeted entity.
This is a major decline from the 713 seen in March, as well as the 973 in February and the 530 in January.
Comparitech credited the decline partly to one of the most prolific ransomware gangs – RansomHub – going dark from the end of March.
While April may have been overall quieter, it did see some of the largest and most disruptive attacks this year. These include the ongoing attack on UK retail chain, Marks and Spencer, which has been attributed to Scattered Spider.
Globally, April also saw the attack on DaVita, a UK kidney dialysis company, as well as a attack on EU-Rec GmbH in Germany which saw the company file for insolvency. Virgin Islands Lottery also feel victim to a cyber-attack, as well as the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
Government entities remain a frequent target for ransomware gangs. Ransomware figures in this sector remain high (9) despite lower attack figures overall (39). Meanwhile, healthcare companies saw an increase in confirmed attacks (6).
Most attacks -both confirmed and unconfirmed, were on businesses, with 21 confirmed and 396 unconfirmed attacks.
The most prolific ransomware gangs were Qilin (67), Akira (62), Play (50), Lynx (32), and NightSpire (22). Akira had the most confirmed (3) followed by Qilin, NightSpire, Silent, and Sarcoma with two each.
Qilin’s rise might have something to do with RansomHub going dark. Some experts suggest RansomHub’s affiliates have migrated to Qilin. With such an increase in the number of attacks claimed by Qilin in April (up from 45 in March), that explanation is plausible.
Akira had the most confirmed attacks with three in total, followed by Quilin, NightSpire, Sarcoma, and Silent, each with two confirmed attacks.
A third of global technology leaders believe their board has unrealistic expectations or demands on how new technologies like AI will impact business performance.
This is according to an IDC InfoBrief, commissioned by Expereo, which highlights serious roadblocks to global AI implementation, despite AI being considered critical to fulfilling business priorities.
The research of 650 technology leaders in global organisations across Europe, the US and APAC reveals that 34% of global technology leaders have been forced to reassess their technology infrastructure because of rising geopolitical risks, as 37% say geopolitical disruptions are currently impacting their organisation’s growth strategies.
Amid the volatile economic backdrop, it seems most organisations are placing their bets on AI to drive growth. The research shows that 87% of business leaders believe AI will be important to fulfilling business priorities in the next 12 months.
AI has largely met or exceeded expectations to date, according to the report, with only 12% of global businesses saying AI has fallen short of expectations.
Global tech leaders agree that AI will positively impact business, particularly customer-facing activities and costs (both at 66%).
However, unrealistic board expectations could throw organisation’s AI plans into chaos, as 28% of global technology executives say expectations within their organisation ow what AI can do are growing faster than their ability to meet them.
“As global businesses embrace AI to transform employee and customer experience, setting realistic goals and aligning expectations will be critical to ensuring that AI delivers long-term value, rather than being viewed as a quick fix,” Ben Elms, CEO, Expereo said.
“While the potential of AI is immense, its successful integration requires careful planning. Technology leaders must recognize the need for robust networks and connectivity infrastructure to support AI at scale, while also ensuring consistent performance across these networks.
“We are at a pivotal moment where strategic investments in technology and IT infrastructure are necessary to meet both current and future demands.”
The research paints a positive picture for the promise of AI, but only if businesses can overcome existing challenges. The majority (52%) of organisations say their network/connectivity infrastructure is not ready to support new technology initiatives, such as AI.
A further 45% say their network performance is preventing or limiting their organisation’s networks from supporting large data/AI projects (up from 38% in 2024).
42% of global businesses also say concerns over AI governance or ethics remain a significant obstacle to implementing AI initiatives in their organisation, followed by resistance from employees regarding their jobs (35%), and keeping up with the pace of change (34%).
Meanwhile, 29% of global businesses say current external technology partners not having the right capabilities remains a significant obstacle to implementing AI initiatives in their organisation.
Despite these challenges, 79% of global technology leaders believe the focus on AI has raised their profile at the board level, up from 60% in 2024.
Apple has approved a new Spotify app update which overhauls the tech giant’s long-time app payment rules.
The update, which is available to users in the US, allows users to access external payment links and pricing information, just days after a US judge forced Apple to no longer charge commissions on iPhone app purchases.
A Spotify spokesperson called the move a “victory for consumers, artists, creators, and authors,” as reported by TechCrunch.
The ruling, which showed that Apple was violating a 2012 ruling intending to prevent the company from anticompetitive pricing rules, was brought up by Epic Games in the US.
Apple was told to change its app store rules to permit developers to direct customers to their own websites, where users can make purchases without Apple taking a commission. Apple will no longer be able to collect a commission on purchases made outside of apps.
Spotify’s updates on the US app store will now direct users to external links where they can buy and manage subscriptions. The update will also let Spotify inform users about various subscription options and costs. External links to Spotify’s website will allow users to make purchases that will not be subject to Apple’s 30% charge on in-app payments.
The ruling is a step change for Apple’s market dominance of app stores on its iOS devices, which has been continually challenged by competition regulators and app developers.
The US judge making the ruling said that not only did Apple violate a former order to transform its App Store, but violated this ruling “willfully” and with the intentions of enhancing their market dominance.
The US case, and Spotify’s update, mirrors a class action lawsuit brought against Apple in the UK over app store charges over the 30% commission on in-app purchases. App developers in the UK have brought up similar charges against the tech giant.
Recent cyber-attacks and attempted hacks at some of the UK’s biggest retailers – Marks and Spencer’s, Co-op, and Harrods – have sparked a government response as fears mount across the retail sector.
The cyber-attacks all took place within a matter of days, impacting internal IT systems, and in the case of Co-op, even potentially affecting customer data, the BBC reported.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre is working with affected organisations to better understand the nature of the attacks, which left M&S with empty shelves and impacted the integrity of Co-op Teams communications.
Currently, the NCSC cannot say if these attacks are linked or part of a targeted campaign, but noted speculations that the M&S attack was proliferated by cyber-crime group Scattered Spider, and that remote access could have been gained over social engineering tactics.
Pat McFadden, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, will set out action the government is taking to improve cybersecurity in a speech this week.
McFadden will call these attacks a “wake-up call for every business in the UK.
“In a world where the cyber-criminals targeting us are relentless in their pursuit of profit – with attempts being made every hour of every day – companies must treat cybersecurity as an absolute priority.
“We’ve watched in real-time the disruption these attacks have caused – including to working families going about their everyday lives. It serves as a powerful reminder that just as you would never leave your car or your house unlocked on your way to work. We have to treat our digital shop fronts the same way.”
The NCSC is urging leaders to follow the advice on the NCSC website to ensure they have appropriate measures in place to help prevent attacks and respond and recover effectively.
These include back-t0-basics measures ranging from multi-factor authentication, enhanced monitoring against unauthorised account misuse and domains, reviewing passwords, advanced identifying systems, and better threat management tactics.
McFadden will also lay out how the government is aiming to enhance the UK’s cyber protections.
“We’re modernising the way the state approaches cyber, through the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill. That legislation will bolster our national defences,” McFadden will say.
“It will grant new powers for the Technology Secretary to direct regulated organisations to reinforce their cyber defences It will require over 1,000 private IT providers to improve their data and network security.
“It will require companies to report a wider array of cyber incidents to the NCSC in the future – to help us build a clearer picture of who, and what, hostile actors are targeting.”
While the NCSC says they have provided specific guidance to the retail sector, the centre “beleive[s] by following best practice, all companies and organisations can minimise the chances of falling victim to actors like this.”
Around two in five wealth managers are very concerned that companies are making false claims about the extent to which they use AI and the positive impact it is having on their operations, in a phenomenon dubbed ‘AI washing’.
This is according to new global research from fund manager Robocap, which found the concerns were among 37% of pension funds, insurance asset managers, family officers, and wealth managers with combined assets under management of $1.183 trillion.
A further 63% are quite concerned about this issue, the research found.
There are several different varieties of AI washing, which can include companies claiming to use AI when in fact they are using less-sophisticated algorithms. It could also involve overstating the efficacy of their AI over existing techniques, or falsely claiming that their AI solutions are fully operational.
Over the next three years, more than a quarter (26%) of the professional investors surveyed believe that AI washing will worsen slightly while 3% believe it will get much worse. However, almost two-thirds believe the problem of AI will become less severe, and 7% say it will not change.
“Just like greenwashing, AI washing is a genuine problem for investors who are looking for exposure to companies that genuinely profit from the growth and operational efficiencies AI can bring,” Jonathan Cohen, founder and CIO of Robocap said.
“We believe there is a strong misunderstanding and a misuse of the term AI, a great disparity between the technological innovation and what we actually see in terms of revenues derived from it.”
“When selecting investment opportunities we look for companies with a good underlying exposure to the AI, robotics and automation theme, a strong business model backed by excellent technology, a good management team and at a compelling valuation”
Speakers at DIGIT’s inaugural FS Technology Summit also pointed to this phenomenon, questioning data that says people ‘feel’ more productive and efficient over qualitative data suggesting the same.
Financial services is an umbrella term for a vast industry with some of the biggest global companies in the world, which deal with some of the public’s most at-risk datasets and assets.
These traditional institutions have spent years, decades, even centuries building consumer trust by ensuring the public’s money is secure, their financial investments are sound, and their assets are future-proofed.
Financial services regularly deal with people on the worst days of their lives, often dealing with people’s greatest vulnerabilities in turbulent economic times, as trade undulates and the cost of living crisis squeezes everyday consumers.
FS institutions do not treat this burden lightly – they are often known in the tech world for their cumbersome legacy systems and mass data sets which need to be wrangled across siloed systems. Their conservative, stable approach to innovation is mean to instill trust from their customers, but times are changing.
The rapid rise of AI and the growing push for AI investment, adoption, and deployment is putting pressure on a more conservative industry, and rightly so.
The advent of AI offers a number of risks to a more-risk adverse industry dealing with the products of people’s livelihoods, who are tasked with approving and managing mortgage loans, dealing with emotional and monetary consequences of inheritance, advising financial planning for pensioners and first-time parents.
But AI is here, and is already being adopted by financial institutions, pushed across sectors and systems with vigour and at a pace that seems to show no sign of slowing.
However, considering the stakes of FS, speakers at DIGIT’s inaugural FS Technology Summit in Edinburgh urged the hundreds of delegates in attendance to show pause, caution, and critique when initiating AI into their organisations.
“Things are moving extremely fast, so you have to be able to be agile, adapt, and innovate, and that’s particularly hard in financial services organisations,” Andy McMahon, principle AI and MLOps Engineer at Barlcays.
“We have this need to manage risk and build trust,” he said.
Jumping on the AI bandwagon is simply not a viable option for FS firms, as the risks and lack of trust this can incur is too high a price to pay.
But the expectations for AI are incredibly high, research from analytics firms McKinsey and Bloomberg says. The GDP of the UK would be added to the global economy annually due to GenAI through the 2020s and into the 2030s, McKinsey predicted.
Similarly, Bloomberg predicted that 10% to 12% of all technology spending in organisations would be funnelled towards generative AI.
McMahon is critical, he admitted, especially of what this would look like in reality.
“Any of you managing IT budgets for your organisation: Can you imagine carving 10% of that budget, everything you’re looking at – and to put it on a nascent new technology that’s just hit the scene? That’s quite dramatic!”
McMahon is encouraging others to be “very critical” of investments in AI, of this almost all-encompassing drive for AI adoption, this fear of being left behind, of disengaging investors, of losing out to competitors.
When implementing AI into a firm, McMahon said it needed to be treated like investing in any other new technology – it should not, and in fact, cannot be simply shoved into a system.
Back to basics
Looking at the firms that have most successfully integrated AI into their systems looks a lot different than offering an AI chatbot for basic customer service queries – generative AI is at its core, a general purpose technology that can be applied to a range of domains.
FInding where a firm can capitalise on this technology across a specific vertical “and not just following the hype” differentiates a firm from those jumping on the bandwagon.
“Giving everyone an AI assistant isn’t going to automatically drive ROI,” McMahon said. “What’s going to drive ROI is when you drill down into your specific verticals within your organisation. We’ll have such specific questions for our organisation, and you need to find where the value of AI translates for you.”
So, how does one identify a positive use case for AI?
McMahon suggests keeping to the six key abilities of AI as a central framework for figuring out if it makes a compelling adoption case.
These include: search, summarise, analyse, generate, translation, and transcription.
“If it’s not one of these six with GenAI, then I’m just trying to put a square peg in a round hole,” he said.
It’s also important to go beyond these basic principles – just because AI can summarise things, does not mean there’s a business case for this integration.
AI is also touted as a productivity improver, but again, McMahon is critical of the data.
“People are saying ‘I am ten times more productive than I was’ since adopting AI, but I want to challenge this – where’s the data?”
Is this just a feeling, or are people really more productive?
“Maybe they’re faster; they don’t necessarily mean they’re really putting out better quality code now.”
It’s important to note that McMahon is not bashing AI – he’s simply being critical of half-hearted implementation efforts amongst companies, who throw AI into their systems without proper forethought or a sound enough foundational basis.
And in reality, firms are still waiting at the starting line when it comes to the AI race.
A report from BCG found that around 40% of companies across various sectors had yet to take any action on AI adoption, while only 10% were at the stage where they could scale. Half were at the planning phase in their AI journey. The rush may be more talk and promises than reality.
More than that, it shows that there’s a strong barrier to translating enthusiasm for AI into actual return on investment.
Ensuring that this is achievable truly does bring us back down to the basics of being AI ready, and just business ready – “good existing capabilities around your data around your foundations, your infrastructure, your processes, and you are basically a strong user of predictive AI analytics already,” McMahon described the perfect candidate for scaling AI.
Organisations just at the start of their digital transformation journey will likely struggle to implement AI effectively without this basis.
“You’re going to have to think very strategically about how you make the right investments,” McMahon said.
Financial services should know by now that trust takes time to build trust with customers. The same should be true for trusting new systems, especially when it comes to AI.
“Don’t assume that the off the shelf solution is just going to solve what you need to do,” McMahon argued.
AI skills also play a role – ensuring that staff are capable of using AI to better their work, not just complete it, can make a world of difference.
Research from Git Clear shows that AI-generated code from Copilots have lead to an increase in duplicated codes and eroding code quality. While workers may be getting more done, the quality of this work may be decreasing.
Experts in their field may be able to use AI, spot any errors, and fix them, but this also points to the requirement of having a strong foundational understanding and ability to
AI models have bias, they have the ability to hallucinate, and the ability to mislead. Understanding what you want from an AI model, and if what they produce is quality, is key.
“It’s just that balance between the chase, the hype, “give everyone an AI co-pilot and assume I’ve got huge ROI” or actually critically evaluate,” he said.
“We have to go back to basics and just say what is the business case, what is the opportunity I’m chasing? What are the metrics that tell me I’m succeeding. What are they for?”
Determining a use case, creating metrics to measure this return – not just on what people feel, but what is actually happening in terms of productivity – is vital in ensuring an AI investment is done responsibly.
Even when trust in AI is built responsibly, and the hype means an IT department gains the funding for their AI transformation or integration, trust still needs to be built.
“We’re still gonna face the same challenge, which is when I implement this stuff, we’re going to have a bit. Of a reckoning where. You know the business. The organisation is quite rightly going to say where the value show me the money, right.”
While McMahon has found boards heartily encouraging him to invest in AI, organisations will still have questions about return on investment – and feeling more productive might not cut it.
“The worst thing that we can do as organisations is spend millions, in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars, implementing technology. And then find out years later that it would have been better to wait.”
Having the right metrics and measures in place is essential for an organisation to trust that their AI implementation and investment is worth it down the line.
This is, however, easier said than done. The AI skills gap is currently a top worry for firms as they try to implement the new technology, and measuring data and metrics of its return on investment can be tricky to disseminate and explain to a board of directors that also may not fully understand the technology.
McMahon suggests some sort of central AI department – an AI centre of excellence, for instance – that can focus various departmental integration initiatives, explain and track the progress of AI projects, and reflect these back to leaders.
This can help financial services organisations maintain a balance between innovation whilst maintaining trust within their organisation and with their customers.
“Legacy financial services firms have quite rightly built a reputation and trust for being conservative,” McMahon concedes. “But now, we’re in an era where we have to break from some of that. I’ve never seen anything move this fast, so we have to try and think: ‘What is the balance we are going to strike?’”
World Password Day is facing a transformation as more people would prefer if organisations adopted passkeys.
Nearly half of customers would trust a brand more if they adopted passkey technology, according to Thales’ 2025 Digital Trust Index.
While World Password Day is traditionally an occasion to promote secure password practices, Thales has long questioned if passwords are no longer fit for purpose, and if passkeys would suit the modern world’s security requirements better.
Thales’ doubts have been reinforced by the FIDO Alliance – an open industry alliance aiming to standardise and improve authentication methods – which has officially rebranded the day as World Passkey Day – a clear shift towards a passwordless future.
Passwords not only create security vulnerabilities but also frustrate users, Thales found.
According to the 2025 Thales Digital Trust Index, resetting passwords is one of the top causes of online frustration, with 31% of consumers saying it has made them lose patience online.
Password-related struggles don’t just impact consumers—they also disrupt workplaces. The study found that 55% of workers are frustrated every time they need to create a new password. These frustrations align with broader concerns about security, with 75% of people stating that having a passwordless login experience is important to them.
“Passwords have long been a weak link in digital security, forcing consumers and businesses into a frustrating cycle of password resets and potential breaches,” Simon McNally, cybersecurity expert at Thales, said.
“We welcome the FIDO Alliance’s commitment to World Passkey Day and its push for a passwordless future. Passkeys provide a seamless and secure authentication experience, eliminating the risks and frustrations associated with traditional passwords.
“Passkeys are automatically generated and securely stored, removing the burden of creating and managing complex passwords. They also enhance privacy by allowing authentication without sharing sensitive data, reducing the risk of breaches. As trust in digital security becomes more critical, businesses must prioritise passwordless solutions to protect users and build brand confidence.”
First off, a passkey is a new kind of digital key that aims to replace passwords entirely. Unlike a password, which is a secret phrase of code that a person remembers and types in, a passkey is a unique digital credential that is stored on a person’s device.
Passwords typically reply on something a person knows, which can be guessed or stolen, and in many cases, used for multiple logins.
On the other hand, passkeys involve something a person ‘has’ (a digital key or credential), and something you ‘are’ (a face ID or fingerprint). These are harder for hackers to steal, and are unique for each site, so even if one became compromised, other accounts wouldn’t be jeopardised.
Major companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon, Sony and Nintendo have already started supporting passkeys with their software and services
Welcome to the April 2025 edition of DIGIT’s Movers and Shakers!
Each month, our Movers and Shakers feature gives you the low-down on recent news in the Scottish tech ecosystem.
Esteemed appointments, major partnerships, and important awards all took place throughout the month.
Read on to find out what exactly has been happening!
Appointments
Burness Paull Expands Leadership with Five New Partners
Burness Paull has promoted five of its lawyers to partner as the firm prepares for further growth in key areas and continues to invest in developing homegrown talent.
The newly appointed partners are Rachel MacArthur, Daniela Pallucci, Colin Smith (all corporate finance), Nick Warrillow (dispute resolution), and Gemma Young (banking).
MacArthur, Pallucci and Smith trained at the firm and Warrillow and Young have each been at the firm for several years.
Peter Lawson, chair at Burness Paull, said: “The attraction and development of exceptional talent is key to our ability to deliver the very best outcomes for our clients. The well-deserved promotions of Rachel, Daniela, Colin, Nick and Gemma reflect the significant contribution all five have made – and our strong belief that their talent and expertise will further enhance our bench of market-leading lawyers.”
Technology consultancy AND Digital has appointed Elaine Van Der Berg as Chief for Growth for Scotland, marking a strategic focus on helping businesses across the region unlock greater value through digital transformation.
Elaine Van Der Berg brings over 25 years of leadership experience across global tech firms including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Capita, Autodesk, and Dell Technologies. Most recently, as CEO of Edinburgh-based tech company Pufferfish, she led the business through a period of rapid transformation.
With a career spanning Europe and Asia-Pacific, Elaine has a proven track record of driving business growth through sharp strategic thinking, customer obsession, and a clear focus on delivering high-impact results that matter to end users and stakeholders alike.
Napier Uni Appoints Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence
The Royal Society has appointed Mary Jane Brouwers as Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR) at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU).
In the role, Brouwers will play a key part in developing the Investing for Impact Hub at The Business School of Edinburgh Napier University, helping to bridge academia, industry and investment communities.
The EiR scheme, which was launched in 2018, has funded more than 130 placements in 65 institutions, with the aim of increasing the knowledge in UK universities of the science, research and innovation taking place in industry.
Ana Stewart Appointed as Chief Entrepreneur as Ecosystem Fund Reopens
Businesswoman and investor Ana Stewart has been appointed the Scottish Government’s new Chief Entrepreneur.
Ms Stewart, who also co-authored a landmark “Pathways” report alongside former-Chief Entrepreneur Mark Logan, will take up the role until July 2026.
From this galvanising report reviewing the barriers women face in entering the entrepreneurial landscape, Stewart launched Pathways Forward, an initiative set to empower and enable women in entrepreneurship through industry pledges, networking events, and funding opportunities.
Ciara Mitchell has joined LastingAsset as their Chief Operating Officer.
Ciara brings a wealth of experience in the cybersecurity sector, having previously served as the Head of Cyber at ScotlandIS, where she played a pivotal role in advancing Scotland’s cyber industry. Her leadership was instrumental in fostering collaboration across academia, industry, and government, driving innovation and growth within the sector.
Ciara’s extensive background includes over 20 years at BT where she led product management in Security Intelligence.
CirrusHQ Appoints AWS Executive as Head of Sales
Also back in December, CirrusHQ, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud specialist, appointed Craig Ridsdill in a newly created Head of Sales role.
Reporting to CirrusHQ’s Chief Revenue Officer, Stephen Croke, Craig joins the organisation from AWS, where he has spent the last six years leading the cloud services platform’s higher education and NHS healthcare teams.
At CirrusHQ, he will work closely with Croke to further extend the organisation’s relationship with those across healthcare and education seeking to reap the benefits of the cloud.
Calcivis appoints Greg Sheehan as CEO
Edinburgh-based dental imaging technology pioneer, Calcivis, has appointed US dental industry veteran Greg Sheehan as its new Chief Executive Officer.
With 28 years’ experience in leading dental businesses in America, Sheehand brings a wealth of experience having previously held senior leadership roles at Dentsply Sirona.
In his new role, Sheehan will focus on using his market experience and expertise to accelerate the adoption of the CALCIVIS Imaging System in the US, with the company having already secured pre-market approval (PMA) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
SOLASTA® Bio makes trio of senior appointments
SOLASTA® Bio, specialising in the next generation of green insecticides, has appointed three senior business and industry experts to support the company’s UK and US growth as it prepares for market entry.
Emma Axelson, based in Scotland, joins as Chief of Staff. She will be responsible for supporting Shireen Davies, SOLASTA® Bio’s CEO, with strategic planning and execution, operations, communications and key projects.
James (Jim) Cink joins as Global Head of Product Development, based in the US. Jim will lead product strategy and development, supporting Paula Pinto, SOLASTA® Bio’s Chief Strategy Officer.
Solito Sumulong, based in the US, joins as Regulatory Affairs Manager. He will oversee registration of SOLASTA® Bio’s solutions in the US and international markets, as well as ensuring regulatory compliance for all company activities.
Partnerships
Codebase Launches DeepTech AI Initiative with Scots Unis and NHS
A DeepTech AI initiative has been launched in Scotland to bridge innovation between university postgraduate talent and NHS Scotland.
‘AI Discovery’, delivered by CodeBase via its Techscaler programme in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, and NHS Scotland, will help postgraduates harness the latest AI technologies and build AI-enabled startups that can address some of the greatest challenges faced by the NHS.
“We have some of the world’s best universities, and there is a real opportunity to point some of the brightest minds at some of society’s biggest challenges. The plan is to connect NHS data to AI startups who can help bring about significant productivity and efficiency gains,” CodeBase’s chief strategy officer Steven Drost said.
Search and Rescue Tech Firm Zelim Partners With Pulsant
As part of a vision to deliver the world’s first unmanned search and rescue capability, Zelim launched ZOE Intelligent Detection in 2024. ZOE applies inference AI to video feeds, to deliver real-time detection and alert of passengers or crew who fall overboard – this guides search and rescue operations, making them faster and safer.
Due to intense, rapid growth, Zelim identified a need for a colocation partner. Having initially hosted its servers on-premise, the company faced not only high energy costs but also an unacceptable level of risk. This exposure ranged from the threat of power outages and fire, to flooding and theft.
University of Strathclyde Renews Partnership with Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland
The University of Strathclyde and Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland (CHSS) have renewed a long-standing partnership to revolutionise support for stroke survivors.
The Sir Jules Thorn Co-Creation Centre for Rehabilitation Technology at the University has helped more than 120 stroke survivors with a cutting-edge, technology-driven approach.
The Centre has been supported by CHSS since 2022, with funding for two research assistants, who design and supervise the pioneering rehabilitation programme and manage the day-to-day operation of the centre.
Expansions
Scotland Launches UAE Energy Hub for Clean Tech Firms
A new Scottish energy transition hub is set to be launched in Abu Dhabi to support Scottish companies working in the clean energy sector and provide them with direct access to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) energy market.
Announced by Scottish Enterprise, the hub is the second phase of a dedicated programme that aims to generate additional international export sales and in its first year, will be home for up to ten Scottish companies entering the UAE market for the first time with products and services that support global energy transition.
These businesses will be able to use the hub as their UAE base for up to eighteen months, with access to advice and support on setting up in the local business environment, as well as mentoring, coaching, and advice on funding sources.
Biotech MiAlgae Expands into Grangemouth with New Production Facility
Biotech pioneer MiAlgae has marked a major step forward in its mission to increase production volumes of its sustainable biotechnology solutions, as it submits plans for a new production facility in Grangemouth, Scotland.
Underpinning its role in Scotland’s green economic transition, the first phase of the site is estimated to create over 100 green jobs once operational. The planned expansion will allow MiAlgae to continue to offer retraining opportunities for workers transitioning from the oil and gas industry.
MiAlgae repurposes whisky industry by-products to grow microalgae as a sustainable, cost-effective alternative to fish-derived Omega-3s. The site is ideally located near distilleries and MiAlgae’s customers in the Central Belt of Scotland, which will help it scale its sustainable production model.
The new facility will enable the company to address the increasing demands from aquaculture and pet food markets, which are seeking sustainable and ethical sources of marine Omega-3s.
Awards and Recognition
Who Won at This Year’s BAFTA Game Awards?
The winners of the 21stBAFTA Games Awards were announced last night in a ceremony hosted by Phil Wang at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and broadcast live on streaming platforms YouTube and Twitch.
The BAFTA Games Awards celebrate the very best games of the past year and the people who made them, and showcase a wide range of storytelling and creative excellence.
Astro Bot won five BAFTAs: Animation, Audio Achievement, Best Game, Family and Game Design.
Optimum Eco Group anniversaries celebrated in Scottish Parliament
A motion has been lodged at the Scottish Parliament recognising Optimum Eco Group’s pivotal role in driving Scotland’s environmentally responsible economy and celebrating the company’s 25 years in business.
This significant milestone, proposed by Ruth Maguire MSP for Cunninghame South and backed by a cross-party group of 14 MSPs from across Scotland, has delighted the group and coincides with the 20th and 25th anniversary celebrations of the group’s two constituent companies.
Published on 3rd April, the motion celebrates the whole Optimum Eco Group, specifically recognising CCL (North) for its specialised services in secure data destruction and the valuable reuse, repair, and recycling of IT equipment and waste electrical and electronic equipment.
It also acknowledges Restructa’s important work in the reuse, repair, and recycling of displays, stating its belief that both companies make substantial contributions to Scotland’s circular economy and overarching sustainability objectives.
Aberdeen Tech Scale-up Becomes Certified B Corp
Aberdeen tech scale-up, LiberEat, has called for food businesses to go beyond compliance to actively protect consumers against allergens after becoming a certified B Corporation.
The move sees LiberEat join a global community of companies committing to pursue a sustainable purpose as well as profit through B Corp certification, and comes as high-profile allergen-related recalls and regulatory changes are putting growing pressure on the food industry to strengthen safety standards and reduce risks.
Barry Leaper, Founder and CEO of LiberEat, commented: “With food safety under the spotlight more than ever, companies must go beyond compliance to actively protect consumers. At LiberEat, we’ve always championed this mission and now, our commitment has been recognised with B Corp Certification.
Quorum Wins at Microsoft Security Excellence Award
Quorum Cyber today announced it won the Security MSSP of the Year award in the Microsoft Security Excellence Awards 2025 presented by the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA).
The company’s innovation and achievements over the past 12 months have elevated and distinguished it within the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA), an ecosystem of independent software vendors (ISVs) and managed security service providers (MSSPs) that have integrated their security products and services with Microsoft Security technology.
Award winners demonstrated excellence across the security landscape during the past 12 months.
Co-op has reportedly been forced to shut down its IT systems following an attempted hack of its network earlier in the week.
The attempted attack took place just days after M&S suffered a cyber-attack which is still causing the store woe, leading to empty shelves and interrupted orders.
The Co-op owns over 2,000 grocery stores and more than 8000 funeral homes, as well as financial and legal services firms.
Co-op says that the firm has since taken “proactive steps” to protect its systems following the attempted hack, “which resulted in a small impact to some of our back office and call centre services.”
The spokesperson said: “All our stores (including quick commerce operations) and funeral homes are trading as usual.
“We are working hard to reduce any disruption to our services and would like to thank our colleagues, members, partners and suppliers for their understanding during this period.
“We are not asking our members or customers to do anything differently at this point. We will continue to provide updates as necessary.”
It is unclear if Co-op identified the attempted hack via increased checks sparked by the M&S cyber-attack, which has now been credited to the prolific cyber gang Scattered Spider.
Co-op’s reaction to the attempted hack, including not asking its customers to do anything different, suggests that customer data was not compromised in the incident.
Retailers are facing more and more IT incidents and interruptions, though not all of them are related to attempted or successful attacks.
At the tail end of last year, Morrisons faced a cyber incident connected to Blue Yonder, its tech vendor. Sainsbury’s and Tesco also faced IT interruptions, though these were not related to cyber-attacks.
The continuing trend may offer a wake-up call to retailers as M&S continues to face interruptions to its services and Co-op gets to grips with the attempted hack.
“The attempted hack on Co-op’s IT systems forced a shutdown of crucial back-office functions and exposed alarming vulnerabilities,” Scott Dawson, CEO of DECTA, a payment processor firm, said.
“Retailers can no longer afford to treat resilience as optional as this becomes more of a trend.”
“This incident, coming on the heels of major breaches at Marks & Spencer and other high-profile targets, highlights how brittle legacy architectures and siloed security practices are, and no match for sophisticated threat actors. Until businesses adopt uniform metrics and invest in fail-safe recovery plans, every transaction—and every customer relationship—remains at risk. When a single intrusion forces entire back-office operations offline, every step from inventory management to customer service teeters on collapse.
“Much like the repeated failures of banking apps, this illustrates a fundamental weakness in the resilience of the systems we rely on most. It’s no longer enough to simply talk about resilience; it’s a crucial element of modern business, especially when dealing with finances. The lack of standardised ways to measure resilience has contributed to it being dismissed as mere rhetoric by some business leaders.”
“It’s time to move beyond rhetoric: businesses must move from reactive patchwork to proactive resilience engineering architected into every layer of IT strategy, or retailers will continue to pay the price. Only then can retailers protect revenue streams, reputations and the trust of the millions who rely on them.”
The UK government is launching its formal qualifying process for AI Growth Zones with 200 local authorities registering their interest.
The UK government has already confirmed that Culham, in Ozfordshire, will be home to the UK’s first AI Growth Zone.
The AI Growth Zone initiatives was launched in January of this year, and aim to revitalise local communities by fast-tracking plans for rolling out critical infrastructure, from data centres to high-capacity energy connections.
Potential sites identified across the country through the Expression of Interest process – which saw more than 200 local authorities apply – include former industrial areas with land and infrastructure ready for redevelopment.
Proposals need to demonstrate access to large existing power connections of at least 500MW – enough energy to power 2 million homes – or set out a clear plan for how they will get there. The qualifying process will also examine other criteria, including site readiness, and local impact.
“Just like coal and steam powered our past, AI is powering the future. Our AI Growth Zones will transform areas across the UK into engines of growth and opportunity – unlocking new jobs and revitalising communities across the UK,” minister for AI Feryal Clark said.
“This is our Plan for Change in action, ensuring the benefits of AI are felt in every region and securing the UK’s place as a world leader in this vital technology.”
Minister Clark is joining the Prime Minister’s AI adviser Matt Clifford in leading a series of engagements with leading investors and MPs to outline the government’s vision, bid timelines, and qualifying criteria.
“The UK has an extraordinary opportunity in AI, but speed is everything. Today’s launch sends a clear signal to investors and local communities that we’ve already moved into high gear,” Clifford said.
“I’m looking forward to discussing these proposals in more detail today as we continue to work alongside investors and local authorities to deliver a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
The UK is leading Europe with the most AI startups in the continent, new research from Sopra Steria Group found.
The firm’s Open Innovation Report 2025 found that 81% of UK companies consider startups to be crucial in executing their AI strategy – the highest in Europe ahead of Spain (69%) and Denmark (65%).
Even outside of AI, the UK seems to be leading Europe in the startup sector, with UK corporates reporting the highest level of startup collaboration success in Europe, with objectives achieved in three out of every four projects – well above the average of 65%.
Meanwhile, more than half (52%) of UK companies have now placed responsibility for Open Innovation with top management – second only to Luxembourg (53%) when compared to their European counterparts.
The UK also leads the continent in the proportion of quantum computing collaborations over the past two years (14%) and ranks second – behind Norway (61%) – when it comes to interest in sustainability-driven innovation (51%).
The latest findings show a remarkable turnaround in the popularity of Open Innovation – where corporates collaborate with dynamic startups to seek out new solutions to business challenges – in the UK.
Sopra Steria Next’s previous study, published in 2023, revealed that UK corporations had fallen behind the rest of Europe, with almost a third (31%) having no plans to partner with startups in the next 18 months – at the time, the lowest level of Open Innovation in Europe.
Since then, with AI advancing at an unprecedented pace, companies across Europe have been racing to integrate its capabilities into their operations.
Yet many large organisations face significant barriers when developing and rolling out their AI strategy using internal resources alone, with talent shortages, high development costs, and the complexity proving to be key challenges.
Against this backdrop, Open Innovation has emerged – nowhere more so than in the UK – as a strategic necessity, enabling corporates to collaborate with agile, tech-driven startups to accelerate AI deployment and maintain competitive edge.
“AI is no longer a peripheral concern – it’s now at the core of corporate strategy. In the UK, this has led to an ever-increasing appetite for Open Innovation and a rising number of successful collaborations between large corporates and dynamic startups,” John Neilson, CEO Sopra Steria UK, said.
“Just two years ago, we warned of the risk of UK companies being left behind the rest of Europe in realising the benefits of Open Innovation. Since then, it’s been encouraging to see how UK businesses have risen to the challenge and are now seizing this opportunity with real conviction – but there’s always more we can do.
“By continuing to remove barriers and create the right environment to accelerate these powerful corporate-startup collaborations, we’ll continue to drive positive change in business and society.”
Tom Staley, technology advisory and innovation lead, Sopra Steria Next UK, said: “In a challenging economic environment, where rapid technological advancements are redefining entire industries, the UK has recognised the need to collaborate; engaging with hyperscalers, industry, academia and startups to understand and pursue new opportunities.
“With the current emphasis on AI, and the need to ensure well-informed solutions, it’s reassuring to see the UK leading Europe in terms of AI collaborations.
“Moreover, it’s great to see the UK place responsibility for Open Innovation with senior management. This has resulted in the highest startup collaboration success rate across Europe; with 75% of organisations reaching their objectives all or most of the time.
“However, challenges remain, and cultural differences between corporates and startups have been identified as a significant barrier, meaning that our commitment to act as a catalyst for Open Innovation is more important than ever.”
IT leaders are increasingly trusting AI with business-critical tasks from traffic management to cost optimisation, according to the industry’s most comprehensive report on application strategy.
F5’s 2025 State of Application Strategy Report (SOAS), which surveys global IT decision-makers, found that 96% of organisations are now deploying AI models, up from 25% in 2023.
There is also a growing willingness to elevate AI to the heart of business operations.
Almost three quarters of respondents (72%) said they want to use AI to optimise app performance, whereas 59% support the use of AI for both cost-optimisation and to inject security rules, automatically mitigating zero-day vulnerabilities.
Today, half of organisations are using AI gateways to connect applications to AI tools, and another 40% expect to be doing so in the next 12 months.
Most are using this technology to protect and manage AI models (62%), provide a central point of control (55%) and to protect their company from sensitive data leaks (55%).
“The year’s SOAS report shows that IT decision-makers are becoming confident about embedding AI into ops,” said Lori MacVittie, F5 distinguished engineer said.
“We are fast moving to a point where AI will be trusted to operate autonomously at the heart of an organisation, generating and deploying code that helps to cut costs, boost efficiency and mitigate security problems. That is what we mean when we talk about AIOps, and it is now becoming a reality.”
Operational Readiness and API Challenges
Despite growing AI confidence, the SOAS report highlights several enduring challenges.
For organisations currently deploying AI models, the number one concern is AI model security.
And, while AI tools are more autonomous than ever, operational readiness gaps still exist. 60% of organisations feel bogged down by manual workflows, and 54% claim skill shortages are barriers to AI development.
Furthermore, almost half (48%) identified the cost of building and operating AI workloads as a problem, up from 42% last year.
A greater proportion of organisations also said that they have not established a scalable data practice (39% vs 33% in 2024) and that they do not trust AI outputs due to potential bias or hallucinations (34% vs 27%). However, fewer complained about the quality of their data (48%, down from 56% last year).
APIs were another concern. 58% reported they have become a pain point, and some organisations spend as much as half of their time managing complex configurations involving numerous APIs and languages.
Working with vendor APIs (31%), custom scripting (29%) and integrating with ticketing and management systems (23%) were flagged as the most time-consuming automation-related tasks.
“Organisations need to focus on the simplification and standardisation of operations, including streamlining APIs, technologies and tasks,” said MacVittie.
“They should also recognise that AI systems are themselves well-suited to handle complexity autonomously by generating and deploying policies or solving workflow issues. Operational simplicity is not just something on which AI is going to rely, but which it will itself help to deliver.”
Allied to soaring AI appetites is a greater reliance on hybrid cloud architectures.
According to the SOAS report, 94% of organisations are deploying applications across multiple environments – including public clouds, private clouds, on-premises data centres, edge computing, and colocation facilities – to meet varied scalability, cost, and compliance requirements.
Consequently, most decision-makers see hybrid environments as critical to their operational flexibility. 91% cited adaptability to fluctuating business needs as the top benefit of adopting multiple clouds, followed by improved app resiliency (68%) and cost efficiencies (59%).
A hybrid approach is also reflected in deployment strategies for AI workloads, with 51% planning to use models across both cloud and on-premises environments for the foreseeable future.
Significantly, 79% of organisations recently repatriated at least one application from the public cloud back to an on-premises or co-location environment, citing cost control, security concerns, and predictability. This marks a dramatic rise from 13% just four years ago, further underscoring the importance of preserving flexibility beyond public cloud reliance.
Still, the hybrid model can prove a headache for some. Inconsistent delivery policies (reported by 53% of respondents) and fragmented security strategies (47%) are all top of mind in this respect.
“While spreading applications across different environments and cloud providers can bring challenges, the benefits of being cloud-agnostic are too great to ignore. It has never been clearer that the hybrid approach to app deployment is here to stay,” said Cindy Borovick, director of market and competitive intelligence, F5.
An AI-driven Future
Looking ahead, the SOAS report suggests that organisations aiming to unlock AI’s full potential should focus on creating programmable IT environments that standardise and automate app delivery and security policies.
By 2026, AI is expected to move from isolated tasks to orchestrating end-to-end processes, marking a shift toward complete automation within IT operations environments.
Platforms equipped with natural language interfaces and programmable capabilities will increasingly eliminate the need for traditional management consoles, streamlining IT workflows with unprecedented precision.
“Flexibility and automation are no longer optional—they are critical for navigating complexity and driving transformation at scale,” Borovick emphasised.
“Organisations that establish programmable foundations will not only enhance AI’s potential but create IT strategies capable of scaling, adapting, and delivering exceptional customer experiences in the modern age.”
The UK’s industry body for FinTech has created a blueprint to make the UK the leading international market for stablecoin.
In a new report from Innovate Finance, Stablecoin: The UK Opportunity, outlines how the UK can become the most attractive jurisdiction in the world for issuing and using stablecoins, while maintaining high standards of financial stability, transparency, and consumer protection.
Stablecoins – digital tokens backed by traditional currencies – are already a $200bn global market, and are expected to underpin major future innovations in payments, artificial intelligence, and financial infrastructure.
Due to their efficiency and cost saving, programmability and transparency benefits, Innovate Finance says that stablecoins are primed to revolutionise areas such as international payments and supply chain management all the way to consumer applications such as shopping and buying a house.
With its global financial footprint, deep FinTech ecosystem, and regulatory credibility, the UK is well positioned to lead – but must act quickly, the FinTech body says.
Key competitors have already pulled ahead, with both the US and EU having developed stablecoin regimes that are either live or on the cusp of being legislated.
Despite its slow progress, the UK has a unique opportunity to capitalise on the flexibility that Brexit offers and move ahead with a stablecoin regime that is more friendly towards innovation.
“Without decisive and urgent action, the UK risks missing a significant window of opportunity,” Janine Hirt, CEO of Innovate Finance, said.
“As the fourth most traded currency globally and home to nearly 40% of FX turnover, GBP is a natural anchor for global stablecoins. It’s not unrealistic to suggest the UK could capture 10–20% of this market.
“Despite other jurisdictions moving earlier, the UK has the advantage of learning from their gaps. This plan sets out a clear, comprehensive regime to ensure stablecoins support economic growth, unlock innovation in payments and AI, and cement the UK’s role as the global centre of digital finance.
“By acting now, the UK can position itself as the global centre for digital assets, and not only benefit from stablecoin as a drive of growth itself, but also as a key enabler of other digital markets.”
The report proposes four key building blocks for a world-leading UK stablecoin regime.
GBP-backed stablecoins: The UK should back stablecoins with the British pound 1:1, while allowing issuers discretion to hold equivalent tokenised assets or over-collateralised reserves.
Building international channels: The UK stablecoin should be compatible and accessible to an international market – this means that stablecoins denominated in other currencies would be issued freely in the UK, and UK-regulated firms could issue multi-currency stablecoins.
Commercial incentives: Issuers should be allowed to offer yield or interest to customers which whom they have a direct commercial relationship. Innovate Finance says this can be done without compromising the role of stablecoins as a payment instrument or exposing users to unnecessary risk.
Bespoke regulation: Rather than force stablecoins into frameworks designed for e-money or broader crypto assets, stablecoins should have a distinct category.
The report also outlines how stablecoins can deliver business growth and encourage innovation. Innovate Finance says that these can offer a boost to payments and are a critical part of AI infrastructure plans.
The chief information and security officer (CISO) of JPMorgan Chase, Patrick Opet is calling out third-party vendors to boost their security practices following major service disruptions across financial services.
JPMorgan Chase understands the importance of third-party security first-hand: in 2024, the company dealt with a third-party software issued which affected more than 450,000 people. In the same year, the CrowdStrike software incident also impacted the bank’s trade, as it caused 8.5 million windows devices to malfunction.
Opet posited in an open letter that the growing reliance on software-as-a-service is “quietly enabling cyber-attacks” and “is creating a substantial vulnerability that is weakening the global economic system.”
His letter called for insurances that third-party vendors will prioritise security over speed to market, recognising the fierce competition driving this rush to delivery as the SaaS sector continues to expand.
Specifically, Opet explains how reliance on third-parties has fundamentally reshaped how companies are integrating services, leaving them overall more vulnerable to incidents and attacks.
The boundaries and segmentations – such as the ones between APIS and backend core systems – which Opet calls “essential” have been largely eroded, with companies opting for open authentication (OAuth) allowing open, often unchecked access between third-parties and sensitive internal systems.
When functioning correctly, these systems can boost productivity, Opet cedes, but if compromised, these methods can give attackers “unprecedented access to confidential data and critical internal communications.”
According to Opet, this problem is only getting worse as third-parties often rely on fourth-parties, expanding these risks. This exponentially increases the risk inherent to vulnerable systems as if grants attackers new avenues of attack.
“Critically, the explosive growth of new value-bearing services in data management, automation, artificial intelligence, and AI agents amplifies and rapidly distributes these risks, bringing them directly to the forefront of every organization,” Opet wrote.
To mitigate these growing fears – and real threats – Opet is calling for third parties and those soliciting them to practice ‘secure and resilience by design’ – though he wants this to be more than just a slogan.
It will require continuous checks and balances, as well as an ecosystem which addresses trustworthy integration more vigorously.
“We must establish new security principles and implement robust controls that enable the swift adoption of cloud services while protecting customers from their providers’ vulnerabilities,” Opet said, saying that traditional segmentation and tiering may not be sufficient in the modern landscape.
Better systems can look like more “sophisticated authorisation methods, advanced detection capabilities, and proactive measures to prevent the abuse of interconnected systems.”
UK researchers and businesses are set to benefit from wider access to Horizon Europe funding calls for quantum and space research.
The news comes as the Minister for EU Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, welcomes the EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Maroš Šefčovič, following the recent engagement with European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen last week, setting up a platform for wider negotiations between the UK and EU going forward.
Access to Horizon Europe funding, and the opportunities for international collaboration that Horizon presents, will be an important boost to these two sectors which are at the cutting edge of new opportunities for economic growth.
The UK government assures that these technologies will be instrumental to the future of the economy: quantum computing alone is projected to deliver $5-10 billion of benefits globally over the next three to five years. Since 2015 the UK has attracted more private investment in space than any other country outside the US.
During his visit in the UK, the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, alongside the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Nick Thomas-Symonds, will meet professors at Imperial College London who have benefited from Horizon funding for their projects.
“Thanks to this welcome news, the opportunities for British researchers and businesses working in quantum, space, and beyond are only set to grow,” UK science minister Lord Vallance said.
“They now have greater access to one of the world’s foremost vehicles for R&D funding, and an even bigger chance to build the international ties which we know are critical to advancing knowledge, tackling the world’s biggest challenges, and delivering the economic growth that is at the heart of this Government’s Plan for Change.
“I want innovators up and down the UK to seize the moment that stands before them. Horizon’s doors are open to you, and we have support available to help you. Now is the time to bid for funding, build consortia, and take your work to the next level.”
The UK gained access to the vast majority (95%) of Horizon funding calls when it associated to the programme back in 2024, with some limited exceptions on some emerging technologies.
The breakthrough means that British experts working on space and quantum can now confidently bid for a share of the approximately £80bn that is available through Horizon overall.
They can also build consortia with research partners across Europe and beyond, and will enable them to complete access to all Horizon Europe quantum funding calls.
Horizon also offers a huge opportunity to businesses and researchers focusing on other cutting-edge technologies, like AI, telecoms, and high-performance computing, including through access to cutting-edge computing resources through EuroHPC. Recent UK-EU engagement has ensured that the UK retains open access to all calls in these areas.
The Horizon Europe programme is an innovation powerhouse –spending over €380 billion on R&D in 20231 – and fostering deep and high-quality links between the Europe’s brightest minds.
Given the importance of space and quantum to the UK economy and society – the space sector employs 52,000 people and generates £18.9bn a year – greater access to Horizon is a funding win for the UK.
The UK and EU have a strong shared commitment to developing assured and independent European access to space: work which forms a key part of the UK’s own ambitions for space launch. With plans for the first launches from SaxaVord in the Shetland Islands later this year, the UK is a leading international partner and cooperator in Europe’s space ambitions and it is encouraging that British researchers will be able to access calls that help to further Europe’s ambition.
Over 50% of mobile devices are running outdated or compromised operating systems, with about a quarter unable to upgrade, leaving them vulnerable to attacks, research from Zimperium says.
“As organizations globally have embraced mobile to improve both productivity and customer engagement, cybercriminals have taken notice and have transitioned to a mobile-first attack strategy,” said Shridhar Mittal, chief executive officer, Zimperium.
“In today’s hybrid work environment, where 70% of organizations support BYOD and actively build mobile apps for both employees and customers, reducing the mobile attack surface requires a comprehensive mobile security strategy covering both mobile devices and mobile applications.”
Top Threats
While most organisations and security teams are well aware of the dangers posed by traditional phishing, threat actors have begun to look at mobile-targeting phishing (Mishing) as an even more vulnerable attack vector due to the unique features of mobile devices and a lower state of vigilance from both users and organisations.
The zLabs researchers found a continued surge in mishing attacks with SMS/text based phishing (Smishing) now 69.3% of all mishing attacks. PDF phishing has also emerged as a new attack method.
Notably, the report reveals that vishing (voice-call phishing) and smishing attacks on mobile devices have risen dramatically (28% and 22%, respectively).
Mobile Malware
Malware continues to be the weapon of choice of cyber-criminals and advanced persistent threats. zLabs observed a 50% increase year-on-year in use of Trojans in attacks with new banker trojan families discovered including: Vultur, DroidBot, Errorfather and BlankBot.
Spyware was categorised as top category in 2024 which is not surprising given the ability to exfiltrate data, including credentials and even one-time-passwords from victims without their knowledge.
The apps downloaded by unsuspecting users can lead to serious consequences if they are not properly assessed for threats, including leakage of sensitive data, as well as trojans for delivering malware, particularly if they have not been downloaded from an official app store.
The danger to work apps and data that are on the same device as a compromised app is a substantial risk to organisations.
Likewise, internally developed mobile apps used by customers, suppliers, or employees may still lack basic defenses, leaving them vulnerable to reverse engineering, tampering, and exploitation.
With over 50% of devices running outdated or compromised operating systems, even well-protected apps are exposed without proper device attestation.
“The research shows that bad actors targeting mobile devices and apps are constantly evolving their tactics, evading detection, often going unnoticed by enterprises,” said Kern Smith, vice president, Global Solutions Engineering, Zimperium.
“To effectively navigate this evolving mobile threat landscape, enterprises need to have real-time threat visibility and comprehensive protection. Adopting a holistic approach that takes into account the entire mobile ecosystem is vital to stay ahead of bad actors looking to exploit enterprises’ sensitive data and operations.”
Expanding or exporting overseas is a top priority for nearly one in three (32%) mid-sized businesses over the next year despite complex international trade conditions, according to the latest research from accounting and business advisory firm, BDO.
BDO’s survey of 500 mid-sized business leaders, suggests they have been planning for supply chain disruption and new international tariffs by working to build new routes into international markets.
Almost two in five (37%) expect to increase exports in the next year, rising to over half of businesses in the retail and wholesale (52%) and technology (56%) sectors. Many are targeting more sales towards Africa (35%), Australia (38%), and Asia (30%). Europe remains a healthy market for UK mid-sized businesses, with 41% planning for more exports to flow to the European Union over 2025.
Mid-sized businesses, which generated £1.6 trillion in turnover last year, are continuing to push for growth through international trade despite grappling with supply chain pressures. This includes uncertainty around tariffs in receiving countries, delayed deliveries or a shortage of the skills needed to support overseas exports.
Over one in three (35%) face skills shortages in export operations or supply chain management teams at a time when they hope to grow overseas trade.
Mounting pressures come as demand from end consumers slows for their products or services. Almost one in three (30%) say lower demand from consumers, which could include from businesses with elevated operating costs or consumers with high living expenses, is a top challenge – rising to 43% among manufacturers.
Despite these headwinds, mid-sized businesses are working to tackle the challenges they face and remain optimistic. Ahead of Government’s plans to publish a Small Business Strategy later this year, the majority (95%) expect the strategy’s focus on growing smaller firms to benefit them.
Of this proportion, almost a quarter (23%) are calling for measures to reduce red tape, including reforms to streamline customs procedures, which impact the export of products and services overseas, or offer stronger support for trade, including more dedicated UK Export Finance funding.
These businesses may be buoyed by the Government increasing the amount some companies can borrow from the British Business Bank’s Growth Guarantee Scheme or UK Export Finance’s Export Development Guarantee, as they grapple with the prospect of new tariffs in some receiving countries.
Richard Austin, Partner at BDO, said: “Although conditions remain challenging, the UK’s mid-sized businesses are highly ambitious and have their sights firmly set on driving growth. Generating £130 billion in revenue from overseas trade alone last year, these businesses are the strongest engine for our economy.
“The forthcoming Small Business Strategy is one of many major opportunities for the Government to provide targeted support for the mid-market, simplify regulation and enable mid-sized businesses to deliver their plans for growth – all of which will be vital to boosting our economy.”
The Children’s Commissioner is calling on the government to introduce a total ban on apps that use AI to generate sexually explicit ‘deepfake’ images of children.
Dame Rachel de Souza’s new report exposes how Generative AI is being misused to create sexually explicit deepfake images of real people, and the alarming effect these ‘nudification’ tools are already having on children’s safety, well-being, and participating online.
“In our lifetime, we have seen the rise and power of Artificial Intelligence – once the stuff of science fiction – to shape the way we learn, connect and experience the world,” Dame de Souza said.
“It has enormous potential to enhance our lives, but in the wrong hands it also brings alarming risks to children’s safety online.”
Despite being relatively new technology, GenAI – which is often free to use and widely available – has supercharged the growth of these tools.
While it is illegal to create or share a sexually explicit image of a child, the technology enabling them remains legal – and it is no longer confined to corners of the dark web but now accessible through large social media platforms and search engines.
The Commissioner’s new report analyses the threat of nudifcation technology, assessing its use online and the impact on children.
The Commissioner found that children’s biggest concerns revolved around the high risk of harm, the change in girls’ online participation, and the easy access of harmful tools.
“Children have told me they are frightened by the very idea of this technology even being available, let alone used. They fear that anyone – a stranger, a classmate, or even a friend – could use a smartphone as a way of manipulating them by creating a naked image using these bespoke apps,” de Souza said.
Children want the government to take action to tackle the misuse of AI tools, with many questioning why these tools were made in the first place, given their penchant for harm.
“Girls have told me they now actively avoid posting images or engaging online to reduce the risk of being targeted by this technology – we cannot allow sit back and allow these bespoke AI apps to have such a dangerous hold over children’s lives,” de Souza added.
The Children’s Commissioner is therefore calling for urgent action, including banning bespoke nudification apps that enable users to generate sexually explicit images of real people.
Further, the government should make specific legal responsibilities for developers of GenAI tools to identify and address the risks their products pose and to mitigate the risks to children.
The Commissioner is also calling for effective systems to remove sexually explicit deepfake images of children from the internet, as well as recognising deepfake sexual abuse as a form of violence against women and girls and taking it seriously in law and policy.
“The online world is revolutionary and quickly evolving, but there is no positive reason for these particular apps to exist. They have no place in our society,” de Souza said.
“Tools using deepfake technology to create naked images of children should not be legal and I’m calling on the government to take decisive action to ban them, instead of allowing them to go unchecked with extreme real-world consequences.”
New research from the University of Edinburgh suggests that there was some bias in the removal of social media posts surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Hundreds of posts about an outbreak of violence in Israel and Palestine in 2021 that were removed by Facebook did not violate the platform’s rules, the study suggested.
A team lead by Edinburgh researchers analysed the content of 448 posts about the 2021 Palestine-Israel conflict between the 10th to 21st of May 2021, that were removed by Facebook.
Their findings suggest there are major differences between how the company enforces its community standards and how Arab users perceived this moderation.
As part of the study, more than 100 native Arabic speakers reviewed each of the deleted posts to assess whether they violated Facebook’s guidelines – and whether, in their personal view, they should have been removed. Each post was evaluated by 10 reviewers.
Based on their analysis, 53 per cent of the deleted posts were judged by clear majority – at least seven reviewers agreeing – not to violate any of Facebook’s content rules.
Around 30 per cent of all posts had unanimous agreement, with all 10 reviewers judging they did not break any of the platform’s guidelines.
The reviewers agreed the other deleted posts did violate platform rules and were rightly taken down.
The study also found that Facebook’s AI moderation feature often appeared to flag posts expressing support for Palestinians, even when these contained no hate speech or incitement to violence.
The findings highlight broader issues about how online systems built primarily from Western perspectives may lack the cultural and linguistic sensitivity needed for fair global enforcement, the team say. This is of particular concern for marginalised communities, they add.
The researchers urge social media companies to increase the diversity of those involved in setting moderation policies, and to improve transparency about how posts are analysed.
The peer-reviewed study will be presented at the CHI 2025 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. It also involved researchers from HBKU University, Qatar, and the University of Vaasa, Finland.
“Our analysis highlights a clear disconnect between Facebook’s enforcement and how users from marginalised regions perceive fairness,” Dr Walid Magdy, said.
“This is especially important in conflict zones, where digital rights are vulnerable and content visibility can shape global narratives. If platforms claim to support free expression and inclusion, they need to rethink how they apply community standards across different languages and cultural contexts. Global platforms can’t rely solely on Western views to moderate global content.”
The study raises important questions about who gets to decide what content remains online – and what gets removed – especially in politically sensitive conflicts, experts say.
The study also comes at time just after Meta announced it would remove its content moderation system altogether, instead relying on a community notes model. The moderation system is troubling considering Meta’s other moves to end its DEI programmes in compliance with the current US administration.
AI content moderation also seems to only reinforce pre-existing biases, as the study suggests.
Quantum computing has revolutionary potential, expected to change life as we know it – and is broadly welcomed by 56% of cyber and IT professionals as creating opportunities for business.
This is according to new research from ISACA; however this optimism is not without its concerns.
The research revealed that despite a general sense of optimism about its revolutionary potential – as 44% believe quantum will create revolutionary innovations – IT professionals have clear concerns about quantum computing and the risk it presents.
Over two thirds (67%) anticipate the quantum computing could increase or shift cybersecurity risks over the next decade, while 40% feel that it has the potential to disrupt existing business models.
Worse still, 67% are worried about it breaking today’s internet encryption before platforms fully implement new post-quantum cryptography.
“Given recent quantum advancements and breakthroughs, we can expect quantum computing to be present in our day-to-day platforms and processes within the next few years,” Chris Dimitriadis, chief global strategy officer at ISACA said.
“Whilst this will present great opportunities for innovation in several industries, significant cybersecurity risks emerge both in terms of quantum in a silo as well as through the rise of Quantum AI.
“For instance, cryptography is present in all businesses, industries and sectors, and quantum computing has the potential to break the cryptographic protocols that we use, rendering simple services useless. At the same time, quantum will substantially transform AI by boosting its capabilities, together with the risks associated with it.”
But despite the expected impact of quantum computing organisations are not making a concerted effort to prepare for it.
Although quantum computing is clearly a concern for a larger proportion of IT professionals, only 4% said that their organisation has a defined quantum computing strategy.
Moreover, over half (52%) reported that their organisations has not integrated quantum computing into its formal strategy or roadmap and does not currently plan to.
A further 40% of cyber and IT professionals report that their organisations has not yet considered implementing post-quantum cryptography.
As well as lacking a quantum strategy, there is a low level of quantum literacy within businesses.
Just 2% strongly agree they have a good understanding of the capabilities of quantum computing and only 5% have a strong understanding of the new NIST post-quantum cryptography standards, even though NIST has been working on them for more than 10 years.
The literacy gap highlights how organisations are underprepared for the advent of quantum, and that they lack the skills needed to protect the business from emerging threats and adhere to new regulations.
The UK Government is already making good progress with this, having pledged to invest over £60m for new quantum skills programmes running until 2034. But this must go further in order to build a skilled workforce ready for the arrival of quantum computing.
“As a society that relies so heavily on digital systems, it’s imperative that we take this seriously,” Dimitriadis said.
“Organisations must make sure that they are already planning about how their operations might look in a post-quantum world, while they keep developing a holistically trained workforce on AI. They simply cannot afford to defer this critical preparation, risking the stability of the global economy itself.
“We need to build a holistically trained workforce on Quantum (and continue doing this for AI) and then create a plan for transition to the post-quantum era, enabling the safe adoption of these emerging technologies, so we can enjoy the benefits of innovation in a safe manner.”
As inflation, tax changes and tighter market conditions squeeze the UK SME landscape, new research from e-Residency reveals a sector pushing for progress amid economic strain.
While 92% of entrepreneurs and SME owners plan at least one strategic move in 2025 – from AI investment to targeting new customer segments – over six in ten (63%) are unsure their business will survive the year ahead.
The findings reflect a sector full of ambition, yet calling out for support. Beyond financial pressure, founders highlight the need for better access to AI training and industry advice.
With nearly one in five (18%) calling the year ahead “overwhelming,” the data points to a broader support gap, toward systems and policies that help founders adapt, compete, and grow.
Pressures Mount
Nearly a quarter (24%) of UK entrepreneurs and SME owners say their businesses are not growing with financial pressures likely contributing to their inability to scale. Across the board, respondents highlight a range of immediate challenges shaping today’s business landscape.
Four in ten (42%) cite inflation and rising borrowing costs, while a third (32%) are feeling the heat from increased competition – both domestic and international.
One in three (30%) say they are struggling to meet changes in consumer behaviour and expectations, while the same amount report rising employment costs as a barrier due to changing legislations.
A quarter (24%) are navigating complex compliance requirements, while one in five (20%) highlight global trade uncertainty, UK-US relations and wider geopolitical tensions.
Yet despite these pressures, many are approaching the year ahead with emphasis on expansion, investment and even relocation.
Nearly all (92%) plan at least one major business move in 2025, with three in five (61%), rising to 71% among founders aged 18-34.
Targeting new customer segments is a priority for 44%, while 42% plan to invest in new technology or infrastructure.
A fifth (20%) are considering expanding or relocating outside the UK.
Hiring Plans
Hiring plans across the UK SME landscape are evolving, as founders look to balance ambition with cost control. Three quarters (76%) of respondents say their approach to hiring has changed due to economic conditions – rising to 96% among entrepreneurs aged 18-34.
Still, nearly half (48%) of respondents are still actively hiring, with a fifth saying they’re hiring both strategically – to drive growth – and operationally to support core functions.
Young entrepreneurs are leading the charge, with 69% of 18-34s actively hiring, compared to just 41% of those aged 45-54.
Meanwhile, 29% say they would benefit from bringing in new talent, but have paused hiring or reduced headcount in an effort to manage costs.
While access to capital remains important, it’s not the only thing respondents say they need to succeed.
Among the most in-demand areas of support for the next five years include digital tools and platforms to streamline operations (34%), as well as access to industry-specific insights and advice (28%).
A quarter (25%) see AI training as key to improving their operational efficiency, while a fifth (20%) say they would benefit from mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs.
This reflects both need for both technical advancements and better leadership guidance UK SMEs are missing.
This is also reflected in the skills SMEs think will be mores valuable over the next five years.
While nearly half (48%) think digital and tech capabilities will be most valuable, 44% point to financial literacy and strategic budgeting skills, and 42% cite marketing and brand positioning skills were more valuable.
Networking and partnership-building skills were valued by a third (33%), while a fifth (20%) cited crisis management and resilience-building skills.
“We talk a lot about funding, but what many founders lack is access to the right digital tools and support systems,” Lina Vahtras, managing director at e-Residency, said.
“Traditional UK business structures – from training to hiring models – often don’t reflect how people are actually building companies.
“At e-Residency, we’re seeing more UK entrepreneurs turn to digital-first solutions that move as fast as they do. And increasingly, they’re using that freedom to design companies that don’t look or operate like the ones that came before.”
Intel’s CEO has confirmed that the company will turn to layoffs to offset its disappointing forecast for the second quarter of 2025.
Lip-Bu Tan first said in an investor call and then later an employee email, explaining that the firm will recentre itself around engineering, and that its refocus on smaller teams will result in a cut to its workforce.
These cuts will affect people in the second quarter of 2025 “as quickly as possible over the next several months”.
While it is still uncertain how many workers will be cut from the tech giant, Bloomberg previously reported that it could amount to 20% of its workforce, around 21,000 employees.
The company laid off 15,000 workers in August 2024 just before the previous CEO, Pat Gelsinger, left the company in December.
The job cuts will come as part of a strategy to reduce organisational complexity.
“I’m a big believer in the philosophy that the best leaders get the most done with the fewest people,” he said in an email to employees that was later published on Intel’s website.
Wider changes feature a common staple in many tech company’s shifting strategies – Tan is calling his workers back into the office.
By 1 September, workers will be required to attend the office four days a week, just shy of a full return to office mandate.
Tan cited better engagement, collaboration, and productivity as reasons to force workers back into the office.
Intel is joining a swath of major tech companies turning to layoffs to offset disappointing returns or to cope with shifting priorities.
While the company’s first quarter results beat expectations, it’s dismal forecasts sent its stocks sliding down by 5%.
Intel CFO David Zinsner cited the “current macro environment for “creating elevated uncertainty across the industry.”
“We are taking a disciplined and prudent approach to support continued investment in our core products and foundry businesses while maximizing operational cost savings and capital efficiency,” he said.
A satellite developed by British academics and engineers is set to help measure the condition of the Earth’s forests from space.
The work could be crucial to enhance our understanding on how tropical forests are changing, better helping us protect future generations from climate breakdown. The data will also be used by the UK government to accelerate the country’s transition to net zero under its Plan for Change.
From conception to construction, the satellite, called Biomass, has been built in the UK, and is set to be launched on 29 April.
The satellites construction helped support about 250 jobs at Airbus UK in Stevenage, helping to bolster the UK’s 52,000 strong space workforce.
The Biomass satellite will launch from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Since 2016, the UK has won almost 91 million Euros in contracts for Biomass through its membership of the European Space Agency (ESA).
Conceived at the University of Sheffield, the satellite will create a 3D map of tropical forests after 17 months, then new (non-3D) maps every 9 months for the rest of the 5-year mission, providing insights normally hidden from human sight because of the difficulty in accessing these environments.
The technology will help scientists capture vital data on the changes to carbon in forests as ecosystems are increasingly impacted by deforestation.
“The Biomass mission showcases British ingenuity at its very best, from conception in Sheffield to construction in Stevenage,” minister for space, Sir Chris Bryant, said.
“Britain is not only stepping to the forefront of the space industry, but of global climate action too.
“Contributing to such great extent to a European mission set to deliver vital global results is testament to the UK’s industrial and academic expertise in space technology and will attract global investment into our vibrant space ecosystem, helping us boost growth and deliver our Plan for Change.”
Both deforestation, which releases carbon dioxide and forest growth, which soaks up CO2 from the atmosphere, are crucial parts of climate change.
Data on the biomass of tropical forests is very limited because these dense forests are often difficult to access on the ground.
The Biomass satellite will be able to penetrate cloud cover and measure forest biomass more accurately than any current technology, which only see the top of the canopy.
By providing better data it will help create a more accurate global carbon budget and better understanding of carbon sinks and sources which will help in developing and implementing effective strategies to achieve net-zero goals.
Observations will also lead to better insight into the rates of habitat loss and, as a result, the effect this may have on biodiversity in the forest environment.
“It’s been a privilege to have led the team in the development of a pioneering mission that will revolutionise our understanding of the volume of carbon held in the most impenetrable tropical rainforests on the planet and, crucially, how this is changing over time,” Shaun Quegan, University of Sheffield’s Professor and lead proposer of the mission concept said.
“Our research has solved critical operational scientific problems in constructing the Biomass satellite.
“Conceived and built in the UK, Biomass is a brilliant example of what we can achieve in collaboration with our partners in industry and academia. The mission is the culmination of decades of highly innovative work in partnership with some of the best scientists in Europe and the US.”
Difficult economic conditions are already impacting Scottish businesses, as a growing number of firms showed signs of advances financial distress in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the previous quarter.
This is according to the latest data from independent business rescue and recovery specialist Begbies Traynor, which saw comparable figures with much of the rest of the UK.
The Red Flag Alert data for Q1 2025, which provides a quarterly snapshot of Britain’s corporate health, revealed that instances of advanced or ‘critical’ financial distress in Scotland had risen by over 6% since Q1 2024.
With almost 2,200 Scottish firms now affected, this type of distress saw a fall quarter-on-quarter, down by almost 7%, however, the report pre-dates the US announcement of trade tariffs in early April and the subsequent global turmoil.
The trend was similar across the UK with over 45,400 businesses seeing signs of critical distress, a hike of over 13% year-on-year and a drop of just over 3% since the final quarter of 2024.
Looking at ‘significant’ business distress, this also grew in Scotland with 28,657 firms in the country suffering from signs of early-stage financial problems in the first three months of the year, an increase of almost 3% compared with Q1 2024.
This compares with a UK-wide hike of 4% in distress levels year-on-year, affecting 579,276 companies. There were quarter-on-quarter falls in significant distress both in Scotland (down by 12.4%) and across the UK (-11.5%).
Ken Pattullo, managing partner for Begbies Traynor in Scotland, said: “While the UK economy got off to a relatively positive start in the first quarter of the year – with the rate of inflation dropping to 2.6% in March and growth stronger than had been predicted – our latest Red Flag data shows that many businesses are on a knife edge.
“With Trump’s global tariffs disrupting fragile economic optimism, many fear that businesses both here in Scotland and across much of the rest of the UK should brace themselves for another tumultuous period.
“As global economic uncertainty hampers long-term planning, businesses would be well advised to batten down the hatches in the face of an unpredictable and damaging international trade war.”
The majority of sectors in Scotland saw increases in critical distress compared with the same period the previous year, with utilities the worst hit (up by 500%), while telecoms, travel and tourism, and general retailers, all saw rises of more than 50%.
In terms of significant distress, the most affected sectors in Scotland since Q1 2024 were: utilities (+21%); health and education (+16.6%); hotels and accommodation (+13.1%); and travel and tourism (+12.4%).
Just eight of the 22 industry categories monitored by Red Flag Alert saw decreases in significant distress levels in Scotland since the previous year, with printing and packaging (-20.7%), general retailers (-5.3%), bars and restaurants (-1.5%), and manufacturing (-1.1%) among those seeing some improvement.
Mr Pattullo continues: “There’s no doubt that businesses are once again facing precarious times with consumer spending likely to be curbed by rising household bills as energy costs continue to spiral and inflation is forecast to increase sharply next month.
“This is likely to be exacerbated by the global turmoil with fears that Chinese imports may be redirected from the US market into the UK, together with severe supply chain disruption damaging many sectors.
“Our advice to SMEs who see mounting financial problems is to seek professional advice as soon as possible when more options are available to avoid difficulties spiraling out of control.”
Research from Pearson estimates that AI could save workers in high-value tech roles about a day a week by 2029.
The learning company’s new Skills Outlook report, Solving the Tech Talent Gap from Within, examined how roles in the tech industry are being reshaped by automation and AI, urging employers to consider a strategy of ‘role design’ to solve talent needs and maintain competitiveness.
The research found that these highly valued workers will save around a day a week by 2029 – just through augmenting and automating key tasks with technology.
The research notes business leaders need to think creatively and proactively about redesigning roles to more effectively use technology and to help their employees use this saved time for upskilling.
This strategy helps employers better utilise current workers rather than replacing them with newly skilled ones – essentially solving talent needs from within their own workforce and providing job agility and security for these valued employees.
“In a world where Generative AI is rapidly transforming the world of work, tech leaders need to rethink and evolve skilling pathways, or risk being left with an underutilised, undervalued, and unprepared workforce,” Oliver Latham, regional sales lead for EMEA in Person’s enterprise learning and skills business unit said.
“By adopting a role redesign approach now, businesses can bridge talent gaps, achieve stronger growth and create the capacity they need without relying solely on external hiring.”
Looking at the impact on hours spent on tasks within the roles in a working week, Pearson found that between 5.2 hours and 7.8 hours could be saved in 5 years’ time through effective use of technology – about a day.
This creates an opportunity to rethink how roles are structured and redefine what ‘core’ tasks will remain with human employees.
Pearson predicts that system software developers will save about 5.2 hours a week, and see the biggest potential impact from robotic process automation and internal processes.
Computer programmers are estimated to save 6.7 hours a week, with computer systems analysts saving 6.8.
System engineers and architects are expected to save 5.2 hours a week, but the biggest savings will be seen by computer network architects, at 7.8 hours.
Third-party risks are causing increasing issues for organisation security, but research from Gartner suggests that open communication could mitigate vendor risk.
Gartner found that third-party risk mangers are often not reliably communicating any red flags they find in their vendors to compliance teams, leading to an increase of risk.
These managers are most often midlevel managers, directors, and senior vice presidents who have a crucial and unique view into multiple third-parties that compliance leaders deem as high-risk.
“Organisations tend to be working with a lot more third-parties as they are key to accelerating business growth after the various disruptions of recent years,” said Chris Audet, vice president and chief of research in the Gartner Assurance Practice.
“In light of rising sustainability standards that pertain to the use of third-parties, this is an area that has the attention of compliance teams.”
A Gartner survey of about 900 third-party relationship managers in August 2024 revealed that while 95% saw a third-party red flag in the past 12 months, only around half of them escalate it to compliance teams.
“Relationship owners have a unique vantage point for identifying potential risks in third-party relationships,” said Audet. “By empowering them to share insights effectively, organizations can significantly enhance their risk management capabilities.”
The survey showed that three key factors significantly affect the likelihood of sharing: confidence in identifying red flags, objectivity in prioritising third-party issues, and then perceived return on investment (ROI) of sharing information.
“Helping relationship owners to be more confident in identifying third-party red flags should be seen as low-hanging fruit for compliance teams and can likely be addressed with some targeted training or communications,” said Audet.
When relationship managers develop affinity for their third-parties, however, they are less likely to involve compliance out of fear that compliance may overreact and harm the relationship.
36% of these relationship managers say they feel obligated to protect third-party relationships from people in their own organisations, and a further 27% are reluctant to do anything which might bring harm to the third-parties they manage.
“Organisations must prioritise effective communication and collaboration with relationship owners to enhance third-party risk management,” said Audet. “By addressing the barriers to sharing and fostering a culture of transparency, businesses can mitigate risks more effectively and align with strategic goals.”
Romance scam reports have risen 20% in the first quarter of 2025 year-on-year, as online dating continues to gain popularity.
Barclays found that one in ten UK adults have been targeted by a romance scam, or know someone who has been targeted.
On average last year, victims lost £8,000, increased to £19,000 for those 61 and over.
Three quarters of consumers want tech companies to do more to prevent romance scammers on their platforms.
The majority of these romance scams originated from social media sites and online dating platforms, Barclays Scams Bulletin revealed.
Romance scams take place when someone pretends to be interested in a romantic relationship, gaining their victim’s trust before manipulating them into sending money or personal information, causing financial and emotional harm.
“Social media platforms and dating apps are by far the biggest sources of romance scams, which is no surprise considering how the dating landscape has changed over the decades,” Kirsty Adams, fraud and scams expert at Barclays, said.
“Romance scammers have taken advantage of the shift online, using these channels to target potential victims. Falling for a romance scam can be both financially and emotionally devastating. We need tech companies to step up their support and take greater action to prevent scammers from operating on their platforms.”
Baby boomers are facing the most financial harm, with the average claim of £19,000 for those over 61 being more than double the average for adults over all (£8,000).
Across romance scam claims made this year so far, men make up a greater share in total reports both in terms of volume and value, at 60% and 57% respectively.
Of those targeted by a romance scammer, two fifths (39%) said they had been communicating with the scammer for less than a month when the scammer asked for money.
A third (32%) said the scammer created a false sense of urgency and put them under pressure to act quickly.
When asked the reasons scammers gave for needing money, top responses included fake emergencies (32%), travel costs such as flights and visas (26%), and medical bills and expenses (26%).
Romance scammers typically exploit people’s emotions to gain trust and trick people into sending money.
Over a quarter (27%) of victims said they were feeling lonely when the scammer contacted the, with a fifth (19%) saying their excitement prevented them from seeing red flags.
Those who have been targeted by a romance scam describe feeling angry (36%), embarrassed (25%), and vulnerable (15%) when they realised what happened.
The experience of being targeted by a romance scammer even discouraged close to four in ten (37%) from dating or searching for a potential partner in the future.
The UK government has issued a ban on the possession and supply of SIM farms in a European first, in an effort to better protect people from fraud and scams.
SIM farms are technical devices capable of holding multiple SIM cards enabling criminals to send scam texts to thousands of people at once or set up ‘verified’ online accounts in large volumes.
The UK government says that these ‘farms’ increase the chances of innocent consumers falling victim to major financial losses.
Last year, fraud increased 19%, according to the UK government, representing 40% of crime in England and Wales.
The new offense will make the possession or supply of SIM farms without a legitimate reason illegal, shutting down a key route used by criminals to exploit the public, and will carry an unlimited fine in England and Wales and a £5,000 fine in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The ban will come into effect six months after the Crime and Policing Bill receives Royal Assent.
“Fraud devastates lives, and I am determined to take the decisive action necessary to protect the public from these shameful criminals,” fraud minister Lord Hanson said.
“Two-thirds of British adults say they’ve received a suspicious message on their phone – equivalent to more than 35 million people – which is why cracking down on SIM farms is so vital to protecting the public.
“This marks a leap forward in our fight against fraud and will provide law enforcement and industry partners the clarity they need to protect the public from this shameful crime.
“This government will continue to take robust action to protect the public from fraud and deliver security and resilience through the Plan for Change.”
Nick Sharp, deputy director for fraud at the National Crime Agency, added: “Fraud is the crime we are all most likely to experience, and one that causes victims significant emotional and financial harm.
“We know that fraud at scale is being facilitated by SIM farms, which give criminals a means and an opportunity to contact victims at scale with relative ease.
“The ban announced today is very welcome. It will give us a vital tool to step up our fight against fraudsters, target the services they rely on, and better protect the public.”
Nearly half of FTSE 100 companies (48%) have now established Chief AI Officers (CAIOs) or equivalent AI-focused roles, with 42% of these critical hires occurring in just the past year alone.
The findings come from a new report from AI-native executive search firm plftm, revealing how Britain’s top companies are reshaping their leadership teams as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a boardroom imperative amid the global boom in AI investment.
With about two thirds (65%) of these AI leadership roles created in the last two years, companies are competing fiercely for executives who can blend technical expertise with business objectives.
Pathways to Leadership
The research uncovered three distinct pathways to AI leadership in today’s top companies. The largest cohort (50%) come from data science backgrounds, bringing deep technical expertise to boardroom discussions.
Around one in five (21%) transitioned from strategic consulting firms, demonstrating the importance of strategic vision alongside bridging AI innovation, while 17% emerged from engineering and technology roles.
Only 4% originate from academic research suggesting that real-world implementation and commercial insight currently outweigh purely technical expertise.
AI Leadership Models
As AI adoption accelerates across industries, FTSE 100 companies are seeking CAIOs who can simultaneously drive innovation and mitigate risk.
The research from pltfrm identified two emerging archetypes: the technically driven ‘Savant’, developing cutting-edge innovations to ensure companies are not left in the digital dust, and the governance focused ‘Shepherd’, managing compliance with regulations and enabling AI to flourish responsibly.
The most successful leaders will need to balance both innovation and control.
With AI leadership continuing to evolve, pltfrm expects further additions to the C-suite as responsibilities diversify, including Chief Automation Officers to streamline operations and reskills employees displaced by AI, and Chief Ethics Officers to handle potential bias, privacy breaches, and societal impacts.
Companies will need at the most senior level someone to ensure AI aligns with human values, regulatory protocols, and build trust with stakeholders and employees.
“The most effective Chief AI Officers operate like elite athletes,” said Will Lahaise, co-founder at pltfrm.
“They are the linchpins between technical potential and business results. They need to translate between engineers and executives, between what’s technologically possible and what’s commercially viable.
“The ideal Chief AI Officer is someone who has the vision to ‘dream-big’ and push innovative boundaries as well as the discipline to establish guardrails.”
Ofcom is rolling out new measures to make the online world a safer place for children under its powers outlined in the Online Safety Act.
More than 40 practical measures for tech firms will be introduced, and will apply to sites and apps used by UK children in areas such as social media, search, and gaming.
Online services will also be called to act on protecting children from misogynistic, violent, hateful or abusive material, as well as online bullying and dangerous fad challenges.
“These changes are a reset for children online,” Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom chief executive, said.
“They will mean safer social media feeds with less harmful and dangerous content, protections from being contacted by strangers and effective age checks on adult content.
“Ofcom has been tasked with bringing about a safer generation of children online, and if companies fail to act they will face enforcement.”
In the design of the new codes of practices, Ofcom researchers heard from over 27,000 children and 13,000 parents, as well as consulting industry, civil society, charities, and child safety experts.
Ofcom describes the codes as taking a ‘safety-first’ approach in how tech firms design and operate their services.
The new rules include regulations on personalised recommendations to ensure harmful material is filtered out of children’s algorithms, and ensuring that the ‘riskiest’ services ensure they employ highly effective age assurance methods.
Further, Ofcom wants firms to ensure they have the right processes in place to take fast action whenever they become aware of harmful content on their platform.
Firms will also be tasked with giving children more choice in their online experience, ranging from removing content they don’t like from their newsfeeds or declining or accepting invitations to chat, to muting or blocking comments and accounts. This also includes providing children with supportive information if they search for or have encountered harmful content.
Reporting of harmful content must be streamlined and straightforward so children can easily access them. The same should go for terms of service so children understand anything they sign up to online.
To support a stronger sense of governance, Ofcom will require all firms to have a named person accountable for children’s safety, as well as ensuring a senior body annually reviews their platform’s risk to children.
Ofcom has given firms until 24 July 2025 to finalise and record their risk assessment towards children, and from 25 July, they should apply the safety measures set out in the new Codes to mitigate any identified risks.
Companies that fail to comply with the new rules may face fines, or even a court order which could block a site or app from being available in the UK.
AI is shaking up the workforce as it sparks layoffs and hiring sprees and potentially contributing to a skills crisis.
According to a new General Assembly research report, 54% of tech hiring managers say their companies are likely to conduct layoffs in the coming year, with many citing AI as a driving factor.
However, these same hiring managers acknowledge that AI is creating demand for new roles, with 69% saying its highly likely AI adoption will require new roles.
Employees most at risk of job loss are those whose jobs can be replaced by AI, 45% of tech hiring managers say, and 33% say employees with outdated skill sets are most likely to be let go.
This all points to a skills crisis looming for thousands of tech workers as AI is continually adopted.
“We’re on the precipice of an unprecedented skills crisis,” Daniele Grassi, General Assembly president and CEO said.
“Businesses are ramping up AI investments and reducing headcount in the name of productivity, but they’re creating a widening skills gap that will ultimately slow transformation. It’s time to get AI skills to every employee.”
Areas of need identified in the research includes AI development, cybersecurity, data analysis, and proficiency with AI productivity tools.
These skills are needed now, but a quarter of hiring managers say AI development is the top missing technical skill across organisations, with cybersecurity and AI productivity tools tied closely behind.
Soft skills are also in a crisis, with strategic thinking, problem solving, and adaptability listed as desirable and rare according to tech hiring managers.
Despite the recognised need for AI skills, nearly one in three organisations have not conducted a formal assessment of their talent’s readiness for AI and automation.
However, the vast majority (93%) of companies intend to invest or are already investing in reskilling and upskilling roles impacted by automation.
When taking a closer look at AI’s effect on tech roles, it seems that IT teams are taking the lead of its implementation.
Two thirds (65%) of tech hiring managers say that IT is responsible for managing AI rollout.
As a result, 42% say they are hiring more software engineers because of AI, while only 11% are cutting software roles due to the emerging tech.
The International Monetary Fund has said that the economic gains of AI will outweigh the cost of its carbon emissions.
The IMF estimated that under current energy policies, AI’s needs between 2025 and 2030 will accumulate 1.7 gigatons of additional CO2 emissions. If renewables are adopted more heavily, then this could be reduced to a 1.3GT increase.
The 1.7GT is comparable to Italy’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions over five years, the IMF said.
Even at its lowest estimate, this is still a bump in carbon emissions at an inflection point for the battle against disastrous climate change.
Regions – often the most deprived and least likely to benefit economically from AI – are already being ravaged by climate change-related disasters like floods, fires, and worsening natural disasters.
The IMF is comparing these carbon emissions to the projected boost in global output of 0.5%, saying that the “social costs” of AI’s added emissions is “minor compared with the expected economic gains from AI, yet is still adds to the worrisome buildup of emissions.”
The IMF said that the “costs” of these green house gas emissions is equal to $50.7 to $66.3 billion, or £39 per ton, which is smaller compared to the expected economic gains of AI.
Still, the IMF did point to some flaws in its own equation. Not everyone will benefit economically from AI, and climate change has devastating consequences that will not be directly reflected just economically: it will lead to rising sea levels, the extinction of species, the pollution of air, and is already directly contributing to people’s deaths through unprecedented heat.
The use of £39 per ton as the economic cost of carbon emissions cited by the IMF is actually lower than many scientist’s and economics say is realistic, and it lacks the regional reality of these economic ‘costs’ and ‘gains’.
The IMF estimated that the global electricity consumption of AI could reach 1,500 TWh by 2030, which would be equivalent to India’s total demand. By 2030, this will result in a 1.2% cumulative increase in greenhouse gas emissions under current global energy policies.
It truly remains to be seen if big tech companies investing in mass data centres can mitigate the energy consumption of these servers sooner rather than later, and if AI can be deployed to improve the energy efficiency at such a degree as to mitigate its emissions impact and energy needs.
Apple and Meta have both faced two of the first fines issued by the EU Commission under its new Digital Markets Act (DMA), amounting to 500 million and 200 million euros respectively.
The DMA was a landmark act ratified in 2024 intended to quell the mounting power of Big Tech organisations across their respective markets.
Following year long investigations into each company, the European Commission has decided to fine both Apple and Meta for infringing on the DMA, which intends to enable smaller businesses to enter markets dominated by big tech companies.
Specifically, the EU hit out against Apple’s restrictions on app developers that stop them from directing users to deals outside of the firm’s App Store.
Further, Apple introduced a new fee to app developers to use Apple’s App Store, called the Core Technology Fee. By disallowing alterative app stores, this forces developers to pay the fee to have their apps available across all iOS devices.
While Apple’s changes to its browser settings saved them from a DMA breach in this arena, it will need to change its model and pay 500M euros for not allowing users to download alternative app stores on its devices.
For Meta, the commission said that its controversial pay-or-consent model breached the DMA. The ruling for this was established back in March 2024, and Meta had been in discussions with the EU around a new approach.
The model was introduced in response to an EU GDPR ruling saying that Meta needed consent from Facebook and Instagram users to use their personal data for targeted advertising – Meta offered an ad-free subscription for a price, or people could forfeit their data for a free version of the platforms with ads.
Both companies will have two months to comply with the new rules or face further fines for each day of infringement past the deadline.
As part of its decision, the EU Commission has removed Facebook Marketplace from the DMA’s reach as it no longer had the reach and domination required under the act.
“Apple and Meta have fallen short of compliance with the DMA by implementing measures that reinforce the dependence of business users and consumers on their platforms,” EU Competition Commissioner Teresa Riber said in a press release.
“As a result, we have taken firm but balanced enforcement action against both companies, based on clear and predictable rules.”
An Apple spokesperson said that the company intends to appeal the decision while it continues talks with the Commission around improving its compliance, saying the Commission “continues to move the goal post every step of the way.”
Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan described the decision as a “multi-billion-dollar tariff” in a statement, saying that the ruling as pointedly “attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.”
The politicisation of the ruling is not surprising given it comes just after the US President said that it would consider retaliating against any disciplinary actions against US tech companies taken by foreign entities as the global trade conflict continues.
Web attacks were up by a third year-on-year, cyber firm Akamai Technologies found, largely driven by AI which is increasingly used to develop APIs.
The report from Akamai found that APIs have emerged as primary targets for cyber-attacks, with 150 billion API attacks from January 2023 through December 2024 tracked by Akamai.
The AI API market is growing rapidly and the integration of AI-driven tools with core platforms via APIs has substantially expanded this attack surface.
The majority of AI-powered APIs are externally accessible and many rely on inadequate authentication mechanisms, a vulnerability compounded by the growing array of AI-driven attacks targeting them.
Akamai notes that AI-powered APIs are even more vulnerable than their counterparts as AI fuels technical advancements for threat actors.
In addition, Akamai documents a dramatic rise in Layer 7 (application-layer) distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against web applications and APIs. Quarterly attack volumes increased 94% year-over-year between Q1 2023 and Q4 2024.
In early 2023, they observed monthly numbers of 500 billion, which rose to 1.1 trillion in one month by December 2024. This growth is due to the growing sophistication of bot-driven attacks, the persistence of HTTPS flooding as a primary attack vector, and the prevalence of Layer 7 DDoS attacks targeting the high technology industry.
The report also found that there were more than 230 billion web attacks targeting commerce organisations, making it the most impacted industry. This is nearly triple the number of attacks experienced by high technology, which was the second most attacked sector.
Further, there were 7 trillion Layer 7 DDoS attacks targeting the high technology sector from January 2023 through December 2024, making it the most affected industry.
Authentication and authorisation flaws are continually exposing sensitive data and functionality, as OWASP API Security Top-10 related incidents increased by 32%.
Akamai also found that growth in security alerts related to the MITRE security framework are up 30% as attackers are using advanced techniques such as automation and AI to exploit APIs.
Alarmingly, shadow and zombie APIs are presenting as particularly vulnerable attack vectors within increasingly complex API ecosystems.
“AI is transforming web and API security, enhancing threat detection but also creating new challenges,” said Rupesh Chokshi, senior vice president and general manager of Akamai’s Application Security Portfolio.
An initiative which helps innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI)-focused scaleup companies to maximise their full commercial potential is now open for 2025 applications.
The 6-month programme, delivered by the University of Edinburgh, will widen its selection process this year, to encourage a broader range of scaleups from tech-focused companies to benefit from a package of support aimed at helping transform their businesses into world-leading companies.
The AI Accelerator has a strong track record of supporting innovative businesses and, this year, will be joined by Daniel Winterstein as Technical Entrepreneur in Residence.
A PhD graduate at the University of Edinburgh and co-founder of ethical ad-tech company Good-Loop, Daniel will offer technical guidance and mentorship as part of the Accelerator’s wider support network.
Daniel Winterstein commented, “As the only UK city to be named an AI leader, it’s fair to say that we have a real opportunity here and I am so excited to meet the cohort.
“Access to capital and talent are their biggest barriers to growth in the UK and we want to support them to overcome these challenges with our programme so that as a city and a university we can continue to lead the way with AI.”
The programme, delivered by the University of Edinburgh’s world-leading Innovation Hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, the Bayes Centre in collaboration with Edinburgh Innovations, will feature monthly in-person workshops complemented by additional activities delivered online and two trips to London.
The AI Accelerator gives companies a platform to shape their investment strategies and connect with potential investors. Participants also take part in expert-led workshops covering pricing, leadership, and scaling — all designed to drive commercial growth.
The University of Edinburgh is home to the largest centres for computing science and informatics in Europe. Through access to its academic expertise and links into the Data- Driven Innovation hubs, AI Accelerator participants will also benefit from collaboration and business exposure opportunities.
Among last year’s participants were Chirrup, a business that helps landholders to thrive with biodiversity, by providing sensors and reporting tools that show the level of natural capital they already have.
Gaining clarity on their “bullseye target” at the AI accelerator enabled Chirrup to concentrate their efforts on food processor intermediaries. This focused approach facilitated the development of marketing and sales tools specifically crafted to address these clients’ unique challenges and maximise value.
Dr. Murray Collins, CEO, Space Intelligence who participated in the 2021 cohort commented, “The programme introduced us to the different skills needed to grow a business over and above our academic and technical ability.
“As a result, we have grown significantly, including raising investment at seed and Series A stages from with investment from global name entities like Equinor and Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), owners of the New York Stock Exchange.
“Since the Accelerator, we’ve publicly worked with major clients, such as Shell and Apple, and won several funding competitions that have helped to solidify our position as a leading player in this space.”
Katy Guthrie, programme manager of the AI Accelerator, said: “AI is having a profoundly positive impact on companies and their growth across the globe and through our programme we are helping transform innovative start-ups into world-leading companies and supporting wider economic growth.
“Space Intelligence is just one example of the success that can be achieved, and we are inviting startups and scaleups from tech-businesses across the globe to join us.
“We’ve also decided to open our selection process to encourage a broader range of businesses to benefit, and we’ll be refocusing on scaleups with products that are ready to make an impact.”
Pre-qualifications close at 12 noon on Wed 14th May, and the deadline for applications for the new AI Accelerator programme is 9AM on Monday 19th May. The programme will run for six months from 17th September (in Edinburgh). Enquiries should be sent directly to:aia@ei.ed.ac.uk.
Businesswoman and investor Ana Stewart has been appointed the Scottish Government’s new Chief Entrepreneur.
Ms Stewart, who also co-authored a landmark “Pathways” report alongside former-Chief Entrepreneur Mark Logan, will take up the role until July 2026.
From this galvanising report reviewing the barriers women face in entering the entrepreneurial landscape, Stewart launched Pathways Forward, an initiative set to empower and enable women in entrepreneurship through industry pledges, networking events, and funding opportunities.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and Ms Stewart visited the offices of Inspirent, a social enterprise based in Hamilton, to mark the appointment and launch a new round of the Scottish Government’s Ecosystem Fund.
Inspirent will be the delivery partner of this year’s £700,000 fund, which is focused on developing the strength and impact of Scotland’s start-up community by funding organisations and programmes that support new companies to start and grow.
The application process is being fully digitised from this year through a dedicated online portal, enabling faster funding decisions and expanding opportunities for grassroots initiatives and community-led projects across Scotland.
£2.6 million has been awarded to 75 innovative projects through the Ecosystem fund since it launched in 2021-22.
“It is vital to Scotland’s economic resilience that we support our business community – particularly those taking their first steps,” deputy first minister Kate Forbes said.
“Ana Stewart is an exceptional talent with deep experience of starting, scaling, and investing in some of Scotland’s best companies and will ensure we are well-placed to deliver this support
“Scotland is home to some of the world’s brightest business minds, and innovators. The Scottish Government is committed to helping deliver an end-to-end support network that nurtures this talent and helps this and future generations of business founders to thrive.
“To deliver a truly meaningful, strategic support, it is vital we continue to listen to learn from entrepreneurs and the wider business community.
“Ana Stewart beings the insight, lived experience, and connections needed to shape and accelerate our policies and deliver for Scotland’s start-up talent.”
The Scottish Government’s Chief Entrepreneur Ana Stewart said: “Leveraging my own lived experience as an entrepreneur and investor, I am looking forward to contributing to the development and optimisation of the Scottish Government’s entrepreneurship strategy.
“Entrepreneurship is the engine room for economic growth and it’s essential that we provide more pathways, increased access and accelerated funding to current and future founders, whilst ensuring private and public sector are aligned in making that happen.”
Stewart will be Scotland’s second chief entrepreneur following the departure of Mark Logan, ex-Skyscanner chief, who left the role in October.
Stewart described her taking up the role as a “dovetail” from her experience working with the government with Pathways Forward. Taking on the role of Chief Entrepreneur without pay, Stewart says she will work about eight days a month to strengthen the Scottish entrepreneurial sector.
“This is my chance to at least give something back, I want to contribute and hopefully optimise some of the great things that are already going on, and hopefully accelerate and expand into new avenues,” she said.
She imagines she’ll come up against the same hurdles as her predecessor, Logan, and hopes to focus on education to strengthen the entrepreneurial attitude in Scotland from an early age.
Ofcom has announced a new ban that aims to protect people from the malicious use of mobile networks via Global Titles.
The UK regulator is banning the leasing of Global Titles – special types of phone numbers – by closing a technical loophole that is posing a risk to mobile user’s privacy and security.
Criminals can use Global Titles to intercept and divert calls and messages, and get their hands on information held by mobile networks. This could, for example, enable them to intercept security codes sent by banks to a customer via SMS messages. In extreme cases, these titles can be exploited by criminals and threat actors to even track the physical location of individuals anywhere in the world.
Global Titles are used by mobile networks to send and receive signalling messages, helping to direct a call or message to the intended recipient. These are used in the background of billions of calls and texts worldwide and are never seen by the individuals sending these messages.
These Global Titles are sometimes leased by mobile networks, largely to legitimate businesses who use them to offer mobile services.
If these titles fall into the wrong hands, however, this can lead to the security and privacy of ordinary mobile users being compromised, as their personal data may be directly or indirectly accessed by criminals.
Further, because those who intend to cause harm lease rather than own these numbers, they can hide their identities and work in the shadow of legitimate communications networks, Ofcom warns.
The Crackdown
While the risk posed by the leasing of Global Titles has been recognised by organisations like the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and acknowledged by the telecoms sector, Ofcom says the current approach to the issue has proven ineffective.
In response, Ofcom’s ban on the leasing of Global Titles will take place with immediate effect.
“We are taking world-leading action to tackle the threat posed by criminals gaining access to mobile networks,” Ofcom group director for networks and communications, Natalie Black, said.
“Leased Global Titles are one of the most significant and persistent sources of malicious signalling. Our ban will help prevent them falling into the wrong hands – protecting mobile users and our critical telecoms infrastructure in the process.”
NCSC Chief Technical Officer, Ollie Whitehouse said: “Today’s announcement marks an important step in the support of our mission to make the UK the safest place to live and work online.
“This technique, which is actively used by unregulated commercial companies, poses privacy and security risks to everyday users, and we urge our international partners to follow suit in addressing it.
“As the UK’s National Technical Authority for cyber security, we also congratulate Ofcom on their continued global leadership in this critical area.”
For any leasing that has already taken place, the ban will come into force on 22 April 2026 – a year’s time from the initial ban – aiming to give legitimate businesses time to make alternative arrangements.
Ofcom has also published new guidance for mobile operators on their responsibilities to prevent the misuse of Global Titles.
Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) overwhelmingly support the current US Administration’s Executive Order (EO) to eliminate regulations that stall AI innovation.
At the same time, a majority of CISOs caution that deregulation may make securing their organisations more difficult — driving them to prioritise resilience as a key part of their security strategy.
These top findings were revealed in a Censuswide survey of 500 U.S.-based CISOs, commissioned by Absolute Security, a leader in enterprise resilience.
Additional findings showed CISOs’ attitudes and concerns about the changing regulatory environment, rise of AI in the workplace, and DeepSeek, a China-based generative AI platform.
Deregulation Fuels Optimism, Shifts Focus to Resilience
Consistent with the EO, a full 79% agreed AI policies that hinder innovation should be reviewed and revoked, with 70% anticipating further deregulation on the horizon.
This shift in the approach to governance is viewed as a positive step in the future of AI, however, 61% said it makes it harder to protect their organisations from threats and cyber risk.
The rapid shift to slash government tech oversight along with the rapid adoption of AI in the US has led security leaders to rethink their priorities.
A total of 83% now agree that cyber resilience is more critical for their organisation than traditional cybersecurity measures, with 90% reporting they now have a cyber resilience strategy in place.
CISOs reported that DeepSeek is troubling. Of those polled, 69% say its use will increase the volume of cyberattacks, with 65% reporting they have banned it in their organisations.
Still, security leaders are allowing AI, with 89% saying there is a strong level of adoption across their organisations.
However, 44%are not aware of how widely generative AI tools are in use or what information is being uploaded into them, with 71% saying Shadow AI use will eventually lead to a data breach.
Despite optimism around fewer regulations leading to more growth in AI, CISOs do want government to play a significant role when it comes to DeepSeek.
Among those polled, 77% said it’s government’s responsibility to regulate this generative AI platform as it did with TikTok.
“CISOs polled are being loud and clear, they are fully on board with removing barriers that stall innovation and are aware of the risks caused by fast-moving technology shifts,” said Christy Wyatt, CEO of Absolute Security.
“The survey also reveals that security leaders are adopting resilience-focused strategies to ensure their organisations remain secure in a world that is being radically reshaped by AI.”
Cyber gangs based in Southeast Asia and China are scamming people out of billions of pounds a year via investment, crypto, and romance scams.
The insidious proliferation of these scams has been deemed a “cancer” by the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) acting regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Benedikt Hofmann.
A new report from the UNODC found that these scams were largely concentrated in Myanmar due to their contentious borders as well as special economic zones in Cambodia and Laos.
The scams are often committed by a mass group of workers that are often trafficked and forced to work in compounds.
According to the report, eastern and southeastern Asian countries lost around $37 billion to cyber fraud in 2023, with a “much larger estimated loss” globally.
Unfortunately, the issue seems to be expanding to countries in Africa such as Zambia, Angola, and Namibia, as well as islands in the Pacific such as Tonga, Fiji, Palau, and Vanuata.
The global reach of these crime syndicates is even further, the UN found, as these gangs are teaming up with drug cartels in South America, as well as mob and mafia organisations.
The report noted that illegal cryptocurrency mining has evolved into a “powerful tool” for money laundering.
Crackdowns have occurred across Asia, including a major crackdown on scam – an organised push from the Chinese government led to the liberation of 7,000 workers from at least 24 countries.
However, the UN says that these crackdowns are not dissolving the groups, but instead relocating them.
For instance, a 2023 raid arrested 50 Chinese nationals working in a militia-controlled territory in Libya on a crypto-mining operation in Libya, showing how this issue is transcending borders.
“It spreads like a cancer,” Hoffman said.
“Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear, they simply migrate.”
New technological developments, from payment systems to encryption and crypto, only seem to be further enabling these groups to escape law enforcement and target more victims.
Meta is introducing AI tools to Instagram to identify the ages of users and restrict teens from using adult accounts.
In a new blog post, Meta revealed the new tool as part of its growing expanse of tools for teen users of its platforms.
Instagram apparently already uses AI to determine the age of users, but now, Meta will expand its use of AI to proactively find teens on accounts that have adult birthdays. It will then use teen settings on these accounts, which include a variety of safety features intended to protect teens online and restrict their use of the social media platform.
The technology is not yet rolled out, but is being tested across the US. The tech giant says that in case their AI tool makes a mistake, it does provide users the ability to change their settings.
In conjunction with this tool testing, Meta will also send out notifications to parents who use Instagram with information on how they can have conversations with their teens on the importance of providing correct age information online
“The digital world continues to evolve and we have to evolve with it. That’s why it’s important that we work together with parents to make sure as many teens as possible have the protective settings that come with Teen Accounts,” Meta said in a blog post.
The social media giant has released a litany of restrictions and tools in an attempt to transform the landscape of their app for underage users. This includes automatically sorting teen users into Teen Accounts, which restrict some of their settings around privacy, and more recently, blocks those under the age of 16 from posting ‘live’ content.
Eleven cutting-edge robotic surgery systems have been approved for use, potentially transforming care for thousands of NHS patients undergoing soft tissue and orthopaedic procedures.
The technology, which is capable of movements more precise than the human hand, has the potential to transform care for patients being operated on by surgeons in specialist NHS centres.
According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) research, patient committees said that faster recovery times, shorter hospital stays and quicker return to work were the biggest benefits of robotic surgery. Patients also reported experiencing less pain and reduced scarring compared with traditional surgery.
The 11 systems can be used while further evidence is collected over the next three years demonstrating their cost-effectiveness for robot-assisted surgery, as part of NICE’s Early Value Assessment process.
Five systems for soft tissue procedures – such as hernia repair, removal of tumours, and gallbladder removal – and 6 for orthopaedic surgery – such as full and partial knee replacement procedures and hip replacements – have received conditional approval.
The use of robotic systems for prostatectomy, a surgical procedure to remove the prostate gland, either fully or partially, is outside the scope of these two pieces of guidance and already established practice in the NHS.
The recommendations will allow a coordinated approach to the expansion of innovative surgical technologies so that the NHS can maximise the benefits for patients.
At the same time, evidence will be collected to help the NICE committee validate these benefits to prove the technologies’ value and inform future implementation decisions.
Some robotic systems allow surgeons to perform procedures using mechanical arms controlled from a nearby console, while others are handheld.
The surgical instruments attached to these arms can move with greater dexterity than the human hand, offering greater precision. They improve recovery times, reduce complications, and potentially increasing access to these procedures.
“These innovative technologies have the potential to transform both soft tissue and orthopaedic surgical care in the NHS,” Dr Anastasia Chalkidou, programme director of NICE‘s healthtech programme.
“The data gathered over the next three years will allow us to evaluate exactly how these technologies can improve patient care and help ensure NHS resources are directed toward interventions that deliver meaningful clinical benefits and long-term value to our health service.
“Robot-assisted surgery may help overcome key limitations of conventional techniques through precise movements and enhanced 3D visualisation, potentially transforming surgical options and outcomes for NHS patients. Both applications could benefit patients who might not otherwise be candidates for minimally invasive approaches.”
The robot systems each cost between £500,000 and £1.5m and are typically only found in specialist centres which perform hundreds of procedures annually.
In 2011/12, only 20% of robotic procedures were for conditions other than urological cancer. By 2023/24, this had grown to 49%, with significant expansion in colorectal surgery, which now accounts for 25% of all robotic procedures.
Orthopaedic robot-assisted surgery has seen the fastest rise, growing from approximately 300 procedures in 2018/19 to more than 4,000 last year.
In 2011/12, only 20% of robotic procedures were for conditions other than urological cancer. By 2023/24, this had grown to 49%, with significant expansion in colorectal surgery, which now accounts for 25% of all robotic procedures.
“This is fantastic news for patients and shows that the NHS continues to find new ways to utilise the latest technological innovations to improve care,”Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said. “This will be a vital element of the 10 Year Health Plan which will be published in the coming months.
“Robot-assisted surgery is crucial to the future of high-quality healthcare – and with benefits including shorter stays in hospital, faster recovery for patients and less invasive procedures these advancements will have a knock-on effect throughout the system and help patients get treated quicker.
“This is an important step forward as we continue to work to ensure everyone is able to get high quality care when they need it.”
John McGrath, consultant urological surgeon at North Bristol NHS Trust, and chair of NHSE Steering Committee for Robotic Assisted Surgery said: “This is a further milestone in surgical innovation, and we are currently working hard to develop a national strategy that ensures patients across the country are able to access this treatment when they need it, regardless of location.
“Later this month, we will release the first national guidance for the NHS in England that describes how robotic programmes should be configured, implemented and delivered as the services scale up.
“A key aspect in this is ensuring the necessary increase in expertise in robot-assisted surgery across the NHS workforce, so this technology can have the greatest possible impact for patients.”
Network edge devices have grown to account for over a quarter of all initial business compromises, new research from Sophos found.
The cyber firm tracked cyber incidents hitting small businesses in 2024, finding that ransomware accounted for 70% of all cases Sophos tracked.
This was true for 90% of all midsized organisations, the firm found.
For small and midsized businesses alike, ransomware and data theft accounted for almost 30% of all managed detection and response incidents tracked by Sophos in 2024.
The firm also found that ransomware incidents saw a decline in 2024, though the cost of the attacks rose overall.
While some trends continued, Sophos found that new, data-focussed threats grew, as new tactics emerged.
Firewalls, virtual private network (VPN) appliances, and other network edge devices acted as the vector for a fourth of all initial compromises in businesses. As Sophos could only track cases that were confirmed by telemetry, this figure is likely much higher, the firm estimated.
VPNs were found to account for over 25% of all incidents and 25% of ransomware and data exfiltration events, Sophos highlighted.
New advancing techniques in social engineering, malware, and initial compromise continue to plague software-as-a-service platforms, Sophos found, as the widely-adopted services fall victim to evolving threats.
Business email compromise is a growing proportion of all initial compromises in cyber incidents. This vector can be leveraged to deliver malware, steal credentials, or for a variety of social engineering purposes.
Sophos found that adversary-in-the-middle multifactor authentication (MFA) token capture is a growing credential phishing method driving the rise of business email compromise.
Mobile threats are also being driven by fraudulent applications and social engineering campaigns for malware delivery, affecting both small and midsized businesses.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has fined a law firm £60,000 following a cyber-attack that leaked highly sensitive data which was published on the dark web.
DPP Law, based in Merseyside, was found by the ICO to have failed in its responsibilities to secure the personal information it held.
This failure – namely its lack of multi-factor authentication on one of its databases – allowed hackers to gain access to DPP’s network and steal large volumes of data.
DPP specialises in law related to crime, military, family fraud, sexual offenses, and actions against the police. The very nature of this work means that it is responsible for both highly sensitive and special category data, including legally privileged information.
As the information stolen by the attackers revealed private details about identifiable individuals, DPP has a responsibility under the law to ensure it is properly protected, the ICO said.
The cyber-attack took place in June 2022, and affected DPP’s IT systems for over a week. A third-party consulting firm established that a brute force attempt gained access to the administrator account that was used to access a legacy case management system.
The attackers could then move laterally across DPP’s network and take over 32GB of data, a fact DPP only became aware of when contacted by the National Crime Agency (NCA) that the data had been shared on the dark web.
DPP did not consider that the loss of access to personal information constituted a personal data breach, so did not report the incident to the ICO until 43 days after they became aware of it.
“Our investigation revealed lapses in DPP’s security practices that left information vulnerable to unauthorised access,” Andy Curry, interim director of enforcement and investigations, said.
“In publicising the errors which led to this cyber attack, we are once again highlighting the need for all organisations to continually assess their cybersecurity frameworks and act responsibly in putting in place robust measures to prevent similar incidents.
“Our investigation demonstrates we will hold organisations to account for a failure to notify where there was a clear obligation to do so at the time of the underlying incident.
“Data protection is not optional. It is a legal obligation, and this penalty should serve as a clear message: failure to protect the information people entrust to you carries serious monetary and reputational consequences.”
Microsoft reported that it thwarted $4 billion in fraud attempts between April 2024 and April 2025, amid the rise of AI in cyber scams.
This was revealed in the newest edition of the firm’s Cyber Signals, which found that Microsoft blocked 1.6 million bot signup attempts per hour.
Microsoft disclosed three modes of scams and frauds that are utilising AI to advance their effectiveness.
E-commerce Websites
AI is making it easy for cyber-criminals to commit e-commerce fraud, allowing threat actors to rapidly set up fake websites and generate seemingly genuine product descriptions, images, and customer reviews.
Without AI, fraudulent e-commerce websites would take weeks to convincingly produce. Now, AI chatbots give these fraud sites even more credibility, and can stall customers seeking remedies for complaints.
Job and Employment Fraud
Scammers are turning to AI to produce fake job listings across major recruitment platforms, using stolen credentials to create fake accounts, fake job postings, and even email campaigns to phish job seekers.
Cyber-criminals are even using AI-powered interviews and automated emails to enhance the credibility of job scams, making it even harder for job seekers to sift through fake job offers.
Scammers are also utilising AI to offer fake tech support to unsuspecting victims which then gives threat actors remote access to a device.
These scams typically trick victims into accepting unnecessary technical support, which then lets cyber-criminals access to all the information stored on a device or any network it is connected to, giving them the opportunity to install malware.
Even without AI, these scams prevent an elevated scam risk, Microsoft says. They found an instance of cyber gang Storm-1811 abusing Windows software, posting as IT support and using voice phishing (vishing).
This speaks to the rise of social engineering overall, which can be enhanced with AI.
A US judge has found that Google is illegally abusing its market dominance in online advertising technology across two markets, which could force the firm to break up some of its ad products.
The judge said that Google was guilty of “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” in its market for ad publishers and its market for ad exchanges, which acts as a middle person between buyers and sellers.
The ruling sets a pathway for Google to remedy its market dominance in these markets, which could include selling off different parts of its business, which will be determined at a subsequent trial.
The ruling follows a similar case which found that Google holds an illegal monopoly in online search.
The case found Google liable in two counts, but dismissed the third, which dealt with some of Google’s advertising tools and company acquisitions.
Publisher ad servers, which Google was found to hold an illegal monopoly over, are platforms that are used to store and manage digital ad inventory, which, when used in conjunction with ad exchanges, allows publishers to sell ads.
While consumers will not notice a major functional difference in their online ad experience due to the law, internal changes to the division of capital between advertisers, ad service providers, and publishers may result.
The ruling concurs with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which found that Google’s market dominance in online advertising tech was anti-competitive.
The major anti-trust suit will be seen as a win for antitrust advocates as they look to break up large dominant companies, and challenge Google across its other dominant markets, including search.
Google, however, contends that they will appeal the ruling and that their market practices are fair.
“We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, VP of regulatory affairs at Google, said. “Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective.”
Following the ruling, Google’s shares dropped 1.4%, though this may not be a major blow to the tech giant which still dominates search.
The Department of Justice has indicated that the ruling means Google will likely have to sell its Google Ad Manager to appease the decision, which would include its ad exchange and publisher ad server.
The former chief of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Chris Krebs has resigned from his position as chief intelligence and public policy officer of SentinelOne following a direct call out in an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump.
Krebs was fired from the CISA by Trump in November 2020 after he said that the 2020 election, which then and current President Trump lost to Joe Biden, was “the most secure in American history.”
A week ago, President Trump issued an executive order directly calling out Krebs as well as naming his employer, SentinelOne.
The order said that all security clearances of any of Kreb’s associates, including SentinelOne should be suspended, pending a review.
It directly called Krebs a “bad-faith actor who weaponised and abused his Government authority.”
The order read: “Krebs’ misconduct involved the censorship of disfavored speech implicating the 2020 election and COVID-19 pandemic.
“Krebs, through CISA, falsely and baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen, including by inappropriately and categorically dismissing widespread election malfeasance and serious vulnerabilities with voting machines.”
Following the order, Krebs resigned about a week later from his position at SentinelOne, which he began in 2023.
Krebs shared an internal email he sent announcing his resignation from SentinelOne, which said that his decision to leave was “mine alone.”
“For those who know me, you know I don’t shy away from tough fights. But I also know that this is one I need to take on fully – outside of SentinelOne,” the email read.
“This will require my complete focus and energy. It’s a fight for democracy, for freedom of speech, and for the rule of law. I’m prepared to give it everything I’ve got.”
The targeting of Krebs is a shocking use of US governmental power to oust any perceived opposition to the current regime.
The tech and cybersecurity industry seem stumped on how to respond – Reuters reportedly asked for a reaction from 33 different cyber firms, which all either declined to comment or did not respond at all.
Krebs left his previous workplace with this: “Cybersecurity is national security. SentinelOne is at the forefront of that mission – every day. You are on the frontlines, protecting millions who rely on us. The world is becoming more connected, and the stake are only rising. Embrace this. Internalise it. Think ahead.”
Cyber-criminals continue to pivot to stealthier tactics, with lower-profile credential theft spiking, while ransomware attacks on enterprises declined.
This is according to tech giant IBM, which released the 2025 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, observing an 84% increase in emails delivering infostealers in 2024 compared to the prior year, a method threat actors relied heavily on to scale identity attacks.
The 2025 report tracks new and existing trends and attack patterns – pulling from incident response engagements, dark web and other threat intelligence sources.
The report found that critical infrastructure organisations accounted for 70% of all attacks that IBM X-Force responded to last year, with more than one quarter of these attacks caused by vulnerability exploitation.
More cyber-criminals opted to steal data (18%) than encrypt it (11%) as advanced detection technologies and increased law enforcement efforts pressure cyber-criminals to adopt faster exit paths.
Nearly one in three incidents observed in 2024 resulted in credential theft as attackers invest in multiple pathways to quickly access, exfiltrate and monetise login information.
“Cyber-criminals are most often breaking in without breaking anything – capitalizing on identity gaps overflowing from complex hybrid cloud environments that offer attackers multiple access points,” said Mark Hughes, global managing partner of cybersecurity services at IBM.
“Businesses need to shift away from an ad-hoc prevention mindset and focus on proactive measures such as modernizing authentication management, plugging multi-factor authentication holes and conducting real-time threat hunting to uncover hidden threats before they expose sensitive data.”
Slow Patching and Legacy Systems Expose Critical Infrastructure
Reliance on legacy technology and slow patching cycles prove to be an enduring challenge for critical infrastructure organizations as cybercriminals exploited vulnerabilities in more than one-quarter of incidents that IBM X-Force responded to in this sector last year.
In reviewing the common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) most mentioned on dark web forums, IBM X-Force found that four out of the top ten have been linked to sophisticated threat actor groups, including nation-state adversaries, escalating the risk of disruption, espionage and financial extortion.
Exploit codes for these CVEs were openly traded on numerous forums —fuelling a growing market for attacks against power grids, health networks and industrial systems.
This sharing of information between financially motivated and nation-state adversaries highlights the increasing need for dark web monitoring to help inform patch management strategies and detect potential threats before they are exploited.
Automated Credential Theft
In 2024, IBM X-Force observed an uptick in phishing emails delivering infostealers and early data for 2025 reveals an even greater increase of 180% compared to 2023.
This upward trend fuelling follow-on account takeovers may be attributed to attackers leveraging AI to create phishing emails at scale.
Credential phishing and infostealers have made identity attacks cheap, scalable and highly profitable for threat actors.
Infostealers enable the quick exfiltration of data, reducing their time on target and leaving little forensic residue behind. In 2024, the top five infostealers alone had more than eight million advertisements on the dark web and each listing can contain hundreds of credentials.
Threat actors are also selling adversary-in-the-middle (AITM) phishing kits and custom AITM attack services on the dark web to circumvent multi-factor authentication (MFA).
The rampant availability of compromised credentials and MFA bypass methods indicates a high-demand economy for unauthorized access that shows no signs of slowing down.
A Shift in Ransomware
While ransomware made up the largest share of malware cases in 2024 at 28%, IBM X-Force observed a reduction in ransomware incidents overall compared to the prior year, with identity attacks surging to fill the void.
International takedown efforts are pushing ransomware actors to restructure high-risk models towards more distributed, lower-risk operations.
For example, IBM X-Force observed previously well-established malware families including ITG23 (aka Wizard Spider, Trickbot Group) and ITG26 (QakBot, Pikabot) to either completely shut down operations or turn to other malware, including the use of new and short-lived families, as cybercrime groups attempt to find replacements for the botnets that were taken down last year.
While large-scale attacks on AI technologies didn’t materialize in 2024, security researchers are racing to identify and fix vulnerabilities before cybercriminals exploit them.
Issues like the remote code execution vulnerability that IBM X-Force discovered in a framework for building AI agents will become more frequent.
With adoption set to grow in 2025, so will the incentives for adversaries to develop specialized attack toolkits targeting AI, making it imperative that businesses secure the AI pipeline from the start, including the data, the model, the usage, and the infrastructure surrounding the models.
Where is Facing the Most Threat?
In terms of regions, Asia (34%) and North America (24%) experienced more cyber-attacks than any other region in 2024, with both regions collectively accounting for nearly 60% of all attacks that the IBM X-Force responded to.
Manufacturing was the most hit industry, for the fourth year in a row. Facing the highest number of ransomware cases last year, the return on investment for encryption holds strong for this sector due to its extremely low tolerance for downtime.
Startup Grind Aberdeen is partnering with Opportunity North East and the Republic of Estonia e-residency programme for a startup exchange event.
The event will offer an opportunity for Scottish startup leaders and entrepreneurs to network and engage with Estonian e-residency experts.
Estonia has more unicorns – tech companies valued at $1bn – per capita than any other nation, underpinned by exceptional digital infrastructure.
The event will provide an opportunity for Scottish business leaders to explore how Estonia’s e-Residency programme is enabling founders worldwide to launch and manage EU-based companies entirely online.
Startup Grind’s joint event will also provide an insider’s look at Latitude59, Estonia’s leading startup conference, where founders, investors, and visionaries come together to shape the future of innovation.
Entrepreneurs will also be given the opportunity to pitch a startup idea live at the event, with a top pitch selected to win a free ticket to Latitude59.
The event will feature Mats Kuuskemaa, country director for Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and Austria at e-Residency Estonia, who will share practical insights on plugging into Estonia’s digital economy.
“This isn’t just about learning from Estonia,” said the organisers. “It’s about imagining what’s possible when Aberdeen startups build global-first solutions—and understanding how platforms like e-Residency can help make that happen.”
The event is aimed at founders, investors, tech professionals, startup enthusiasts, and Aberdeen’s wider business community.
The event will take place on April 24 at 7:30pm at ONE Tech Hub in Aberdeen.
Startup Grid is the world’s largest community of startups, founders, innovators, and creators. The Aberdeen chapter is part of the organisation’s mission to shine a spotlight on the founders building impact on the North of Scotland.
There is growing concern among people with disabilities that the rise of AI in healthcare could lead to exclusion and worsening quality of care, research from nuom has found.
The healthtech consultancy commissioned an independent survey of 2,000 UK adults, revealing that nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents with a physical or mental disability believe the development of AI in healthcare could result in speed and efficiency being prioritised over the personal, human support that some patients rely on.
More than a third (37%) worry that they’ll be left behind as AI becomes more prevalent in the healthcare sector – underlining the importance of inclusive technologies for those who may already face access barriers.
Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents with a disability are concerned that advances in AI healthcare tools could exclude individuals who lack confidence in using technology.
This matters for a significant part of the population. According to the latest government figures, 16.1 million adults in the UK have a disability, equivalent to 24% of the population.
The survey also revealed that 74% think that companies that design AI for healthcare should do so with input from people with disabilities to make sure it meets their needs.
That said, nearly half of respondents (48%) stated that they would trust AI tools to assist with tasks such as medication reminders and automatic repeat prescriptions – highlighting areas where digital tools could provide valuable support, if implemented with accessibility in mind.
Martin Sandhu, managing partner at nuom, said, “The benefits of AI in healthcare are becoming more well known, from improving outcomes to easing pressure on stretched frontline services. But without inclusive design at its core, there’s a real risk that these technologies could widen the very inequalities they’re meant to help address.
“Our research shows that many people with disabilities fear being left behind by rapid developments in healthcare technologies. That’s why it’s essential they’re involved in the design and development process from the start, not as an afterthought, but as active contributors.
“Done well, AI has the potential to improve accessibility, offer more personalised care, and support greater independence. But to get there, we need to build systems that work for everyone.”
A growing number of football players are issuing “stop processing” orders to data processing and gambling firms over the use of their personal data, citing ethical dilemmas on how their health, performance, and injury data is being used.
Footballers are noting that this data can have implications for their careers and their overall performance.
Under the UK’s current data protection regime, individuals have the right to object to their personal data being processed.
The Global Sports Data and Technology Group (GSDT) is submitting the complaints on behalf of players, and is led by former Cardiff City and Leyton Orient manager Russel Slade and technologist Jason Dunlop.
The requests are part of a larger movement, called the Project Red Card initiative, which aims to give sportspeople more agency in the collection and use of their performance data, not just by their leagues but by gambling and betting companies.
GSDT has not disclosed which companies the requests have been sent to, though the group claims it includes some of the biggest gambling and betting agencies in the world.
The movement clarifies that players take little issue with data being collected and used internally by their teams to track and improve performance. However, this data is often distributed on mass to third parties for the purpose of betting and gambling, which players have little control over.
A lawsuit from GSDT was first launched back in 2020, representing hundreds of footballers against betting agencies and data processing firms who use their personal data without compensation, let alone consent.
A range of ethical concerns are brought up by the case and the campaign, including the accuracy of data, which can impact a player’s career, as well as conflicting feelings about having data used in gambling and betting which can have harmful financial consequences on people.
Over half of vessels operating in Scotland’s coastal waters are effectively “invisible” to standard maritime tracking systems, according to a new Heriot-Watt study.
The researchers found that only 43% of vessels within 10 km of the Scottish coast broadcast an Automatic Identification System (AIS) signal, the standard global tool to monitor ship movements.
The Heriot-Watt team says this lack of visibility poses significant risks to marine life, safety, and sustainable ocean management.
The study, which relied on over 1800 hours of land and sea surveys conducted between 2019 and 2024, covered nine of Scotland’s 11 marine regions and showed huge regional and seasonal disparities in AIS visibility.
It was published in the academic journal Marine Policy.
Much of the data was collected by citizen scientists from several organisations; volunteers were trained to follow a standardised method to survey and quantify ships.
Volunteers from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Shorewatch in Shetland, the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust and the Community of Arran Seabed Trust all participated.
Dr Emily Hague from Heriot-Watt’s School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society said: “This data challenges the assumption that we can rely on AIS to tell us what’s really happening in our coastal seas.
“In some areas, over 75% of vessel activity goes unrecorded.”
The study highlighted significant regional variations. In the Outer Hebrides, only 20% of vessels observed were transmitting AIS data, despite the area being a hotspot for ecotourism, fishing, and aquaculture.
The Orkney Islands showed a higher rate, with 58% of vessels broadcasting.
In the Forth and Tay, home to some of Scotland’s busiest ports, AIS coverage reflected true traffic only 8% of the time, raising questions about under-represented commercial and recreational traffic.
Smaller vessels, such as fishing boats under 15m, recreational craft, and jet skis, accounted for much of the missing data. They are not legally required to carry AIS, but could voluntarily install and broadcast data.
“AIS data is used by governments, conservation bodies and researchers to model vessel-related impacts such as underwater noise pollution, whale and dolphin collision risk, anchor damage to the seabed, greenhouse gas emissions and climate impact,” Dr Hague said.
“But if over half of vessel movements in inshore waters are missing, existing models may be severely underestimating these impacts. This could lead to inadequate management, conservation and safety policies.”
Dr Lauren McWhinnie said: “Scotland’s coasts are a vital habitat for species like bottlenose dolphins, minke whales and orca. Without accurate data, it’s difficult to assess and mitigate threats to these species.”
The research doesn’t just highlight a gap—it offers a path forward. The authors suggest that where there are high volumes of non-AIS vessels, AIS data should be supplemented with other tracking methods, such as land-based observations and citizen science, to build a complete picture.
Dr McWhinnie said: “Ideally, even smaller vessels would broadcast their position using AIS.
“Improving data will benefit coastal communities, providing information that will allow them to balance tourism and other vessel-based activities with local sustainability and environmental objectives.
“It will also enable researchers and conservation groups to provide better evidence when it comes to measures for protecting marine life.
“With an improved understanding of the activities and movement of different types of vessels, marine planners and policymakers could tailor regulations to maximise their potential effectiveness.
“The wider maritime sector could further benefit through improved safety and awareness.”
Carole Davis, a volunteer for WDC Shorewatch in Shetland, said: “I was pleased to be involved with this research, as I thought that the additional data obtained would hopefully provide more detailed information on the potential impact of vessels and would help to increase awareness of the importance of citizen scientists in marine research.”
The study recommends applying correction factors when using AIS to model coastal impacts, taking into account local vessel type, region, and season.
Until universal tracking is possible, the researchers argue, such adjustments are crucial to avoid blind spots in maritime governance and any AIS-based risk assessments.
Dr Emily Hague said: “We need transparency at sea. Scotland’s blue spaces are getting busier, and without better data, we’re navigating blind when it comes to understanding the potential impacts.”
There are just two weeks left until the first annual Financial Services Technology Summit, delving into the vast and transformative world of technology in the financial sector.
The inaugural event from DIGIT will take place at Dynamic Earth on the 1st of May, featuring a range of speakers, exhibitors, and panel discussions exploring the top trends and topics affecting financial services.
FS Technology aims to contextualise some of the most prominent trends in the financial industry, delving into technical advancements ranging from AI, to Blockchain and the Cloud.
As technology continually permeates the ever-important sector, and as geopolitical tensions make the future all the more uncertain, it has become even more essential for financial services leaders to lock into technology trends to advance their business impact.
The day’s agenda is chock full of exceptional leaders who will share their expertise and perspective on how technology continues to shape financial services.
Stephen Bosarge, Senior Director: UK Enterprise & Corporate, Dell Technologies
Dave Townsend, CIO Technology Platform Lead, Lloyds Banking Group
Mari Parry, Principal AI Engineer, BlackRock
Charles E James, Head of Sales & Business Development, Salt Group
Adam White, Channel Manager UK&I & Northern Europe, Utimaco
Franita Neuville, Sales Director, London Stock Exchange Group
Rob Mossop, COO, Sword Group
Yanna Winter, CIO, Generali Insurance
Adrian Culley, Head of Engineering, SafeBreach
Adam Preis, Director of Product Marketing, Ping Identity
James Peet, Director of Practice Identity and Access Management, Ensono
Louise Beaumont, SVP Global Open Banking and Open Finance, Mastercard
Shauna Mullin, Head of Product, Direct and Advice, M&G
Philip Intallura, Group Head of Quantum Technologies, HSBC
DIGIT is offering a full day of financial services technology talks, including a breakfast briefing from dotnext for early birds keen to start their financial services technology journey.
You can find the full agenda, as well as our exhibitors and sponsors, here.
Registration is still open – you can register your attendance for the event here.
The Technology Advisory Panel (TAP) has published an AI Proportionality Assessment Aid, a framework designed to guide the proportionality assessment of AI models.
This aid offers a structured approach to ensure AI models are the appropriate tool for their intended tasks.
The TAP serves as an informational panel for the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office and the Judicial Commissioners on the impact of changing technology and the development of techniques to use these tools under prescribed investigatory powers whilst minimising privacy interference.
The AI Proportionality Assessment Aid is a practical framework aimed at guiding the proportionality assessment of data-driven AI models.
It outlines key questions to consider throughout the AI model lifecycle: concept, development, operation, and exploitation of results.
This framework builds on the recent CETaS (Centre for Emerging Technology and Security, The Alan Turing Institute) structured framework for assessing privacy intrusion, incorporating additional considerations and organising them according to the lifecycle stages.
It serves as a valuable resource for those involved in commissioning, designing, developing, testing and managing the governance of models.
The framework includes four stages to consider when assessing different AI tools.
Concept stage: This stage evaluates the necessity and appropriateness of AI approaches, considering biases, constraints and policy for re-training/testing.
Development stage: This focuses on data sensitivities, human inspection, data volumes, biases, and integrity ensuring robust data management practices.
Operation stage: This assesses the appropriateness of model use, data provenance, result delivery, and human inspection requirements.
Exploitation stage: This stage examines access to results, training for appropriate use, model chains, and reporting processes following adverse outcomes.
“I am delighted to publish the Technology Advisory Panel’s AI Proportionality Assessment Aid,” Dame Muffy Calder, chair of the TAP, said.
“This document provides a practical and comprehensive framework for assessing the proportionality of AI models, ensuring they are the appropriate tool for the task at hand.
“It is designed to guide stakeholders through the AI model lifecycle, from concept, to model development, application, and exploitation of results.
“The focus is on data-driven models. We believe this aid will be an invaluable resource for those involved in the development, governance, and application of AI technologies”.
Despite women being more likely to see cybersecurity as a shared responsibility across an organisation than their male counterparts, they are often not receiving the necessary security training.
This is according to managed threat detection and response provider e2e-assure which surveyed 1,000 employees across a range of sectors, from healthcare, professional services, financial services, and manufacturing.
About half of women surveyed said they viewed cybersecurity as a responsibility of everyone in their organisation, while only three in ten men felt the same.
This is despite the prominence of cybersecurity incidents across organisations, with 90% of workers reporting being a victim of a cyber-attack at their work.
While women may intend to share cybersecurity as a responsibility, nearly one third (28%) said they were uncertain on the consequences of a cyber-attack, counter to 16% of men. Men were also found to be more aware of AI policies compared to women, at 27% versus 21%, respectively.
It seems that across genders, employees are underserved when it comes to receiving the necessary training to deal with a cyber breach, though women are slightly more underserved (30% vs 35% of men). The same figures represent, however, the differences in who risks disciplinary action if they are the cause of a breach.
“Cybersecurity in 2025 and beyond is not just an IT issue, it’s a business-wide responsibility,” Robe Demain, CEO of e2e-assure, said.
“Our research reveals that while men and women recognise the importance of security, businesses are missing a crucial opportunity to drive forward cyber resilience, as they feel disconnected to training provided.
“This means men are less likely to recognize the importance of their cybersecurity practices for the rest of the organization. And while women view it as a collective responsibility, they’re uncertain about the consequences, due to lack of training effectiveness.”
Interestingly, one in four men said that they saw themselves as responsible for the security of their organisation, while just 18% of women felt the same. This perception of individual vs collective responsibility for security may have to do with the slight discrepancies seen in who is more likely to receive disciplinary action.
While taking up responsibility can be positive, an individualistic approach to security can lead individuals to adopt their own security measures that are not organisationally authorised.
Businesses should consider some of the gendered differences in preferences when it comes to cyber training in order to maximise security e2e-assure says.
Around one third (34%) of women say they value clearer communication when it comes to training, compared to 29% of men. A quarter (24%) of men said they would be more motivated by incentives and rewards, compared to just 17% of women. Women were also more likely to prefer training with real life scenarios (34%) than men (30%).
First Minister John Swinney met representatives from the Scottish business community and trade unions at Bute House, as he underlined his commitment to work together to ensure Scotland’s economic resilience in the face of global uncertainty.
US tariffs have been looming over every industry as it threatens global market stability and looks to negatively affect supply chains. The US is imposing a 10% tariff on all goods imported from the UK, which will affect Scottish exports to one of the world’s largest markets.
“This is a time of real uncertainty for industry and workers, as we face potentially damaging economic headwinds from the US Government’s implementation of tariffs,” the first minister said after the meeting.
“I am determined that we have a coordinated response with business and trades unions and that we work together to map out the actions that need to be taken in response, both here in Scotland and across the UK.
“I have been clear today that the Programme for Government I publish on 6 May will include measures to ensure we drive economic growth, draw in new investment and create rewarding, well-paid jobs in Scotland.
“But I have also been clear that we need to see bold and decisive action from the UK Government that reflects the uncertainty being felt by business and families.
“I have heard directly from Scottish industry and workers representatives today – and I will now ensure the UK Government understands Scotland’s distinctive challenges and opportunities as I seek formal intergovernmental discussions on the UK’s economic response.
“The UK Government’s response must include closer alignment with the EU, removing the self-imposed straitjacket of the Chancellor’s fiscal rules and reversing the tax on jobs through the national insurance hike.
“And it must include serious investment in Scotland’s green economic future – treating our industry on a par with sites elsewhere in the UK.
“The breadth of industry represented during our discussions today shows the fundamental strength of Scotland’s economy – but the UK Government needs to act and not treat Scotland like an afterthought.”
Google is facing a £5 billion class action lawsuit in the UK over allegations that it is abusing its dominant market position in online search.
The lawsuit alleges that Google abused its market dominance to charger higher prices for advertisements that appear on its search engine than it could have if competition was more substantial.
The lawsuit also claims that Google provided better functionality and features to its own advertisement offers than it provided to competitors, giving it even more advantage.
It also cites that Google has entered contracts and partnerships with device and systems manufacturers, like Apple, to ensure that Google Search and its Chrome browser are pre-installed across devices, again providing it with an advantage due to its market dominance and consequential wealth.
The claim is being filed by Or Brook, a competition law expert supporting thousands of businesses in the case.
“We will argue against it vigorously,” a Google spokesperson said. “Consumers and advertisers use Google because it is helpful, not because there are no alternatives.”
Google classified the case as “speculative and opportunistic,” though previous competition inquiries into the company may provide the case with substantial backing.
Brook said that “regulators around the world have described Google as a monopoly.”
The CMA noted the company’s ubiquitous standing, citing that Google accounts for 90% of searches, and is used by over 200,000 UK businesses for advertisement.
In the US, Google is undergoing two major antitrust trials from the Department of Justice, targeting its dominance in search and adtech. The UK class action may come at an opportunistic time, but it does reflect growing issues with Alphabet’s – Google’s parent company – dominance across search and online ads.
Global VC investment surged from $118.7 billion in Q4’24 to a ten-quarter high of $126.3 billion in Q1’25, despite ongoing geopolitical conflicts and tensions, continued concerns about global trade and tariffs, and the delay of a major reopening in the IPO market.
The overall increase in deal value was largely driven by a series of mega-rounds by AI companies, including a record-setting $40 billion raise by OpenAI, according to KPMG Private Enterprise’s Venture Pulse—a quarterly report tracking investment trends globally across major regions around the world.
While VC funding rose considerably given the red-hot investment in AI, global deal volume continued to plummet, falling from 8,801 deals in Q4’24 to a record low of 7,551 deals in Q1’25.
While many VC investors were optimistic heading into Q1’25, fresh uncertainties saw many pressing pause again on major deals outside of the AI space.
The Americas attracted $94.5 billion in VC investment in Q1’25—nearly three-quarters of the global total—with the U.S. accounting for $91.5 billion of this amount.
Europe remained relatively flat, with $18 billion in VC investment raised across 1,883 deals, while the Asia-Pacific region continued to experience a significant slump, drawing only $12.9 billion in investment across 2,149 deals.
“We headed into Q1’25 with some cautious optimism around a renewed sense of business confidence, more investment and more exit activity. That optimism has now abated in the face of the uncertainty caused by various US executive orders and the back and forth on tariffs and trade,” Conor Moore, global head of KPMG Private Enterprise, said.
“With expectations for the recovery of the IPO market moving farther out again, we could see a shift in VC firms needing to reallocate investment priorities as some companies may need additional funding prior to a now more distant IPO.”
Global corporate VC investment rose from $69.4 billion in Q4’24 to $80.8bn in Q1’25, with the US accounting for the majority of investment during the quarter, driven by large megadeals. At the other end of the spectrum, CVC investments in the Asia-Pacific region fell to a 10-year low of $5.8bn during Q1’25.
KPMG found that the median deal size for Series D+ deals rose substantially in both the Americas and Europe – from $91.6m to $96.1m in the Americas and $84.5m to $177.5m in Europe.
Exit values remains relatively muted, with just $78.2 billion seen globally. On a regional basis, exit activity increased somewhat in the United States but fell to only $6.6 billion in Asia-Pacific—the lowest level of exit activity seen in the region since 2015.
AI Remains Red-Hot to VC Investors
AI remained the biggest ticket for VC investors globally in Q1’25, with the $40 billion raise by US-based Open AI breaking the record for the largest VC funding round ever recorded. During the quarter, US-based Anthropic and Infinite Reality also raised large rounds of $4.5bn (two closings) and $3bn respectively.
Europe also saw strong AI funding, with Sweden-based Neko Health raised $260m and UK-based Synthesia raised $180m.
In the Asia-Pacific region, China-based Neolix Technologies and Univista raised $137 million and $137 million respectively, Australia-based Harrison.ai raised $111 million, Hong Kong-based InSilico Medicine raised $100 million, and India-based Spotdraft raised $54 million.
During the quarter, China also saw three new AI models launched, including DeepSeek’s R1 AI model and new models by Tencent and Alibaba. The three models—all said to be more energy efficient than others on the market—further highlights the competitiveness of the AI space at the moment.
European VC Investment Remains Steady
VC investment in Europe held steady in Q1’25 at $18 billion, although deal volume declined from 2,314 to 1,883 quarter-over-quarter. A growth in megadeals—including five transactions over $500 million (up from just one in Q4)—highlighted the shifting focus among VC investors towards larger, later-stage opportunities.
These large megadeals included Binance ($2 billion), Reneo ($624 million), Isomorphic Labs ($600 million), Rapyd Financial ($500 million), and Ori ($500 million). The UK led the region with $5.5 billion in VC investment, followed by Germany ($2.2 billion) and France ($1.7 billion).
Deal volume in Europe fell to a six-year low amid renewed geopolitical and economic uncertainty, partly driven by new tariff policies announced by the US administration. Investors in Europe continued to show a clear preference for established startups with proven traction, given the ongoing market volatility and continued lack of IPO activity.
AI remained a key area of focus for VC investors, particularly in areas related to industry-specific applications. Interest in the AI sector was further supported by new funding initiatives announced by the EU and various member states aimed at strengthening the regional AI ecosystem.
VC investment is expected to be quite subdued in Q2’25 as investors remain cautious amid continued concerns over a potential trade war and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.
Many VC investors are taking a wait-and-see approach, holding off on major investments until there is greater clarity in the global economic environment.
The AI space will likely remain a key exception; despite the global geopolitical uncertainty, AI is expected to continue to attract sizeable deals during the quarter.
Industry-specific AI solutions are expected to attract increasing levels of investment, alongside advanced robotics and supporting technologies — such as LIDAR — which enhance the effectiveness of autonomous systems. In light of geopolitical tensions, defence tech and cybersecurity are also likely to see increasing attention from VC investors.
Global M&A activity could accelerate over the next few quarters, especially in the AI sector. Large technology firms are expected to pursue strategic acquisitions to secure emerging AI capabilities before valuations soar. Additionally, companies seeking alternatives to a volatile IPO market may increasingly view M&A as a more stable exit route.
One of Scotland’s leading financial planning firms, Murphy Wealth, has secured a significant investment from Söderberg & Partners – in what the company calls the ‘first ever’ Scottish partnership for the European wealth management giant.
The deal, which sees Söderberg & Partners take a minority 30% stake in Glasgow-based Murphy Wealth, will support the firm’s long-term growth and technological innovation while ensuring continuity for its clients.
The investment in Murphy Wealth is part of Söderberg’s broader strategy of backing ambitious, client-focused financial planning firms across the UK and Scandinavia.
The partnership will also allow Murphy Wealth to scale its trademarked ‘Human-First’ financial planning approach to a wider audience.
Unlike traditional mergers or consolidations, Söderberg & Partners operates as a long-term minority investor, providing capital, expertise, and technology without interfering in the day-to-day running of its partner firms.
The partnership will allow Murphy Wealth to embed cutting-edge technology, including AI and machine learning, to enhance client service, reduce risk, and improve efficiency.
“This is the biggest step our firm has ever taken. My father started this business 50 years ago, and I’ve spent 20+ years building it – this investment is about securing its future as an independent company, expanding our reach, and ensuring we remain at the forefront of financial planning for decades to come,” Adrian Murphy, Murphy Wealth CEO, said.
“Technology is one of the biggest challenges in wealth management today, and Söderberg & Partners have been investing in AI and machine learning for years. Their expertise will free up our advisers to spend more time with clients, develop our team faster, and future-proof our business.
“The fact that Söderberg has chosen Murphy Wealth as their first investment in Scotland is a testament to the work we have done over the years. This is about continuity, stability, and security – ensuring that we can compete with anyone at any scale while staying true to what makes us different.
“They’re investing in people, not looking to run financial planning firms. They believe in our vision, our clients, and our brand – and they want to help us take it to the next level.”
Söderberg & Partners, which manages over £85 billion in assets, has invested in 100 firms across Scandinavia and 25 in the UK, with Murphy Wealth being the first Scottish firm to partner with them.
Murphy Wealth’s leadership and vision were key factors in Söderberg’s decision to invest. As part of the partnership, a Söderberg representative will join the board, but operational control remains with Murphy and his team.
Gustaf Rentzhog, chief executive officer at Söderberg & Partners, said: “We are thrilled to have made an investment in Murphy Wealth, recognising the great potential in the business. Murphy Wealth boasts strong, longstanding client relationships and outstanding service which leaves it well placed to grow in a competitive advice space. We are excited to see how we can support the firm in the future as partners.”
With the investment in place, Murphy Wealth’s immediate focus will be on embedding new technology over the next two years before exploring further expansion opportunities.
Murphy added: “This is about the next 20 years for the business. We’ve navigated financial crises, pandemics, and everything in between, and this deal ensures that Murphy Wealth will be here for generations to come.”
As enterprises scale to meet the demands of AI, sustainability challenges facing data centres continue to mount.
Seagate Technology Holdings plc has released the Decarbonising Data report, revealing that energy usage is now a top concern for over half (53.5%) of business leaders.
Goldman Sachs Research forecasts global power demand from data centres will increase by as much as 165% by 2030. The rising data volumes, slowing power efficiency gains, and increasing AI adoption are putting pressure on organisations to manage carbon emissions, infrastructure expansion, and total cost of ownership (TCO) – all at once.
The report discovered several key factors for the future of data centre sustainability
The vast majority (94.5%) of respondents reported increasing data storage needs, with 97% anticipating AI’s growth to further impact storage demand.
Nearly 95% of respondents are concerned about environmental impact, but only 3.3% prioritise it in purchasing decisions.
Top barriers in driving sustainability at data centres include: high energy consumption (53.5%), raw material requirements (49.5%), physical space constraints (45.5%), infrastructure costs (28.5%), and acquisition costs (27%).
Further, the majority (92.2%) acknowledge the importance of extending the life cycle of storage equipment, but only 15.5% consider it a top purchasing factor.
“Data centers are under intense scrutiny – not only because they support modern AI workloads, but because they are becoming one of the most energy-intensive sectors of the digital economy,” said Jason Feist, senior vice president of cloud marketing, Seagate.
“This calls for a fundamental shift in how we think about data infrastructure – not as a trade-off between cost and sustainability, but as an opportunity to optimize for both.”
As organisations expand their data capabilities, they face three options: improve efficiency within existing infrastructure, expand data centre footprint, or migrate workloads to the cloud.
Each option involves trade-offs between cost, carbon, and control, indicating that total cost of ownership and sustainability can be compatible goals.
Decisions on energy consumption, space utilisation, raw material use, and infrastructure investment now impact both business performances and environmental outcomes.
The report outlines some key strategic recommendations for building a more sustainable data future.
Technological innovation remains a key driver of sustainable transformation, the report says, pointing to advances in computational power, storage areal density, and energy efficient technologies like liquid/immersion cooling, and HVAC systems, which can lower energy consumption and carbon emissions.
Committing to extending the life cycle of devices and the circularity of hardware reduce waste. Real-time environmental and transparent reporting can foster accountability across the data centre environment.
The report also urges the sharing of accountability across the ecosystem to achieve meaningful emissions reduction.
“Sustainability cannot be solved in isolation. A holistic approach spanning infrastructure, life cycle management, and industry-wide accountability could ensure that the growth of AI and data center operations does not come at the expense of the environment,” said Jason Feist.
Datakirk has announced that its second annual Scottish Ethnic Minority Talent Summit, Festival, and Awards will take place on 6 to 10 October with events across Scotland.
The event will offer a five-day celebration of inclusion, innovation and cultural vibrancy featuring a range of diverse voices, ideas, and leadership.
Albert King, chief data officer at NHS Scotland has been announced as the chair of SEMTSF 2025, who will lead the summit and festival with the theme of Wellbeing and Resilience – Thriving in a Changing World. Datakirk hopes that his transformative impact will make this event the most powerful yet.
SEMTSF 2025 aims to bring together industry leaders, policymakers, creatives, educators, and communities to explore what it takes to thrive with resilience and purpose.
Previous events lead by Datakirk provided a platform for a range of leaders, workers, and students to come together and discuss wide-reaching ideas and issues surrounding job security, diversity, immigration, education, and creating opportunities for Scotland’s ethnic minority population.
The festival promises insightful conversations as well as electrifying cultural showcases, providing an opportunity to connect, contribute, and add to Scotland’s legacy.
What does the week have in store?
Fringe events across Scotland will take place from the 6th to the 8th of October, including thought-provoking workshops, career-focused meetups, youth innovation hubs, and community-led sessions hosted by Datakirk’s partners.
On the 9th of October, Datakirk’s Summit will take place in the heart of Edinburgh, featuring keynote addresses and engaging panels.
The Talent Awards will follow the summit, celebrating the individual and organisations redefining Scotland’s future of work and inclusion.
On the 10th of October, the festival will offer a high-energy, family-friendly celebration with music, cultural performances, creative talent showcases, food, interactive STEM zones, and activities that highlight the rich diversity of Scotland’s communities.
Get Involved
Datakirk is still open to collaborating with sponsors and exhibitors for its summit. Those interested in participating as a speaker, panelist, volunteer, or to find out more information, can get in touch at info@datakirk.org.uk.
70% of students are using AI in assignments at least on an occasional basis, new research published by Turnitin, a global academic integrity tech firm, found.
Sharing perspectives from students, educators, and academic administrators across six countries, the survey highlights a demand for clear guidelines around ethical and responsible use, as well as a disconnect in how AI use is perceived – balancing positivity about its impact with concern regarding the potential for over-reliance, misuse and learning loss.
“The risk of intentional misuse will always exist with generative AI. Transparency throughout the student writing process enables educators to leverage the opportunities that AI technologies present, while upholding the integrity of original student work,” said Turnitin chief product officer, Annie Chechitelli.
“Navigating a clear path forward means equipping educators with solutions to integrate AI in ways that preserve critical thinking skills, and prepare students for the demands of an AI-driven future.”
To encompass diverse perspectives across academia, Turnitin commissioned Vanson Bourne to survey higher education students, as well as educators and academic administrators in secondary and higher education across Australia/New Zealand, India, Mexico, United Kingdom/Ireland, and the United States.
“The research highlights a pivotal moment in academia,” said David Gallichan, business strategy & partnerships lead at Vanson Bourne. “While there is clear optimism about AI’s potential, there is also significant concern—particularly among students—about its misuse and the lack of preparedness.”
The survey found that about two thirds (64%) of students worry about the use of AI within education, outpacing adademic administrators and educators.
Though educators (50%) and academic administrators (41%) surveyed are also worried about the use of AI in education, students expressed the greatest concern. For educators and students alike, overreliance on AI and potential loss of critical thinking skills were identified as top risks of AI use, while academic administrators listed data privacy and security breaches as one of their top concerns.
The vast majority (95%) of academic administrators, educators, and students surveyed believe AI is being misused. Although 78% of all survey participants feel positive about the impacts that AI is having on education, 74% noted that the volume and availability of AI is overwhelming.
Organisations may be expecting a future workforce that is AI-ready, but 67% of surveyed students feel they are shortcutting their learning by using AI. In addition to feeling they are shortcutting learning, 50% of students report not knowing how to get the most benefit from AI in their studies. Still, AI adoption and use remains high, with 70% of surveyed students reported that they use AI at least occasionally for their assignments.
“AI use is not slowing down, so we have to create space for collaboration and transparency that allows everyone in education to embrace new technologies responsibly, recognizing them as the essential tools and competitive skill builders they can become,” said Chechitelli.
“AI use does not have to be at odds with academic integrity, but we must establish a clear distinction between using AI to enhance student learning, and over-reliance on AI that replaces authentic and original work.”
Generative AI (genAI) is revolutionising the development of bots, allowing less sophisticated actors to launch a higher volume of bot attacks with increased frequency.
This is according to global technology and security provider Thales, which released its 2025 Imperva Bad Bot Report, a global analysis of automated bot traffic across the internet.
It found that today’s attackers are leveraging AI to scrutinise their unsuccessful attempts and refine techniques to evade security measures with heightened efficiency, amidst a growing Bots-As-a-Service (BaaS) ecosystem of commercialised bot services.
Automated bot traffic surpassed human-generated traffic for the first time in a decade, constituting 51% of all web traffic in 2024. This shift is largely attributed to the rise of AI and LLMs which have simplified the creation and scaling of bots for malicious purposes.
As AI tools become more accessible, cyber-criminals are increasingly leveraging these technologies to create and deploy malicious bots which now account for 37% of all internet traffic – a significant increase from 32% in 2023.
This is the sixth consecutive year of growth in bad bot activity, posing security challenges for organisations striving to safeguard their digital assets.
Both the Travel and the Retail sectors face an advanced bot problem, with bad bots making up 41% and 59% of their traffic respectively.
In 2024, the travel industry became the most attacked sector, accounting for 27% of all bot attacks, up from 21% in 2023.
The most notable shift in 2024 is the decline in advanced bot attacks targeting the travel industry (41%, down from 61% in 2023) and the sharp increase in simple bot attacks (52%, up from 34%). This shift indicates that AI-powered automation tools have lowered the barriers to entry for attackers, allowing less sophisticated actors to initiate more basic bot attacks.
Rather than relying exclusively on sophisticated techniques, cybercriminals are increasingly utilizing high volumes of simpler bots to inundate travel sites, resulting in more frequent and widespread attacks.
The Rise of AI-Driven Bots: A New Era of Cybersecurity Challenges
The emergence of advanced AI tools, including ChatGPT, ByteSpider Bot, ClaudeBot, Google Gemini, Perplexity AI, and Cohere AI, are transforming not just user interactions but also the methods by which attackers execute cyber threats. According to the Imperva Threat Research team, widely used AI tools are being leveraged for cyberattacks, with ByteSpider Bot alone responsible for 54% of all AI-enabled attacks. Other significant contributors include AppleBot at 26%, ClaudeBot at 13%, and ChatGPT User Bot at 6%.
“The surge in AI-driven bot creation has serious implications for businesses worldwide,” said Tim Chang, general manager of Application Security at Thales. “As automated traffic accounts for more than half of all web activity, organizations face heightened risks from bad bots, which are becoming more prolific every day.”
As attackers become more adept at utilizing AI, they can execute a variety of cyber threats—ranging from DDoS attacks to custom rules exploitation and API violations. While bot-driven attacks have become increasingly sophisticated, they pose significant challenges for detection efforts.
“This year’s report sheds light on the evolving tactics and techniques utilized by bot attackers. What were once deemed advanced evasion methods have now become standard practice for many malicious bots,” Chang said.
“In this rapidly changing environment, businesses must evolve their strategies. It’s crucial to adopt an adaptive and proactive approach, leveraging sophisticated bot detection tools and comprehensive cybersecurity management solutions to build a resilient defense against the ever-shifting landscape of bot-related threats.”
Recent findings from the Imperva Threat Research team reveal a significant surge in API-directed attacks, with 44% of advanced bot traffic targeting APIs. These attacks aren’t just limited to overwhelming API endpoints; rather, they target the intricate business logic that defines how APIs operate. Attackers deploy bots specifically designed to exploit vulnerabilities in API workflows, engaging in automated payment fraud, account hijacking, and data exfiltration.
Analysis in the report reveals a deliberate strategy by cyber attackers to exploit API endpoints that manage sensitive and high-value data. Implications of this trend are especially impactful for industries that rely on APIs for their critical operations and transactions. Financial services, healthcare, and e-commerce sectors are bearing the brunt of these sophisticated bot attacks, making them prime targets for malicious actors seeking to breach sensitive information.
APIs serve as the backbone of modern applications, enabling connectivity across services, streamlining operations, and delivering personalized customer experiences at scale. They underpin essential functions such as payment processing, supply chain management, and AI-driven analytics, making them indispensable for enhancing efficiency, accelerating product development, and unlocking new revenue streams.
“The business logic inherent to APIs is powerful, but it also creates unique vulnerabilities that malicious actors are eager to exploit,” Chang said. “As organizations embrace cloud-based services and microservices architectures, it’s vital to understand that the very features that make APIs essential can also leave them susceptible to risk of fraud and data breaches.”
What industries are being targeted?
The 2025 Imperva Bad Bot Report provides an in-depth analysis highlighting the industries most at risk. Financial services, healthcare, and e-commerce are the most affected sectors, industries that rely on APIs for critical operations and sensitive transactions, making them attractive targets for sophisticated bot attacks.
The financial services sector was the most targeted industry for account takeover (ATO) attacks, accounting for 22% of all incidents, followed by Telecoms and ISPs with 18%, and Computing & IT with 17%. Financial Services has long been a prime target for ATO attacks due to the high value of accounts and the sensitive nature of the data at stake.
Banks, credit card companies, and fintech platforms possess vast amounts of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), including credit card and bank account details, which can be profitably sold on the dark web. Additionally, the growing proliferation of APIs within the industry has broadened the attack surface, allowing cyber criminals to exploit vulnerabilities such as weak authentication and authorization methods, thereby facilitating account takeovers and data theft.
A new generation of battery-free sensors could help make preventative maintenance and condition monitoring on rail carriages cheaper, easier, and more environmentally-friendly.
The sensors, developed by University of Glasgow spinout RX Watt Ltd., aim to prevent costly equipment failures in industries which depend on monitoring products and goods in real-time.
The new sensors receive power wirelessly from radio waves, directly providing energy to small electronics which collect data including temperature and vibration, which is then sent to the user via a Bluetooth interface.
The sensors are designed to be retro-fitted to existing rolling stock carriages, and could significantly reduce the cost and environmental footprint of wiring in modern trains.
The effectiveness of the sensors was validated at the BCIMO Very Light Rail Innovation Centre, where the feasibility of safely sending power using microwaves to the sensors was demonstrated using the centre’s test vehicles, including a passenger rail carriage and a T69 tram.
The development of the sensors is supported by the Contracts for Innovation: International Rail Innovation Challenges programme, funded jointly by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and delivered by Innovate UK.
Dr Mahmoud Wagih, the founder of RX Watt, is a lecturer at the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering. He said: “Monitoring air quality, occupancy, and wear and tear are crucial to sustainable and resilient transport.
“Current vehicular sensors require extensive wiring or batteries that need regular replacement. With radio-frequency power delivery, we can directly power the sensors without the need for energy storage or harvesting energy from their environment.
“Continuously monitoring strain, vibrations, and temperature can reduce maintenance, downtime, and also emissions from trains. This is only possible through antennas and circuits which can operate in such varied environment.”
Anthony Joy, head of Engineering and Programmes at the BCIMO VLR Innovation Centre, said: “The prospect of wireless-powered maintenance-free and battery-less sensing is highly valuable to the rail industry and applies to various timely challenges around sustainability.”
RX Watt Ltd. was also recently selected as one of nine semiconductor start-ups to be backed by the government through the ChipStart programme.
The underpinning research was supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Office of the Chief Science Adviser for National Security under the UK IC Research Fellowship programme, and through the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA).
Although a significant proportion of the UK population actively uses AI in their daily lives, a new survey reveals that AI adoption in the workplace is slower in the UK compared to other countries.
The EY AI Sentiment Indexsurveyed 15,000 people from 15 countries, including the UK, to understand how people perceive and use AI.
The survey found that 70% of UK respondents have consciously used AI in their daily lives in the past six months, which is below the global average of 82%.
The specific areas where AI is used vary, with accessing customer support (32%), using AI to find the best route when driving or travelling (20%) and identifying, researching or recommending things to buy (14%) among the top use cases for UK respondents.
Integration of AI into Professional Life
Despite the widespread use of AI in daily life, its integration into professional settings in the UK is lower. Only 44% of UK respondents reported using AI in professional roles, compared to 67% globally.
Over the past six months, 31% of respondents globally have used AI for writing or editing content, 30% for learning about topics, and 27% for generating new ideas in a workplace setting. In comparison, in the UK, the usage is slightly lower for writing or editing content (19%) and generating new ideas (17%), but higher for helping with career aspirations (13%) and reviewing work outputs (14%).
Sentiment towards AI is mixed
AI adoption is not just about functionality – it’s also about sentiment, with those who feel positively towards AI more likely to explore applications and gradually increase their confidence and usage.
The EY Sentiment Index reveals how people feel about AI based on the following factors: personal comfort, perceived impact on individuals and their country, and excitement for the future, and is displayed as an average value out of 100.
The UK had one of the lowest scores in the Index, scoring 54 out of 100, compared with the global average of 68. When broken down by UK demographic group, Gen Z (71) and Millennials (67) scored highly, while AI sentiment drops significantly among Gen X (42), Baby Boomers (46), and the Silent Generation (42).
Although there is excitement about the future of AI, there are also concerns. Thirty-eight per cent (38%) of UK respondents believe the benefits of AI outweigh the potential negatives, which is lower than the global average of 48%.
Privacy and security concerns are significant among UK respondents. Issues such as security breaches (71%), privacy violations (65%), and the reliability of AI outputs (67%) are common concerns.
Catriona Campbell, EY UK&I AI client strategy leader, said: “AI’s potential excites people as much as it concerns them. Leaders must tap into this enthusiasm whilst also addressing their concerns. The survey findings highlight the importance for businesses to consider integrating AI into daily operations to address potential skills gaps and improve efficiency.
“By building confidence and demonstrating the value of AI, we can bridge the adoption gap and ensure AI serves as a catalyst for innovation and progress in the UK.”
The survey also revealed concerns regarding the impact of AI on society. Many UK respondents worry that AI could make people less intelligent (41%) and negatively affect vulnerable or at-risk individuals (65%).
There is also a fear that false information generated by AI, such as deep fakes, could be taken seriously (80%), and that AI could be used by companies to manipulate thoughts and feelings (59%). Additionally, the emergence of generative AI has raised concerns about distinguishing between real and fake information, with 71% of people in the UK being more worried about this issue compared to the global average of 67%.
Catriona Campbell, added: “It is important to remember that AI adoption and sentiment are not uniform with demographic factors, such as age, education and geography playing an important role in how people are relating to AI.
“As AI continues to reshape our daily lives, it is crucial for business leaders to foster trust and transparency, empowering individuals to engage with AI on their own terms. This approach will not only enhance AI adoption but also position the UK at the forefront of technological advancement, driving economic growth and societal benefits.”
A DeepTech AI initiative has been launched in Scotland to bridge innovation between university postgraduate talent and NHS Scotland.
‘AI Discovery’, delivered by CodeBase via its Techscaler programme in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, and NHS Scotland, will help postgraduates harness the latest AI technologies and build AI-enabled startups that can address some of the greatest challenges faced by the NHS.
“We have some of the world’s best universities, and there is a real opportunity to point some of the brightest minds at some of society’s biggest challenges. The plan is to connect NHS data to AI startups who can help bring about significant productivity and efficiency gains,” CodeBase’s chief strategy officer Steven Drost said.
“The world is changing, and we need to build new things. From an investment perspective, AI represents a seismic opportunity. Globally, one of the greatest bottlenecks is finding deeptech AI founders. Unlike pure software founders, whose mythology included dropping out from college and coding from their couch, deeptech founders need a degree and connections to the latest research.”
“We are trying to help the rise of the ‘academic founder’, by supporting them with best-in-class startup playbooks delivered by a mix of specialist academics and CodeBase network operators. We are excited to see a mix of maths, computer science, medicine, and microbiology postgrads on this programme. We hope we can convert some of them into founders and connect them with international investors.”
Alessandro Rosiello, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at University of Edinburgh Business School and director of innovation of Edinburgh Futures Institute, said that AI Discovery is a “critical step in the direction of changing the University’s mindset and building a more entrepreneurial campus.”
David Lowe, director of Clinical Innovation at the University of Glasgow and Clinical Lead Health CSO at The Scottish Government, said: “AI Discovery has the potential to be a true game changer for healthcare, particularly within the NHS. Through this opportunity, we are committed to fostering an environment that will nurture the next generation of bioentrepreneurs.”
“We believe that by empowering innovative minds with the tools, resources, and support they need, we can accelerate the development of transformative technologies that will address some of the most pressing challenges facing the NHS and global healthcare systems today.”
Techscaler is already supporting healthcare technology startups like Glasgow-headquartered Infix Support, led by consultant anaesthetist Dr Matthew Freer, who are rolling out AI-enabled software across all of Scotland’s NHS Health Boards aimed at improving operating theatre efficiency.
In the first phase of the DeepTech AI pilot, up to 30 post graduates from the University of Edinburgh and University of Glasgow will undertake a 9-week programme that will include 10 3-hour modules, workshops, and hackathons, with a focus around areas like lean product development, market research and insights, data analysis, pitching, and go-to-market strategy.
Yaheya Shafti, a University of Glasgow research assistant working on radar and machine learning for healthcare applications, said: “AI is unlocking new possibilities that will transform healthcare. In my work, I see researchers developing a wide range of AI-driven innovations, each with unique potential to improve healthcare delivery. Our team, for example, is developing AI-powered contactless health monitoring technology to enhance efficiency, accessibility, and convenience.”
“The AI Discovery programme is already proving to be invaluable to my entrepreneurial journey. And coming from an engineering background, gaining business insights from experts has been eye-opening, helping bridge the gap between research and real-world impact.”
Deputy first minister Kate Forbes said: “Artificial intelligence is already proving itself to be a force for good in our health and social care service, providing a range of solutions that are transforming services for the better and in a number of cases, saving lives.”
“Tapping into the talent and innovation across Scotland’s Techscaler start-up community, the AI Discovery initiative presents a hugely exciting platform for business, academia and public sector to come together to create new startups that accelerate and scale up AI solutions. I look forward to seeing the results of this valuable collaboration.”
Organisations are fixing less than half of all exploitable vulnerabilities, with just 21% of genAI app flaws being resolved, penetration testing firm Cobalt found.
The company’s State of Pentesting Report 2025 found crucial discrepancies between how ‘safe’ security leaders believe their organisations are versus the reality, based on their analysis of pentests carried out by Cobalt.
The Report aims to explore the landscape of vulnerabilities organizations battle today and identifies how security leaders’ understanding of their security posture can be contradicted by the number of unremediated threats in their organization.
Cobalt found that most firms are over-confident in their security posture, with 81% of security leaders ‘confident’ in their firm, despite 31% of the serious findings discovered having not been resolved.
Overall, firms are remediating just 48% of all pentest results, however, this number significantly improves (69%) for findings labelled serious (vulnerabilities rated high and critical severity).
Organisations are particularly struggling with vulnerabilities within their genAI LLM web apps. Most (95%) firms have performed pentesting on these apps in the last year with a third (32%) of tests finding vulnerabilities warranting a serious rating.
Of those findings, a mere 21% of vulnerabilities were fixed, with risks including prompt injection, model manipulation, and data leakage.
About three quarters (72%) ranked AI attacks as their number one concern – ahead of risks associated with third-party software, exploited vulnerabilities, insider threats, and nation state actors.
Only 64% say they are ‘well equipped to address all security implications of genAI.”
Further, more than half of security leaders (52%) say they are getting pressure to support speed at the cost of security.
This is despite just half (50%) of leaders fully trusting that they can identify and prevent a vulnerability from their software suppliers – a particular concern given that 82% are required by customers/regulators to provide software security assurance.
“Regular pentesting has never been so important, particularly given the breakneck speed of AI adoption and the vulnerabilities that are introduced into an organization’s security posture,” said Gunter Ollman, CTO, Cobalt.
“It’s a concern that 31% of serious vulnerabilities are not being fixed, however at least these firms are aware of the problem and can develop strategies to mitigate the risk.
“Organizations that do take an offensive security approach are taking a huge step to strengthening defenses against cybercriminals who typically attack opportunistically. In doing so they’re getting ahead of any compliance requirements and reassuring their customers that they’re safe to do business with.”
Worldwide PC shipments totaled 59 million units in the first quarter of 2025, a 4.8% increase from the first quarter of 2024, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. U.S. PC shipments grew 12.6%, reaching 16 million units in the first quarter of 2025.
“The growth in the PC market in the first quarter of 2025 was driven by the surge in shipments in two key markets, the U.S. and Japan, but for different underlying reasons,” said Rishi Padhi, research principal at Gartner.
“In the U.S., the PC market experienced a surge in shipments as vendors increased inventory in anticipation of tariff announcements, resulting in 12.6% year-over-year growth.
“Despite this increase and the subsequent strong topline growth, underlying end-user demand remained cautious, even with the added boost from enterprises upgrading PCs for Windows 11.
“In Japan, strong business PC demand driven by Windows 11 replacements, coupled with the adoption of Chromebooks, significantly contributed to shipment growth of 15.6%.
“Vendors participating in the GIGA education Chromebook replacement program capitalized on this opportunity by offering upgrades to older devices, thereby sustaining momentum in the market.”
In Gartner’s estimates, Lenova shipped the most PC units in the first quarter of 2025, with 15,275 shipped units, claiming 25.9% of the market share. This was followed by HP, with 12,761 at 21.6% of the market share, and Dell, selling 9,621 units with 16.3% of the market share.
It is, however, difficult to take the first quarter’s market sales as a predictor of the rest of the year as US tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump are set to interrupt global supply chains for major PC manufacturing companies.
The IDC already predicted that global IT spending was set to be negatively affected by the US tariffs.
It was reported that a US customs notice said that electronic devices – including laptops and smart phones – from China would be excluded from that 125% tariff, though Trump has since said this report is false.
The President says that these devices “are moving to a different tariff bucket.”
While China has warned the US to call off all tariffs on Chinese goods, the Trump administration says that imports from China will be subject to a semiconductor tax, with details to come on what this exactly means.
Trump is expected to provide more details on this apparent semiconductor tax later today, as markets continue to brace on what this could mean.
A landmark antitrust case taking place in the US could force Meta to break up and sell off Instagram and WhatsApp to lesson its market dominance.
The US Federal Trade Commission is reviewing the company’s previous buyouts of Instagram and WhatsApp, alleging that the purchase of the companies was to neutralise competition against Facebook.
The FTC did approve Facebook’s 2012 purchase of Instagram, as well as its 2014 WhatsApp acquisition, but said it would monitor the outcomes these acquisitions had on the market.
The trial will challenge Meta’s dominance in the social media market. The company will likely contend that its triumvirate of socials – Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – faces regular competition from TikTok, X, YouTube, Snapchat, iMessage, and other services.
Meta is also expected to contend that its acquisition of Instagram lead the social media photo-sharing site to new heights, and improved user experience for customers.
Zuckerberg’s relation with Trump soured following a ban on Trump across Meta’s platforms as a result of the events of January 6th when hundreds stormed the US capital saying that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Since then, Meta has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, and appointed Trump ally Dana White to its board.
The company has since rid itself of any diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and cut its independent fact checkers.
Meta has condemned the case, saying that the company already got approval for the acquisitions from the watchdog.
“More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the commission’s action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final,” a Meta spokesperson told the BBC.
This is despite the FTC saying it would monitor the effect the deals had on the market, and it being fully able to re-address deals if they are shown to negatively affect fair competition.
The FTC is facing its own internal issues, however, as the current President fired two commissioners from the five-seat group, both of which were Democrats, filling both seats by Republicans, Trump’s party.
The current chair of the FTC, Andrew Ferguson, who was appointed by Trump, said that he would “obey lawful order” when asked by The Verge if he would obey an order from Trump to drop the FTC case against Meta. He said that he doubted Trump would make such an order.
Google is cutting hundreds of employees from its devices unit, affecting departments across Chrome, Android, and Pixel.
First reported by The Information, the cuts follow a round of voluntary buyouts offered by Google to workers across its teams in Android software and Pixel smartphone units, promising guaranteed severance if they leave their jobs.
Before the voluntary buyout was offered, the Pixel division had absorbed Android and Chrome in a merger, with 20,000 members of staff.
“Since combining the Platforms and Devices teams last year, we’ve focused on becoming more nimble and operating more effectively, and this included making some job reductions in addition to the voluntary exit program that we offered in January,” a Google spokesperson said.
The tech conglomerate will not pause its hiring efforts globally, the spokesperson added.
Managerial roles were just recently under fire at Google, as 10% of manager- and VP-level roles were cut in late 2024. Many were eliminated altogether, while some were converted into non-management roles.
The continued rounds of layoffs at Google are part of the long-time strategy announced in 2022 by CEO Sundar Pichai to make the tech giant 20% more efficient. Pichai cited the shifting economic landscape and the hiring bump seen in Covid as key motivators for the productivity push.
Tech layoffs appear to show no signs of stopping or slowing. 2025 has already seen 11,299 layoffs as of February, with more piling on top.
In 2024, 280,991 lost their jobs in the global tech sector, as CEOs continue to site the Covid hiring bump, rising costs, and turbulent economic conditions as reasons to cut workers.
Like Google, many companies that have cut workers have not stopped their hiring efforts, showing that many companies are also shifting priorities towards newer technologies like AI.
UK health tech and life sciences startups raised $1.8 billion in venture capital investment in Q1 2025, the sector’s second strongest quarter on record, according to new analysis from HSBC Innovation Banking UK and Dealroom.
Health was the UK’s most funded sector this quarter by a wide margin, attracting more than twice the investment of the next largest sector. Notably, half of the quarter’s megarounds came from health, led by Isomorphic Labs ($600 million) and Verdiva Bio ($411 million).
Nearly half of all VC investment in the sector went to AI-powered startups, underscoring the technology’s growing influence on healthcare innovation.
VC investment up on 2024
Overall, UK innovation businesses raised $4.2 billion in Q1 2025, an 8% increase compared to the same period last year and the highest Q1 amount since 2022.
Most UK venture capital in Q1 was raised at breakout stage (Series B and C) with over $1.8 billion, closely followed by $1.7 billion at late stage. Megarounds showed signs of recovery this quarter, with over six recorded and the second-highest average deal size since 2020.
There is also evidence that UK startups are looking beyond equity to alternative sources of funding. Debt funding surged to $1 billion in Q1 2025, rebounding sharply from H2 2024 levels and signalling renewed lender confidence.
UK remains Europe’s top tech ecosystem
The UK leads Europe in several key areas, including VC investment, the number of unicorns, and overall enterprise value. In Q1 2025, it raised more venture capital than France, Germany, and Spain combined and accounted for nearly one-third of all European VC investment between 2020 and 2024.
The UK has produced 185 unicorns, more than any other European country, including one new addition this year and has a strong pipeline of potential IPO candidates.
Growth outside of London dominated by Oxford and Cambridge
Within the UK, Cambridge and Oxford startups raised the most new venture capital outside of London in Q1 2025. Part of the ‘golden triangle’, Oxford and Cambridge remain a focal point for the UK’s tech sector as a driver for innovation and an incubator of UK tech firms.
Glasgow jumped into 4th place, driven by a number deals, including a $50 million Series A round for supply chain tech company BLK.
After 25 years, the UK stands out as Europe’s powerhouse and has established itself as a leading global tech hub. The UK’s Innovation Economy is now worth $1.2 trillion in enterprise value, has raised $204 billion in VC funding and has seen 2.5K+ VC backed exits.
Fintech leads all sectors, contributing $288 billion (25%) of total enterprise value. Health follows in second place at $137 billion (12%), while semiconductors rank third at $131 billion (11%)
“It’s exciting to see UK health tech firms thriving and attracting near-record investment, driven by AI innovations transforming the sector and unlocking exciting new possibilities,” Simon Bumfrey, CEO, HSBC Innovation Banking UK said.
“This comes as VC investment in UK innovation businesses has risen year on year, with notable megarounds and increasing breakout-stage funding strengthening the pipeline. This is a testament to the resilience of the innovation ecosystem, which has weathered an uncertain operating environment to continue attracting investment.
“The UK remains Europe’s innovation powerhouse – driving revenue, producing more unicorns, and capturing a growing share of VC investment. With rising early stage investment, fast-growing sectors, and standout IPO candidates, we’re excited to see what the rest of the year holds for the UK innovation economy and remain focused on supporting firms to accelerate growth across the ecosystem.”
Insolvencies are predicted to rise dramatically in the UK as business grapple with shifting economic tides and the US tariffs threatening the global economy, Interpath analysts say.
While the number of companies filing for administration in the UK stayed steady in the first quarter of 2025, this is expected to change as the consequences of certain economic policies take hold.
Analysis of Companies House data by Interpath, the international advisory firm, shows that in the firs three months of 2025, there were 330 administrations.
Compared to the first quarter of 2024, this was just a small increase (321), and just a small decline from the final quarter of 2024 (337).
A range of companies have been affected by the shifting economic headwinds – Encino Trading Services suffered due to supply chains pressured from the war in Ukraine, and Technicolour entered administration following rising labour costs from the Hollywood strikes.
“The latest insolvency figures reflect the period of relative stability we’ve had in the UK after a steady stream of administration cases over the past year. But now, economic protectionism means that the storm clouds are gathering after months of fair skies,” Will Wright, CEO of Interpath in the UK, said.
“The universal tariff imposed by the US has sent shockwaves round the globe and has knocked corporate confidence. Quite simply, UK plc is unnerved. We’ve already seen that come through in volatility in the markets.
“Together, this may mean that we see expansion plans put on ice and a reduction in capex and technology investment. Management teams are concerned by the effect these changes will have on their own trading and margins, but also the stability of supply chains and medium-to-longer term health and demand within economy.
“Unless the UK can ratify a bespoke deal quickly, we should expect a notable rise in administration levels in sectors such as industrial manufacturing and automotive through the summer ahead, with the indirect effects of the tariff hike to hit services further down the line.
“The timing couldn’t be tougher as so many businesses should be ramping up investment right now as we pass through a period of fundamental structural change in the economy which has been upended by the rapid emergence of AI.”
The data shows an even pattern of administrations across different sectors, with retail marginally ahead (43), followed by building and constructin (42), business services (42), and leisure and hospitality (29).
Scotland had 14 administrations in the first quarter of 2025, a slight year on year rise (12 in 2024 Q1), but just less than the 15 seen in the previous quarter.
