The NCSC is encouraging UK organisations to take immediate action to mitigate an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability affecting F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (CVE-2025-53521).
F5 BIG-IP APM is a common component, especially within large enterprises.
F5 has published an updated security advisory explaining that a previously disclosed vulnerability in BIG-IP APM has been recategorised as an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability
When a BIG-IP APM access policy is configured on a virtual server, specific malicious traffic can lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE).
F5 is aware of active exploitation of CVE-2025-53521 affecting BIG-IP APM.
The NCSC is working to fully understand UK impact and any potential cases of active exploitation affecting UK networks.
The NCSC recommends investigating for compromise on all affected products regardless of when the system was updated. F5 have published Indicators of Compromise.
All organisations using BIG-IP APM are affected by this vulnerability.
The NCSC recommends following vendor best-practice advice to mitigate vulnerabilities. In this case due to reports of in the wild exploitation, if you use an affected product, you should take these priority actions:
If possible, isolate the affected system(s) and replace with a new, fully up-to-date system (NOTE: this may cause service outage).
Fully investigate for evidence of compromise following the vendor guidance (an assured Cyber Incident Response provider can assist). Where this isn’t possible; the affected system should be erased/destroyed and rebuilt as new.
Nearly one in eight (78%) manufacturing businesses in the UK suffered a serious cyber incident last year, according to research from ESET.
While major incidents like the Jaguar Land Rover event stole headlines and caused major disruptions, this cyber-attack was apparently just one of many affecting the sector.
The data, based on a survey of 500 senior decision-makers handling IT, OT, risk, operations, or security in UK manufacturing, found that almost every one (95%) experienced an attack that had a direct impact on their business.
Over half (53%) also suffered a financial loss from a cyber incident, while 44% faced a supply chain disruption, and 39% reported missed supplier or customer commitments.
When organisations experienced a full or partial shutdown as a result of an attack, 77% suffered for one to seven days, while 56% dealt with one to three days of downtime.
More and more organisations are citing AI as a threat, however, with 46% citing it as a risk, beating out phishing (42%), ransomware (40%), and unauthorised system access (38%).
While cyber professionals are prepared to cite potential threats, one in five say they have limited to no visibility into cyber risks that could disrupt their firms.
Despite major cyber incidents hitting the news and affecting reputations, responsibility for cyber overwhelmingly stays at the IT level.
Only 22% of survey respondents say that cyber accountability has been upgraded to boards or the C-suite, while 55% say it has remained within IT.
Further, about one in five (21%) say that reactive measures are still preferred over preventative measures.
“If the JLR attack showed us anything, it’s how quickly a cyber incident can shut down production at scale and have major consequences for the business and the wider economy,” said Matt Knell, UK country manager at ESET.
“The real challenge is that many organizations still treat cybersecurity as an IT issue rather than a strategic business decision. When it sits outside the boardroom, it’s harder to prioritize appropriately.”
“What’s striking is that many organizations still see reactive approaches as more economical, despite the evidence to the contrary. With many major incidents resulting in six-figure losses and widespread operational disruption, the cost of reacting after the fact can be significant,” Matt Knell, ESET UK country manager, said.
Tech giant Oracle has announced a round of “significant” layoffs as the firm moves to boost investments in AI.
The job cuts have affected “senior engineers, architects, operations leaders, program managers, and technical specialists,” according to senior manager Michael Shepherd. While Oracle has yet to comment on the cuts, Shepherd wrote on Linkedin that the layoffs were not performance related.
“The individuals affected were not let go because of anything they did or didn’t do,” his post said.
Many other former workers took to social media to explain that they had received notice of their termination of employment yesterday morning in an email, informing them that they would get one month of severance pay.
The email, as seen by Business Insider, reads: “After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change. As a result, today is your last working day.”
While Oracle’s CTO Larry Ellison is one of the richest people in the world, the firm itself has felt the pressure from investors to return on their investments in AI, with intense spending on its own cloud infrastructure as well as deals with OpenAI.
The software and cloud infrastructure firm has been turning to the debt market to fund its AI expenditure and compete with the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, and other cloud players. Oracle said that it intends to raise $50 billion in debt and equity, though executives said that the firm had no plans to raise debt in 2026.
While executives think AI investments will pay off over time, and Oracle lauds its $533 billion from “remaining performance obligations” – a metric for contracted revenue that has yet to be recognised – investors are getting inpatient.
The firm’s stock price fell 25% this year, far outpacing other major tech corporations in terms of a downward trend.
The layoffs could see and influx of free cash flow as the firm looks to AI to fill in workforce gaps.
Scotland’s industry-led technology accelerator STAC has completed its second investment round, backing three companies whose technologies sit at the heart of national priorities. From quantum computing and housing management to offshore wind infrastructure inspection.
The £772,000 round, co-invested by STAC Invest syndicate brings investment to Quantcore Technologies, Vuabl and Airspection. All three have completed STAC’s intensive 18-month accelerator programme with Vuabl and Airspection establishing their first HQ’s at thebeyond, STAC’s 22,000 sq ft technology hub at Skypark in Glasgow.
The announcement marks a further step in STAC’s progress to become the UK’s most active deep tech investor, making more than ten investments a year into their accelerator participants. It comes as the organisation begins fundraising for its first Deep Tech fund, targeting between £15 million and £30 million to significantly scale its capacity to back Scottish founders.
Quantcore Technologies
Quantcore Technologies receives £250,000 from STAC Invest in a £2.5M co-investment round. A spin-out from the University of Glasgow, Quantcore is the only company in the UK manufacturing niobium-based superconducting circuits, operating from the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre. Its technology is central to the quantum hardware supply chain that UK government strategy now explicitly depends upon.
Quantcore secured this investment round before Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ announcement this month to invest up to £2 billion in UK quantum funding, including a £1 billion government procurement programme for commercial-scale quantum computers by the early 2030s. That the UK government has now confirmed quantum as a strategic national priority only strengthens the case for Quantcore building a sovereign domestic supply chain for quantum hardware, designed and manufactured in Glasgow.
Jack Brennan, Co-founder and CEO of Quantcore Technologies, said: “Before joining the STAC programme I had a rough idea that I wanted to spin out the technology we’d been developing at the University of Glasgow but I had no idea what that actually entailed. STAC gave me the understanding of what it takes to set up and run a company, and critically, what pitching looks like.
“What needs to go into a deck. What it means to stand up in front of investors and tell a story rather than recite technical details. That’s just not something you’re ever exposed to in academia, and it’s invaluable.
“The constant cycle of being put in front of investors and showcases genuinely transformed my ability to communicate at a level investors understand. We have just closed a heavily oversubscribed funding round, and I chose to bring STAC in as part of that because of the quality of their mentors and the value of working alongside them over the past year and a half.”
Vuabl
Vuabl receives £222,000, co-invested by STAC Invest. The company has developed software that uses the LIDAR sensors built into modern smartphones to scan properties and generate comprehensive condition reports, covering 3D modelling, energy performance (EPC ratings), structural condition and early detection of damp or mould.
Vuabl has completed a successful pilot with Glasgow’s Wheatley Group, the UK’s largest social housing operator, which manages 65,000 units. The investment supports Vuabl’s expansion to help landlords, housing associations and social housing providers meet mounting regulatory obligations on energy efficiency, housing standards and tenant safety using nothing more than a smartphone.
Blair Stirling, Vuabl co-founder, said: “We’re a startup taking on some of the biggest property management businesses in the US, companies doing 70,000 to 90,000 appraisals a month, more than most Scottish surveyors handle in an entire year. Navigating those relationships, structuring proposals, managing enterprise integrations is a whole other world. STAC came in at exactly the right time.
“They’ve helped us understand how to manage complex deals, how to handle competitive assessment processes, and how to position ourselves in a market that operates very differently to the UK. We’ve made it through multiple rounds with major US clients and we have proposals on the table right now. That doesn’t happen without the right support behind you.”
Airspection receives £300,000. The company has developed an autonomous drone that harnesses wind as energy to fly in extreme weather conditions, hovering with precision over offshore wind turbines to carry out structural inspection and maintenance surveys. It removes the need to send engineers into hazardous environments and dramatically cuts the cost and time of inspection at scale.
Beyond offshore wind, the technology has clear applications in surveying critical national infrastructure, power lines, railway networks and coastal assets, immediately following extreme weather events, enabling faster damage assessment and recovery at low cost.
Airspection founder and Director, Matthew McLean said: “We joined STAC almost four years ago, right at the beginning, and the support has been there every step of the way. The programme is built around what you actually need with structured mentorship across specific areas like sales and finance, from people who have genuinely done it before.
“For us, the most valuable thing has been developing our sales process from scratch and then using that to navigate the full procurement journey, not straightforward territory for a startup. We’re now in paid trials with an offshore operator, we’ve hired a head of engineering and a flight operations manager, and this investment will allow us to demonstrate at a full offshore wind farm. STAC has been central to getting us to this point.”
Paul Wilson, CEO and co-founder of STAC, said: “These three companies show exactly what STAC is for. One is helping redefine the future of computing. One is giving people in social housing the right to a healthy, sustainable home. One is making Scotland’s clean energy infrastructure safer and more efficient. Each is a strong story in its own right. Together, they demonstrate the breadth and ambition of what is being built here in Glasgow. Local and global impact at scale. STAC is rapidly advancing our mission towards a global centre of technology excellence from Glasgow.
“STAC’s model is simple: we find the talent and partner with universities, we nurture companies through our programme, we provide world class technology access, we invest in them, and we connect them to corporate partners and contracts that transform promising technology into a globally competitive business, without them having to leave Scotland to do it. The first cheque is just the start. We lean in and help our companies win deals.”
Angus Macfadyen, head of investment at STAC, said: “What makes STAC Invest distinctive is not only the significance of first check confidence, but the value that comes with it. We have built relationships with major corporates across technology, energy and critical services, and we use those relationships to open doors for our portfolio companies. Vuabl collaboration with Wheatley is not an accident. It is what industry-led acceleration looks like in practice.
“We have now begun fundraising for our first institutional fund, targeting between £15 million and £30 million. That will allow us to invest at greater scale and move faster because the pipeline of companies coming through STAC’s accelerator programme fully justifies it.”
STAC’s second investment round follows its inaugural round in August 2025, which backed three healthtech companies, all with female co-founders, Silver Lion Innovations, Seluna and Smplicare, developing technology to address mobility challenges, childhood sleep disorders and fall prevention in older adults respectively.
The breadth of the combined portfolio spanning quantum computing, AI, medtech, smart housing and clean energy reflects STAC’s commitment to backing the technologies that will define the next decade of Scottish and UK competitiveness.
STAC has now supported more than 120 startups, facilitated more than £50 million in investment into its portfolio, and helped create over 400 jobs. The accelerator is 90% industry-funded through its network of major technology and professional service partners, who provide not only capital but access to global markets, supply chains and technical expertise.
By 2028, over 50% of customer service organisations will double their technology spend, without an equivalent reduction in talent, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.
Despite mounting pressure to use AI to cut labor costs, organizations cannot rely on automation alone to replace the customer service workforce. Those that attempt rapid headcount reduction risk operational disruption, degraded customer experience and expensive rollbacks.
“Leaders are hoping that AI will deliver immediate cost savings, but most organisations are understating the talent required to make AI successful,” said Kathy Ross, Vice President Analyst in the Gartner Customer Service & Support practice. “Technology spend is rising rapidly, yet talent needs are evolving – not disappearing.”
Frontline Roles Are Changing – Not Disappearing
Although many service and support leaders anticipate smaller frontline workforces over time, few organisations are successfully reducing headcount today.
According to a Gartner survey of 321 customer service and support leaders conducted in October 2025, just 20% of organisations reported reduced agent headcount due to AI, indicating that AI’s current impact remains modest.
Nearly 80% of organisations plan to shift at least some agents into new roles, and 84% plan to add new skills to frontline positions, underscoring the expanding scope of human work in AI‑enabled service environments.
“Organisations aren’t cutting agents because AI is fully ready to take over,” said Emily Potosky, Senior Director, Analyst in the Gartner Customer Service and Support practice.
“They’re cutting agents to fund AI. Instead of replacing the workforce, leaders should prioritise reshaping it – shifting resources toward higher‑value activities that support growth.”
Digital trust is built early, but that’s also where it can be lost, the 2026 Digital Trust Index from Thales reveals.
The research shows that digital trust is won or lost during sign-up, login, and throughout the lifecycle of personal data handling, the report which surveyed 15,000 consumers, business partners, and IT decision makers across 13 industries found.
Is Your Login A Win?
Despite digital trust often starting at login, 57% of consumers reported problems accessing a website in the past year, with 68% abandoning or switching providers due to slow performance or complicated sign-up processes.
When access feels too slow or intrusive, 33% switch to a competitor or abandon the attempt, while 36% delay engagement or look for alternative channels.
Consumers are not demanding speed at the expense of security. Forty-five percent say they prefer stronger security checks, even if sign-ups take longer, compared to 22% who favor faster access with lighter protections.
Familiar safeguards help build confidence, with 69% saying multifactor authentication increases trust and 68% saying the same about passkeys. Still, only 16% say they clearly understand how companies collect and use their personal data.
AI Adoption Outpaces Trust
As organisations accelerate their use of generative AI, 93% of IT leaders say they are already using, deploying or planning AI initiatives. Yet consumer confidence has not kept pace: only 23% say they trust companies to use AI responsibly with their data, while 77% remain concerned about AI agents acting on their behalf online.
Trust Gaps Widen as Banking Pulls Ahead
The 2026 Digital Trust Index shows the gap between the most trusted sectors and the rest widening sharply. Banking stands out as the clear trusted sector at 57% (up from 44% in 2025), making it the only industry where more than two in five consumers feel comfortable sharing personal information online.
Most other sectors continue to operate in a trust deficit, where the disconnect between what organisations believe they deliver and what users actually experience drives abandonment, time-consuming workarounds, and increased risk.
Beyond banking’s clear lead, the rest of the sectors fall well behind in consumer confidence. Government services rank second at 40%, followed by healthcare at 35%. Trust declines sharply beyond these top sectors, with insurance (23%) and education (15%) forming a distant second tier.
Consumer-facing industries score much lower, including retail (10%), social media (9%), entertainment (7%), and hospitality (6%), while news media (5%), logistics (4%), and automotive (3%) rank at the bottom.
Overall, consumers place the greatest online trust in sectors responsible for managing sensitive personal data and essential services, while entertainment, media, and platform companies face lower confidence.
Friction Fuels Delays and Risk for Partners
For business partner users, access reliability directly affects project delivery and revenue. Onboarding remains inconsistent as only 22% receive login credentials immediately, and just 30% get full permissions on first access, creating delays that ripple across sales cycles and customer commitments.
When official processes lag, risky workarounds emerge. Sixty-six percent admit to sharing or borrowing credentials, often because of slow provisioning, creating hidden security debt and increased breach risk.
IT Leaders See the Risk but Struggle to Close the Gap
The 2026 Digital Trust Index shows IT leaders recognise the importance of modern authentication. Eighty-seven percent say offering passkeys is important, yet only 49% currently do so. This gap represents both risk and opportunity as consumers expect stronger, seamless security.
“The 2026 Digital Trust Index shows that as AI adoption is accelerating, trust is struggling to keep pace,” said Danny DeVreeze, Vice President of Identity and Access Management at Thales.
“When AI simply helps people work faster, confidence is high. But when AI starts acting autonomously and making decisions or interacting with systems on a user’s behalf, people begin asking harder questions about security, control, and accountability.”
Architecting Access as Business Strategy
The Digital Trust Index 2026 shows that identity and access management are commercial levers, not back-office functions. Trust improves when authentication and permissions are reliable, adaptive, and clearly explained.
When they are slow or opaque, abandonment rises, credential sharing spreads, and revenue leaks. Organisations that modernise authentication, limit unnecessary data collection, provide permission visibility, and deploy AI transparently will be best positioned to compete in an increasingly digital and AI-driven economy.
The UK’s competition watchdog is launching a new probe into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem as it sets its eyes on the cloud market.
The Competition and Markets Authority Board has looked at several closely connected issues across cloud services and business software, with the aim of ensuring customers (including businesses and government) can benefit from the best available products at the most competitive prices, while also supporting greater choice to strengthen the resilience of the UK’s digital economy.
Starting in May, the CMA will begin a strategic market status investigate Microsoft’s business software ecosystem. As Microsoft is deemed to have strategic market status (SMS) – as it supplies hundreds of thousands of UK businesses with software and cloud capabilities – the CMA will be able to act on major concerns from its cloud market investigation.
These include Microsoft’s use of software licensing reducing competition in cloud; the SMS designation would also open the door for ensuring further investigations and rules to bolster fairer competition in the sector.
The CMA also said that Microsoft and Amazon have already set out actions on cloud egress fees and interoperability to support greater choice for businesses and public sector organisations in the UK. These changes aim to reduce expense and effort for UK customers when using more than one cloud provider.
The CMA has also made clear further steps are required to help UK customers multi-home and switch, with ongoing dialogue to take place around these areas.
Since the CMA’s investigation into the cloud ecosystem closed in July 2025, the regulator has heard wider concerns regarding Microsoft’s position in business software, particularly productivity software, operating systems, database management, and related security services.
The CMA intends for the UK to benefit from emerging technology, which can be accomplished if there are a broad range of competitors that can integrate with Microsoft’s business software.
“We’re using the regime in a flexible, pragmatic way to deliver real impact, as quickly as possible, for UK customers. This announcement shows we’re not just responding to today’s concerns but getting ahead of emerging issues too,” Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA said.
“Cloud remains central to our approach – we’ve seen real progress through our engagement with Microsoft and Amazon to drive meaningful improvements on egress fees and interoperability and we expect more action from them over the coming months.
“At the same time, we’re taking action now, deciding to launch an investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem. An SMS designation would enable us to tackle remaining concerns around Microsoft’s licensing practices in cloud and would also enable us to ensure a level playing field as AI is rapidly embedded into everyday business software tools.
“Through this package of actions, we’re driving changes across cloud and business software to make sure these markets are competitive and resilient for UK businesses and the public sector.
The government is investing an additional £4.5 million in the LawtechUK programme over the next three years.
The Ministry of Justice-backed initiative supports startups developing cutting-edge legal tech – speeding up services, driving down costs, and making justice more accessible.
Last year, UK-founded lawtech companies secured a total investment of almost £189 million – up 35% from the year before.
“The UK isn’t just keeping pace with the global legal tech revolution – we’re leading it,” minister for courts and legal services, Sarah Sackman KC, said.
“With 44% of all European lawtech startups calling the UK home, they know Britain is where innovation happens.
“We have no intention of slowing down, which is why we’re investing £4.5 million to keep the UK at the frontier of legal technology.”
The UK’s legal services sector generates more than £43 billion a year and employs more than 317,000 people across the country.
New technology has the potential to unlock greater growth, create jobs, and build a more efficient legal sector – directly supporting the Government’s Industrial Strategy.
CodeBase and Legal Geek will continue to deliver the LawtechUK programme until 31 October 2026.
“We are delighted that LawtechUK has been extended by the Ministry of Justice, enabling us to continue our work alongside CodeBase to drive digital transformation in the legal sector. We are hugely proud of the positive impact that the initiative has made on boosting the lawtech sector and progressing diversity and regional growth across the UK,” Beth Fillner, Director of LegalGeek, said.
“We have hosted community events across 9 different UK cities so far, and have seen a notable increase in female-founded lawtechs, many of whom successfully raised funds in the second half of 2025.
“We are excited about the next phase of the campaign as we look to further develop a culture of innovation within the legal services sector and grow its vital contribution to the UK economy.”
Jon Hope, CEO CodeBase said: “We are delighted to receive this seven-month extension, which allows us to continue working with Legal Geek to maintain the incredible momentum LawtechUK has built over the last three years.
“At CodeBase, we operate with a ‘founder first’ mentality, and this bridging period ensures we can continue our vital work supporting the pioneers and entrepreneurs in the UK’s legal sector without interruption.
“By focusing on delivery that reinforces the UK’s reputation as a global leader in digital legal innovation, we are ensuring that the next generation of lawtech founders has the platform they need to scale and succeed.”
A new report from the Scottish Government shows that the number of computing science teachers have grown in the biggest annual increase since records began.
The number of computing science teachers recruited into the profession nearly doubled last year, the report from the government reveals, finally contrasting a continuous downturn in numbers.
Last year, 31 teachers were recruited into computing science, beating out the 16 recruited in the last two academic years.
Recruitment numbers are still, however, below target, with the profession seeing a lower number of teachers than at any time since 2008. 2025 however, was the first year since the public record began in 2016 that has seen such an increase in recruitment numbers. In 2018, numbers recruitment did increase from 41 to 46, the only other year that saw an increase.
The 31 teachers recruited were short of the 52-teacher target set out by the governments Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group, but still provides hope for the future as it is a dramatic uptick from the previous year.
The report acknowledged longstanding challenges in recruiting and retaining computing science teachers; the subject faces similar issues to many STEM subjects, but also its own unique difficulties in the need for digital access and devices and the rapid emergence of new technologies.
Issues about access to software as well as devices are things that often require local authority intervention and approval, which can be more difficult to fix at pace. The report noted that the individual policies of local authorities can affect what software schools use, leading to unequal offerings across districts.
Outside of teacher recruitment, computing science has seen an increased uptake by students, with entries to National 5 Computing Science up by 3.8% between 2019 and 2025, while Highers saw an increase of 22.6%. The subjects have also seen an increase in female entries.
Still, current statistics show that the number of computing science teachers in Scotland is historically low, at just 550. In 2008/09, the number was at 766.
Remote and hybrid work have become a permanent feature of the UK labour market, with up to 44% of working adults now operating outside traditional office settings, according to the UK Remote Work Report 2026 by MyPerfectCV.
The firm’s research highlights a fundamental shift in how and where people work, with flexible arrangements moving from a temporary response to a long-term standard across many industries.
Flexible Work: The New Normal?
Remote and hybrid work are now firmly embedded in the UK workforce, with between 40% and 44% of UK workers engaging in remote or hybrid work. Around 14% work fully remote, with 26% to 28% following hybrid schedules.
Globally, the UK ranks among the leaders in flexible work adoption, with employees averaging 1.8 remote workdays per week – the highest in Europe and second worldwide.
However, access to remote work remains uneven. Higher earners, degree holders, and those in knowledge-based sectors are significantly more likely to benefit, while workers in retail, hospitality, and manual roles have limited access.
Unequal Access
Access to remote and hybrid work varies significantly across the UK workforce, with higher earners far more likely to have access to remote or hybrid roles, with uptake increasing steadily by income level.
Workers earning over £50k are significantly more likely to work remotely or in hybrid arrangements than lower-income groups.
Remote work is heavily concentrated in knowledge-based industries such as IT and professional services. Further, education plays a key role: degree holders are more likely to access roles that offer flexible working.
Employee Wellbeing
Flexible work has been found to improve quality of life for many employees, with 78% reporting improved work-life balance, with 65% feeling happier and more satisfied at work.
However, challenges remain, with up to 80$ reporting negative impacts on mental health.
Many say they are experiencing difficulty in separating work from personal life, with between 18% to 39% reporting physical issued linked to home working setups.
Commuting Patterns
The rise of hybrid work has reduced the frequency of daily commutes, but not eliminated them entirely. Instead, workers are making fewer, more intentional trips to the office. This shift is reshaping transport patterns and reducing reliance on daily travel, while maintaining demand for part-week commuting.
At the same time, remote work is influencing where people choose to live and spend money, with growing interest in suburban and semi-rural areas within commuting distance of major cities.
Regional Trends
Remote work adoption is highest in economically strong regions, with London (51%) and the South East (47%) having the largest proportion of remote and hybrid workers. These areas benefit from a concentration of high-skilled, knowledge-based roles.
At the same time, remote work is redistributing economic activity. An estimated £3 billion annually has shifted from city centres to suburban and residential areas, while the South East has gained approximately £4 billion in economic output.
Employer Perspective
Despite widespread adoption, employers and employees remain divided on the impact of remote work on productivity.
About two thirds (62% to 67%) of employees believe they are more productive working remotely, while 39% of employers agree.
Employers also cite challenges around collaboration, company culture, and communication. Remote work has been linked to a 7.4% increase in the number meetings and a rise in “low-quality meetings”.
A key issue emerging in hybrid workplaces is proximity bias, with 94% of business leaders saying they notice in-office employee contributions more.
This perspective can have real-world impacts, with hybrid workers 7.7% less likely to be promoted. Hybrid workers are also 7.1% less likely to receive pay rises.
Remote work can significantly reduce everyday expenses, particularly commuting. The research found that a worker’s average daily commute cost £19.10, while the average cost of working form home amounts to £9.41. This adds up to a potential annual savings of up to £2,400.
However, these savings are partially offset by increased household costs, with 86% of remote workers report higher utility bill. The average additional cost rounds out to £47 per week.
What’s Next?
About three quarters (74%) of UK CEOs now say a full return to the office is not a priority. Hybrid work has evolved from a pandemic workaround to a permanent expectation for knowledge workers.
Nearly half of UK professionals (43–48%) say they would consider quitting if forced back to the office full-time.
The emerging compromise? A structured hybrid model. Requiring employees to be in the office two or three days a week maintains team cohesion, protects against offshoring, and still honours flexibility.
A subsidiary of tech giant Apple is being fined by the UK for breaching sanctions against Russia over payments it approved to a streaming service based in the country.
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has issued a £390,000 fine on Apple Distribution International (ADI), based in Ireland, over its instruction of a UK-based bank to make payments to a country owned by a sanctioned Russian firm.
ADI, the subsidiary that sells Apple products in Europe and the Middle East, made payments worth over £645,00 to Okko, a streaming service.
Okko was previously owned by Sberbank, Russia’s biggest bank, but was sold to JSC New Opportunities following the Russian invasion of Ukraine by 2022. JCS New Opportunities was placed under UK sanctions in June 2022, with the payments enabled by ADI occuring in June and July of that year.
JSC New Opportunities was created in March 2022, and may have been an attempt by Okko and Sberbank to protect assets from sanctions following the invasion, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a US thinktank, suggests.
The case also highlights that non-UK firms could be found in breach of UK sanctions if they use UK-based financial institutions for payments.
“OFSI imposed a monetary penalty on ADI because it was satisfied, in relation to these payments, that on the balance of probabilities ADI had breached prohibitions imposed by financial sanctions legislation,” OFSI said in a statement.
ADI voluntarily disclosed the payments to OFSI, which said that the Apple subsidiary had no reason to think the payments may be in violation of existing sanctions.
“Whilst there were publicly available press articles stating that Okko was wholly owned by a designated person, there is no evidence that ADI was aware of those press articles at the relevant time or that third-party diligence providers were aware of this information,” the regulator explained.
The fine was decided via settlement discussions between ADI and the watchdog.
Apple responded to the fine: “We follow the laws in the countries where we operate and take sanctions compliance extremely seriously. After identifying two payments to a developer that days earlier had become affiliated with a sanctioned entity, we promptly and proactively reported our finding to the UK government. We are constantly working to enhance our already robust compliance protocols, which are consistent with industry standards.”
The European Commission has confirmed a data breach on its Europa.eu platform, and hackers may have stolen data from its cloud infrastructure host.
The data breach took place on 24 March, according to the EU body, which said that it took “immediate steps” to analyse and mitigate the attack.
“The commission’s swift response ensured the incident was contained and risk mitigation measures were implemented to protect services and data, without disrupting the availability of the Europa websites,” the commission said in a statement released on 27 March.
“Early findings of our ongoing investigation suggest that data have been taken from those websites. The commission is duly notifying the Union entities who might have been affected by the incident. The commission’s services are still investigating the full impact of the incident.”
According to the commission, internal systems were not affected by the breach, and the body will continue to analyse the situation.
The cyber-attack has already been claimed by ShinyHunters, which posted on X that it had compromised more than 350GB of data from the European Commission. According to the ransomware group, the data includes mail servers, confidential documents, databases, contracts, and sensitive material.
Allegedly, screenshots shared by the group seem to show the PII – personally identifiable information – of employees.
According to researchers at the International Cyber Digest, the hackers allegedly compromised internal admin URLs, emails, and signing keys, as well as data, from NextCloud, a content collaboration network, and Athena, the military financing platform.
Business confidence in Scotland rose 10 points during March to 51% according to the latest Business Barometer from Bank of Scotland.
Companies in Scotland reported higher confidence in their own trading outlook month-on-month, up 22 points at 63%. When taken alongside their optimism in the economy, down two points to 39%, this gives a headline confidence reading of 51% (vs. 41% in February).
A net balance of 46% of businesses in the country also expect to increase staff levels over the next year, up one point on last month.
The Business Barometer, which surveys 1,200 businesses monthly and which has been running since 2002, provides early signals about UK economic trends both regionally and nationwide. This month’s survey was conducted at the start of March, between 2 – 16th.
“While businesses are adept at reacting to uncertain, fast-moving conditions, this month’s results show an interesting divergence in sentiment,” Amanda Murphy, CEO for Lloyds Business and Commercial Banking said.
“Smaller businesses may have remained confident because they had not yet seen an immediate change in customer demand or supply chain disruption. Larger firms, however, read global events more cautiously because of their closer exposure to global markets.
“With most responses coming in the very early stages of the Middle East conflict, we’ll be watching closely to see how confidence evolves.”
Overall, UK business confidence rose 11 points in March to 55%.
Firms’ confidence in their own trading prospects rose seven points to 60%, and their optimism in the wider economy increased 14 points to 50%.
Martyn Kendrick, Scotland director at Bank of Scotland Commercial Banking, said: “As business confidence holds this month, we remain focused on supporting firms across Scotland, providing the finance, guidance and expertise they may need.”
The Scottish government has published new guidance for schools on the “safe and ethical” use of AI by teachers and students.
The guidance aims to provide schools with support in instituting safe, ethical, and fair methods for implementing AI in teaching, providing fitting case studies as well as subjects teachers and faculty should be mindful of when dealing with AI.
The framework was products in coordination with the EIS teaching union, local government, Education Scotland, and others.
“AI is increasingly part of all our lives, and we have a responsibility to ensure children, young people, and teachers are equipped to grasp its opportunities and navigate its challenges,” education secretary Jenny Gilruth said.
“It is important that human relationships remain at the heart of education, and I am absolutely clear that technology will never replace the role of the teacher. This guidance makes clear that AI must enhance, not replace, those connections.
“For pupils, that means using AI as a tool to support creativity, critical thinking and personalised learning, while protecting their rights and privacy. For teachers, it means having the confidence, professional autonomy and practical support to decide when and how AI adds value in their classroom.”
The guardrails created in the new guidance relies on the premise that education in Scotland is and must always be, a human enterprise, and that AI must not diminish human-centered education.
The new framework has five core principles for AI in education:
1. AI use must ensure the safety and privacy of children and young people and staff by prioritising children’s rights, teacher judgement, ethical standards, and data protection.
2. The use of AI must be underpinned by equity and fairness.
3. AI must support the aims of the Curriculum.
4. AI must foster human connection and inclusivity.
5. AI must support teachers.
The guidance does provide some reference to potential risks of AI, including data security, privacy, children’s rights, pupil development, and human interactions.
However, the guidance does not provide solutions to these problems, but says that evidence is building in certain research subjects, and teaches, parents, and faculty should be mindful of these issues.
“AI is a tool for teachers; it must never be a replacement for them or their professional judgement. The human relationship between teacher and children and young people is at the heart of learning in our schools. No tool, no tech, no algorithm can replace that,” EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said.
“We’ve co-created these guardrails to ensure that where teachers choose to use AI in schools, it is ethical, equitable, and – above all – safe.”
The guide is non-statutory for Scottish schools and local authorities, and instead is meant to reflect the ever-changing transformation of AI and its effect on teaching, as well as the necessary adaptations of schools and teachers driven by technological advacements.
Meta and YouTube have been found liable for creating products that are deliberately addictive-by-design by jurors in a landmark trial centering on social media’s impact on mental health.
The two tech firms will now have to pay the plaintiff – a 20 year old woman – $6m, with Meta paying 70% and YouTube the rest.
After nearly nine days of deliberation, jurors found the tech firms had been negligent in their responsibilities to users, and had not adequately warned users about the potential harms of their platforms.
The lawsuit, the first of its kind to go to trial, challenges past precedent which often let tech platforms not face liability for the content their platforms held or their effect on user well-being.
While Meta and YouTube have both instituted more updated guardrails to protect underage users, the tech giants’ longstanding grip on young people is facing a reckoning as teens and underage users grow up and demand accountability.
The trail revealed several instances of inside qualms concerning Meta and YouTube’s design from people at the company as well as independent child safety experts, who noted the potential harm certain design choices – like infinite scroll and video autoplay – could cause to users.
Internal documents and testimony from the plaintiff, a 20 year old woman known as KGM who claimed to be addicted to YouTube from age six and Instagram at age nine, convinced the jury of the tech firm’s liability for the plaintiff’s suffering mental health.
“Today’s verdict is a historic moment – for [KGM] and for the thousands of children and families who have been waiting for this day,” the plaintiff’s lawyers said in a written statement the day the jury’s decision was announced. “A jury of [KGM’s] peers heard the evidence, heard what Meta and YouTube knew and when they knew it, and held them accountable for their conduct. Today’s verdict belongs to [KGM].
The case opens up the potential for further trials and even class action lawsuits following the same rhetoric as the law continues to hold tech companies more responsible for their role in the spread and creation of harmful content, as well as their design’s potential harm.
Karen Meechan is stepping down as CEO of ScotlandIS, the membership and cluster management organisation for Scotland’s technologies industry, after 22 years at the company.
Meechan is set to depart on 29 May 2026, but will continue to support the board in an advisory capacity. To maintain continuity, ScotlandIS COO Nicola Taylor will be Acting CEO from 29 May until a new leader is appointed.
Having held the position of CEO since 2021, Meechan has successfully steered ScotlandIS through various economic headwinds and has consistently been a strong, influential voice for its members and the wider tech sector in Scotland. Prior to her role as CEO, she held the titles of head of operations from 2004 and COO in 2019.
“ScotlandIS has been my entire career and, without doubt, some of the best years of my life. From the people I’ve had the privilege to work with to our incredible members showcasing Scottish tech to the world, I’ll always look back on my time here with pride,” Meechan said of her departure.
“But it feels like the right moment for my next adventure. The organisation has gone from strength to strength in recent years, driven by a fantastic team and hugely supportive board. I’m confident that under their watch ScotlandIS will continue to listen closely to the needs of its members and the wider industry, and that the new CEO will keep driving the change our sector deserves. With that, they will have my full support.”
Andrew Williams, CEO at Apptrix.ai and chair of the ScotlandIS board added: “I know I speak for the entirety of ScotlandIS when I say we are very sad to see Karen stepping down. From the moment she joined the company, she has been a great asset. Her leadership and drive have been instrumental to our success and there’s no doubt her legacy will be felt for years to come. We wish her every success in her next role and know she will be extraordinary.
“But with change comes opportunity. The past few years have been economically challenging to say the least. Despite uncertainty, however, the tech industry continues to flourish – and ScotlandIS has played a key role in that. With so many initiatives and programmes underway, we have an exciting future ahead, and I fully believe that we will find a leader who can build on the strength of ScotlandIS’ current momentum and unlock even more opportunity.”
Scotland’s cybersecurity community celebrated last night as the 2026 edition – the year of “wicked messes” – of the annual Scottish Cyber Awards recognised the achievements of individuals, organisations and academics from across the industry.
Run by DIGIT and hosted by BBC Scotland broadcaster Mark Stephens, the awards took place at the EICC in Edinburgh and saw the 14 coveted prizes given to winners from across the cybersecurity sector.
Acumen Cyber was crowned Cybersecurity Company of the Year, sponsored by Be-IT.
Emerging players in the sector were also recognised, with Infrawatch taking home the Start Up of the Year award.
The awards also acknowledged promising rising talent in the industry, honouring not only cybersecurity student Aimie Grant from Edinburgh Napier University, but also Hyndland Secondary School, in the first award for Cyber School of the Year ever awarded at the event.
There was also recognition for immense contributions to the industry and dedication to building cyber resilience in Scotland, with Forrit taking home the coveted Cyber Resilience Award, and KidsnClicks earning the Best Security Awareness Campaign award.
As well as recognising both individual and collective contributions to the cybersecurity sector this year, the event served as an opportunity for figures across the industry to unite, network and celebrate their successes.
Ray Bugg, director of DIGIT, said: “Cybersecurity is a tough profession, one that constantly challenges us, pushes our limits, and tests our resilience – which is why community and collaboration matter so much in this field. We can’t do this job in isolation, and I really want everyone to embrace that spirit this evening.
“It was incredibly difficult to whittle down winners from such an esteemed group of finalists.
“It’s about celebrating achievement, championing each other’s successes, and moving forward as a collective.”
Apple is introducing age checks to its devices in the UK, requiring users to verify they are over 18 to access certain adult-only apps and services.
The new age verification mandate will affect iPhones and iPads updated to the latest iOS 26.4 software, which will ask users to confirm their age via an ID or credit card check.
If customers do not confirm their age, they will automatically have web filters turned on on their device.
The age check notification following an update will read: “UK law requires you to confirm you are an adult to change content restrictions.”
The tech giant will also be able to confirm age based on information it already holds from a user, such as their credit card information on file, or based on how long a user has already held their account.
Those under the age of 13 will not be able to create an Apple account without the involvement of a guardian.
Ofcom has welcomed the changes, and worked closely with Apple as well as other service providers on age check rules.
Under the Online Safety Act, platforms that offer adult content must have robust age checks in place, but do not require any device level age checks.
The age verification methods required by platforms range from credit card checks, ID scans, and facial recognition technology with age estimations that may use AI.
While age check requirements have been met positively by child protection advocates, many are concerned that they can be easily bypassed through the use of VPNs.
Further, security experts have expressed concerns that certain platforms may be ill-equipped to safely and securely process and house such sensitive information such as photo IDs and credit card information.
The device level age checks appear to not apply to Apple computers, and it remains to be seen if the roll out will extend to these as well as other Apple devices.
By 2030, performing inference on a large language model (LLM) with one trillion parameters will cost GenAI providers over 90% less than it did in 2025, according to Gartner, Inc. a business and technology insights company.
AI tokens are the units of data that GenAI models process. For the purposes of this analysis a token is 3.5 bytes of data, or approximately 4 characters.
“These cost improvements will be driven by a combination of semiconductor and infrastructure efficiency improvements, model design innovations, higher chip utilisation, increased use of inference-specialized silicon, and application of edge devices for specific use cases,” said Will Sommer, Sr. Director Analyst at Gartner.
As a result of these trends, Gartner forecasts LLMs in 2030 will be up to 100 times more cost-efficient than the earliest models of similar size developed in 2022.
However, falling GenAI provider token costs will not be fully passed on to enterprise customers. Moreover, frontier intelligence will demand significantly more tokens than current mainstream applications. Agentic models, for example, require between 5-30 times more tokens per task than a standard GenAI chatbot, and can perform many more tasks than a human using GenAI.
While lower token unit costs will enable more advanced GenAI capabilities, these advancements will drive disproportionately higher token demand. As token consumption rises faster than token costs fall, overall inference costs are expected to increase.
“Chief Product Officers (CPOs) should not confuse the deflation of commodity tokens with the democratisation of frontier reasoning,” said Sommer. “As commoditised intelligence trends toward near-zero cost, the compute and systems needed to support advanced reasoning remain scarce. CPOs who mask architectural inefficiencies with cheap tokens today will find agentic scale elusive tomorrow.”
Value will accrue to platforms that can orchestrate workloads across a diverse portfolio of models. Routine, high-frequency tasks must be routed to more efficient small and domain-specific language models, which perform better than generic solutions at a fraction of the cost when aligned to specialized workflows. Expensive inference of frontier-level models must be heavily gated and reserved exclusively for high-margin, complex reasoning tasks.
Over 500 suspects were arrested as part of a major UK police operation cracking down on fraud, according to the National Crime Agency.
Operation Henhouse, now in its fifth year of operation, had its most successful year yet, with 557 arrests and the freezing and seizing of millions of assets connected to ongoing fraud operations.
The operation also lead to 172 voluntary interviews, 249 cease and desist notices, account freezing orders against £9 million, and the seizures of assets with £18.1m.
Since the operation started five years ago, 1,904 people have been arrested and more than £67 million has been seized or disrupted.
2026 is the most successful intensification period yet, with every single UK police force and Regional Organised Crime Unit taking part in the operation. They were joined by national agencies including the Serious Fraud Office, National Crime Agency and National Trading Standards, and supported by the Financial Conduct Authority.
In 2026, wins includes Operation Mimic, which saw six people arrested and the freezing of £10m in assets, as well as the arrest of eight people and the freeing of accounts totallying £537,000 in a separate operation.
Further, six offshore call centres targeting UK consumers were identified, with 283 numbers being blocked, and a further 6.5m scam calls being blocked.
2026 also saw an increase in cash seizures of 19%, with £1.1 million seized by Merseyside Police and £721,00 seized by Cumbria Police as suspected proceeds of crime.
“Operation Henhouse has once again delivered outstanding results, and this fifth year of coordinated enforcement action across the UK has been our most successful yet,” Nick Sharp, Deputy Director Fraud at the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) in the NCA, said.
“Since its inception, Henhouse has contributed to thousands of arrests and the recovery of millions of pounds linked to fraud, with each successive year building on the last.
“With the first convictions now being reported, Henhouse demonstrates the strength and reach of law enforcement, bringing together every police force, Regional Organised Crime Units, and key partner agencies to pursue fraudsters and protect the public.
“The results achieved across five years of Henhouse reflect the commitment of UK Law Enforcement and Policing to tackling one of the most prolific and harmful crimes affecting people and businesses across the country.”
It’s estimated that over half of UK adults use AI for financial advice according to Lloyds Bank, including guidance on cryptocurrency. As AI continues to rise in popularity, the British public’s reliance will naturally follow suit.
But which AI model can you rely on for your investment advice? Experts at psyfi money conducted a study looking at which of the most popular AI models is the best for providing investment advice.
The study evaluated each response based on several key criteria: the amount of jargon used, beginner-friendliness, accuracy, relevance, length, price discrepancy of cryptocurrencies, and the inclusion of up-to-date legal and regulatory information. These factors were combined to calculate a total index score out of 100 for each provider.
AI Model
Jargon Count
Beginner Friendliness Score
Accuracy Score
Relevancy Score
Length Classification
Average Price Discrepancy (%)
Law and Regulation Score
Total Index Score / 100
ChatGPT
33
7.6
8.6
9.2
Clear and Detailed
3.09
7.5
82
Claude
36
8
8.6
8.4
Clear and Detailed
17.75
7.0
72
Perplexity
35
7.4
8.8
8.6
Clear and Detailed
N/A
5.0
64
Gemini
39
6.8
8.6
8.6
Overcomplicated
765.09
6.0
54
Google AI Mode
38
6.4
8
7.6
Clear and Detailed
0.71
5.5
36
Grok
44
5.4
8
7.8
Overcomplicated
0.48
4.5
16
The strongest performers still have serious downfalls
ChatGPT ranked highest overall, with a score of 82 out of 100 for its balance of clarity, relevance and accuracy. Claude followed with 72, while Perplexity placed third. However, even the top-performing models showed issues, particularly on legal and tax nuance.
One of the most serious problems the study revealed concerned regulatory guidance. When asked about the safest way for a beginner to invest in cryptocurrency in 2026, Claude incorrectly described Binance as registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In reality, Binance was ordered to cease regulated activities in the UK in 2021.
“Recommending a non-FCA-registered exchange as the safest option for a beginner is about as concerning as it gets,” said Michele Tieghi, founder of psyfi money. “Investors could be left without asset protection and exposed to market manipulation.”
While other models mentioned Binance more cautiously, the error highlights the broader risk of AI systems presenting outdated or incorrect compliance information with confidence.
Model Strengths by Investor Type
The study also identified how each AI model would work more efficiently for different types of investors, though none were without risk.
Beginners: Chat GPT and Claude emerged as the most beginner-friendly model, scoring 7.6 and 8 out of 10 for accessibility. However, Claide’s incorrect claim that Binance is FCA registered significantly shows the information it gives can’t always be trusted.
Intermediate Investors: Perplexity offered strong source-backed guidance and achieved the highest accuracy score (8.8 out of 10), making it more suitable for users who already have a basic understanding.
Advanced Investors: Gemini offered the most detailed, technical analysis, but its heavy use of jargon and inaccurate pricing and regulatory guidance mean investors could face costly mistakes if they rely on the model without careful scrutiny.
Pricing errors put investors finances at risk
All of the models tested returned incorrect prices for at least 45 of the 50 popular cryptocurrencies tested. Gemini showed the largest discrepancies, with prices on average 765 per cent away from live market levels. Claude’s discrepancy averaged 17.75 per cent, while ChatGPT’s stood at 3.09 per cent. Perplexity wasn’t able to even provide price data during the testing period.
In markets where prices can shift rapidly, even modest discrepancies can lead to mistimed trades and huge financial losses.
Beyond outright errors, the study found that AI-generated responses were frequently over-complicated and jargon-heavy. Grok produced the most technically complex and least beginner-friendly answers, while Gemini also ranked highly for jargon use.
Legal and tax guidance raised another serious red flag. While most models correctly stated that cryptocurrency airdrops may be taxable, they failed to explain the distinction made by HM Revenue & Customs between tokens received in exchange for services and unsolicited distributions, a distinction that could significantly alter an investor’s tax liability.
“AI models can summarise broad principles, but they often miss the finer regulatory detail,” Michele Tieghi, Financial Expert and Founder of psyfi money, said. “In areas like tax and compliance, those details matter, and can cost investors thousands in fines if not handled correctly.”
“AI is advancing rapidly, but this study makes it clear that it still has a long way to go when it comes to cryptocurrency advice. Its limitations, from inaccurate pricing to incorrectly labeled exchanges, make it unsuitable as a standalone guide for investors.
“AI should be used to complement careful, expert-led research, not replace it. The lack of nuance, detail, and accountability highlighted in this study is a serious warning for anyone considering relying solely on AI for crypto guidance.”
Meta has been ordered to pay $375 million by a New Mexico court after it found the company liable for misleading consumers on its social platforms’ safety, as well as enabling harm to its users.
The trial also alleged that Meta enabled child sexual exploitation on its platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The case marks the first time a jury has decided on such allegations against Meta – the firm faces numerous lawsuits across the US concerning its effect on young people and their mental wellbeing.
The lawsuit, brought to court by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, argued that Meta had allowed predators to use its platform for decades, giving them unencumbered access to minors, which often proliferated into abuse in the real-world. The lawsuit cited several independent investigations showing that Meta platforms had become hotbeds for child trafficking.
Internal documents and testimony revealed as part of the trial showed that both Meta employees and child safety experts had raised concerns with Meta about its platform’s potential risk for child exploitation and harm.
It also heard details about internal qualms over Meta’s introduction of end-to-end encryption to Facebook Messenger, with Meta’s head of content policy calling the move “so irresponsible”.
The court also head the details concerning Operation MetaPhile, a sting operation that resulted in the arrest of three men using Meta platforms to prey on children sexually in 2024.
Investigators into child exploitation from law enforcement and the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) told the jury that Meta’s crime reporting methods were deficient, and its reliance on AI for content moderation lead to the creation of fake reports which were useless to law enforcement and could impede investigations.
In the trial, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri defended their platforms, saying that their vast scope and user base meant that harms to children and the possibility for exploitation were inevitable, but both did defend their platform’s safeguards and transparency.
While Meta has continually introduced new guardrails for children and teens using their accounts, the lawsuit sought to find Meta liable for previous negligence when it came to child safety and exploitation.
Meta is set to appeal the trial, with a spokesperson saying: “We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content.
“We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”
The next phase of the trial will see the New Mexico attorney general seek court-mandated changes to Meta’s platforms to ensure it is safer for children, as well as further financial penalties.
The changes include effective age checks, the removal of known predators from the platforms, and “protecting minors from encrypted communications that shield bad actors.”
Epic Games, the makers behind Fortnite, is confirmed to be laying off 1,000 employees, according to a company memo from its CEO shared publicly.
The video games company cited a downturn in engagement on Fortnite that began in 2025, meaning the firm is “spending significantly more than we’re making, and we have to make major cuts to keep the company funded,” CEO Tim Sweeney wrote in the memo shared on Tuesday.
“This layoff, together with over $500 million of identified cost savings in contracting, marketing, and closing some open roles puts us in a more stable place,” he said.
This is just the latest move from Epic Games on its cost-cutting journey – the firm upped the price of its in-game Fortnite currency, V-Bucks, citing that operating costs for the game have increased.
Unlike many other major tech companies announcing layoffs, Sweeney did not cite AI as a reason for the job cuts, instead listing a host of overarching economic pressures like deepening costs, lower sales, and stiffer competition.
Still, Fortnite appears to be facing its own unique struggles as well.
“Despite Fortnite remaining one of the most successful games in the world, we’ve had challenges delivering consistent Fortnite magic with every season,” Sweeney noted. “We’re only in the early stages of returning to mobile and optimising Fortnite for the world’s billions of smartphones; and in being the industry’s vanguard we have taken a lot of bullets in a battle which is only in the early days of paying off for ourselves and all developers.”
Employees impacted by this latest round of cuts will receive severage packages with at least four months of back pay, with extensions based on tenure.
“What we now need to do is clear: build awesome Fortnite experiences with fresh seasonal content, gameplay, story, and live events; accelerate developer tools with greater stability and capability as we evolve from Unreal Engine 5 and UEFN to Unreal Engine 6,” Sweeney said in his memo. “And we’ll be kicking off the next generation of Epic with huge launch plans towards the end of the year.”
Finance professionals recognise the potential of AI to transform their work, but many remain cautious about allowing the technology to operate without human oversight, according to new research commissioned by cloud accounting platform AccountsIQ.
The study, which surveyed finance leaders across the UK and Ireland, found that while AI is increasingly being explored within finance teams, adoption remains slow and cautious, due to concerns around accuracy, governance and regulatory risk.
Finance teams are primarily using AI to support data analysis, automate reporting and streamline routine processes. However, many organisations are reluctant to rely on AI for critical financial decisions without human validation.
The findings suggest that while AI could significantly increase efficiency within finance departments, trust in the technology remains a major barrier to wider adoption.
About two thirds (65%) of respondents stated that compliance with current and emerging AI regulation is important when selecting finance software.
Two thirds (66%) of those surveyed were concerned that AI adoption could reduce human oversight or control within their finance function over the next 12 months.
A similar amount (64%) stated they would be comfortable allowing AI to execute actions without human approval. However, this figure dropped to 41% when it came to forecasting.
When asked how important it is that AI-generated recommendations in finance software are explainable, 53% said it was very important.
Commenting on the findings, Darren Cran, CEO of AccountsIQ said the research highlights the importance of designing AI solutions specifically for finance teams.
“Finance professionals recognise the enormous potential of AI to reduce manual workloads and improve financial insight,” said Cran.
“However, accuracy, transparency and governance remain essential. AI must support finance professionals rather than replace them.”
According to the research, finance leaders see the greatest value in AI tools that enhance decision-making rather than replace it.
Instead of fully autonomous systems, organisations favour solutions that provide transparency, clear audit trails and human approval controls.
The research suggests that the future of finance will involve a hybrid model where AI automates routine processes while finance teams focus on higher-value analysis and strategic decision-making.
As organisations continue to experiment with AI-powered tools, the challenge for technology providers will be developing systems that deliver efficiency without compromising control or compliance.
Ofcom has published new proposals aiming to better protect people from illegal self-harm material and unsolicited nude images.
The regulator is now consulting on updates to its codes of practice and guidance to reflect the Government’s recent creation of new priority offences under the UK’s Online Safety Act.
The Act lists over 130 priority offences, requiring tech firms to assess the risk of these offences occurring on their platforms. Tech firms must put into place appropriate measures to mitigate the risk of these offenses occurring, and take down priority illegal content quickly when they become aware of it.
Ofcom’s codes of practice and guidance set out ways platforms can comply with these duties.
New Priority Offenses
In December 2025, the Government added cyberflashing and encouraging or assisting serious self-harm to the list of priority offences in the Act. To reflect this change in the law, Ofcom is consulting on updates to our Risk Assessment Guidance, Risk Profiles, Register of Risks, Illegal Content Judgements Guidance and Illegal Content Codes of Practice.
This means that providers will have to assess the risk of unsolicited nude images and illegal self-harm content appearing on their services. They will also have to take appropriate safety measures to protect users from these harms.
Ofcom is proposing that various existing measures in its codes should apply to these offenses, including:
allowing users to report illegal content through reporting and complaints processes that are easy to find, access and use;
making sure content moderation functions are appropriately resourced and individuals working in moderation are trained to identify illegal content;
having content moderation systems and processes designed to take down illegal content swiftly when a platform becomes aware of it;
when testing their algorithms, checking whether and how design changes impact the risk of illegal content being recommended to users;
enabling users to block or mute other users and disable comments on their content;
providing crisis prevention information in response to search queries regarding self-harm; and
enabling users to easily report predictive search suggestions they believe may direct people towards priority illegal content.
Ofcom is now inviting responses to its consultation on the proposed changes by 24 April, expecting to take feedback into account prior to making its final decision which it expects to publish this summer.
Jurors are having trouble coming to a conclusion in a landmark trial alleging that top social media sites are addictive by design.
A 20-year-old woman, who remains anonymous, opened a case against top social media companies, alleging that their design got her addicted to their platforms, adversely affecting her mental health. The lawsuit, which spans more than the lead plaintiff, targets Google’s YouTube and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram.
The lead plaintiff, known as KGM, alleges that she was addicted to YouTube by age six, and addicted to Facebook by age nine.
The case alleges that these firms have made their products purposefully addictive to fuel their usership and revenue.
Now, jurors have said that they are struggling to conclude if one of the companies involved is at fault, but the court has not revealed which company they are questioning. The presiding judge has urged the jury to make a decision if it can, otherwise the case will face a new trial with a new jury.
In the court case, KGM alleges that her dependency on social media, as well as certain features like beauty filters, contributed to her anxiety and depression, leading her to self harm.
The trial is just the first of many brought up against social media titans – Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and Snap – alleging that these platforms were addictive by design and were aware of their negative affect on children’s mental health.
Features the lawsuit claims are addictive include infinite scroll and video autoplay, with lawyers claiming that ‘like’ buttons on social media can cause teens to use the social platforms for validation.
Prior to reaching court, TikTok and Snap were also named in the lawsuit, but were able to reach a settlement with the plaintiff.
The jury has been deliberating for over a week, with the court case having the potential to influence thousands of other cases concerning the design of social media sites and their impact on children and adults.
Cyber-criminals are shifting their priorities, as the high tech sector emerges as the most targeted industry of 2025, knocking finance out of the top spot, according to research from Mandiant.
The Google Cloud Threat researchers released their latest cyber trends report, based on 500,000 hours of incident investigations, looking at the tactics, techniques, and procedure cyber-criminals are using to breach barriers, exploit data, and destabilise defenses.
Cyber adversaries are shifting their tactics, Median found, with increased specialisation.
Researchers found that cyber-criminals are now collaborating, with some threat actors using low-impact techniques to gain initial access to systems before handing this off to secondary groups, which then go on to execute high-impact attacks.
Despite the hand off, the median time between an initial access event and the hand-off to a secondary group was just 22 seconds in 2025, with initial access partners increasingly pre-staging a secondary group’s malware during the initial breach, allowing secondary groups to act even faster.
This is reflected in the most common infection vectors, with ransomware operations now relying on prior compromise 30% of the time. Prior compromise was the third-most prevalent initial infection vector (10%) for intrusions overall.
Exploits, however, was the most common initial infection vector, with 32% of all intrusions.
Advances in voice phishing, however, is making that tactic more attractive to attacks, accounting for 11% of all initial attack vectors. Email phishing, once a staple, dropped to just 6% of intrusions in 2025.
Further, global median dwell time is on the rise, according to the research, up to 14 days from 11 last year. Sophistication in detection evasion is likely contributing to this, with some cyber espionage groups capable of long, undetected stints.
Still, organisations are improving, wth organisations being the first to detect evidence of malicious activity 52% of the time, up from 43% of the time in 2024.
Once ransomware groups are able to gain access to data and exfiltrate it, they continue to transform their tactics. Ransomware groups are now actively destroying their victims ability to recover data as they routinely target backup infrastructure, management planes, and identity services.
The researchers also identified a split between cyber-criminals and espionage groups, as cyber-criminals opt for speed, and espionage groups aim for persistence.
Exploitation is routinely occurring before a patch is released as the mean time to exploit vulnerabilities sunk to -7 days, as persistent groups leverage zero-days and deploy custom malware directly onto network appliances to bypass standard system reboots and defense efforts.
When it comes to AI, researchers find that threat actors consistently use the emerging tech to accelerate attacks, but Mandiant researchers “do not consider 2025 to be the year where breaches were the direct result of AI. From our view on the frontlines, the vast majority of successful intrusions still stem from fundamental human and systemic failures.”
And this seems to be working. Instead of replacing tactics with AI, cyber-criminals are leveraging the tech to increase efficiency and efficacy – maybe enterprises should take note on their own AI deployments?
The UK is expanding its relationship with US firm Palantir as the data analytics company signs a new contract with the Financial Conduct Authority.
The US-based firm, founded by controversial figure Peter Thiel, is set to aid the UK’s financial watchdog in analysing sensitive UK data to support its detection methods for financial fraud and scams.
Palantir has already established deals with the NHS, the Ministry of Defence, and UK law enforcement.
Palantir’s operations with other governments, however, is the source of much controversy, as it continues to collaborate with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Israeli military.
The deals have intensified concerns over their potential to harm data privacy and security.
Insiders at the FCA also shared their concerns with The Guardian, showing fears that the firm may share how the FCA detects fraud, as well as the raft of data the firm will gain access to through the deal.
The deal would see Palantir act as a “data processor”, not a “data controller,” which means that it would not access controls over encrypted data and would simply act upon the FCA’s instruction. While Palantir must delete data after it finishes its contract, it may process thousands of sensitive data points during its fraud investigations, raising privacy concerns.
Palantir’s founder Theil also faces his own criticism for his outlandish ideas around the ‘antichrist‘, his ongoing relationship with President Donald Trump, and his relationship with the late pedophile Jeffery Epstein.
The Scottish Government has released its five-year AI Strategy, an ambitious plan to leverage Scotland’s international research acumen, its renewable energy resources, and entrepreneurial ecosystem to make the nation a global leader in all things AI.
With renowned universities and a wealth of AI-centric startups, as well as an established tech ecosystem powered by accelerators, and a political platform pushing renewables, Scotland seems well-placed to take its unique attributes and capitalise on AI, integrating it into its public services, power it through infrastructure, and attracting international talent and investment to bolster its skillset and futureproof its workforce.
But the Strategy, which saw its first of three phases released, recognises not only the major opportunity brought on by AI and Scotland’s position to benefit, but also the nation’s unique challenges in harnessing this emerging technology for good.
However, it won’t be easy: from infrastructure overhauls and commercialisation struggles, to regulatory questions and skills gaps, Scotland clearly has its work set out for it.
The Strategy aims to address all of these struggles in a ten point plan for just its first phase.
Below, we’ll do a deep dive into the strategy and what it means for Scotland’s economy, businesses and the public sector.
A Case for Change
The Strategy notes the economic opportunity that AI presents: GC Insight has estimated that there is scope for AI to generate more than an additional £23 billion in annual GDP by 2035, with a potential cumulative additional GDP generated of £140.75 billion over the period 2025 to 2035.
Still, this requires the right investment and leadership across the nation.
While AI is being adopted rapidly, it’s not happening cohesively, with only 30.7% of businesses in Scotland using AI, according to research from Tableau Public. This relatively low rate of adoption is only exacerbated by digital exclusion and regional connectivity problems, a lack of AI skills, and growing demand on public services.
Scotland must find a way to fix these domestic issues whilst promoting itself on the global market, which itself is volatile and competitive
While Scotland boasts renewable resources, AI data centres will require grid capacity updates and compute power. While Scotland has a wealth of research acumen from its universities, it often struggles to transform this into consistent commercial success.
The need for balance – in regulation and innovation, net zero goals and infrastructure targets, workforce upskilling and AI adoption – is a key theme throughout the report with regards to Scotland’s barriers to success.
The foundation is there – though cracks remain – but Scotland will need a structured approach to AI if it is to contend on a global scale.
How will the Scotland AI Strategy deliver?
Purpose and Outcomes
The Scotland AI Strategy aims to induce a fourfold effect – on data and regulation, people and skills, companies and innovation, and infrastructure.
Intended outcomes range from investing in Scotland’s data centre infrastructure and embedding AI as critical national infrastructure, to collective data stewardship and best practice AI governance in line with global AI regulations.
It aims to ensure the people of Scotland have equal access to AI and all its benefits by instituting widespread AI literacy and trust, bolstered by accessible upskilling.
For the nation’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, it aims to support strong tech clusters to create a pipeline of startups and scaleups, whilst bolstering research capabilities through cross-sector collaboration.
But how will Scotland achieve these ambitious goals?
The Scotland AI Strategy has ten key action plans it aims to take prior to March 2027 to get the nation’s AI ambitions well underway.
Ten key actions to take before the end of March 2027:
Position AI Scotland as the national flagship programme driving strategy delivery and showcasing Scotland’s AI strengths on the global stage.
Appoint AI Industry Champions across priority sectors and regions, reporting to an independent Expert Advisory Board.
Launch anationwide engagement programme, to listen to concerns and develop solutions that ensure public trust and confidence.
Implement a rigorous, trusted framework to ensure safe, ethical and efficient use of AI across health and social care services.
Roll out a revitalised national AI adoption programme to accelerate SME productivity and competitiveness, including a new AI Leadership Academy.
Establish a Future Jobs Panel to assess AI’s workforce impact and guide national skills planning.
Pilot an AI Scale‑up Accelerator connecting high‑growth companies with experienced entrepreneurs and investment networks.
Launch aninnovation programmethat applies commercial and research expertise in AI to the delivery of public services.
Work with partners to promote Scotland as a centre for green data centre(s) and maximise the economic potential of the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone.
Launch a data matchmaking pilot enabling organisations to access trusted public‑sector datasets, to support data-driven innovation.
AI Scotland, a new national transformation programme, will be in charge of the delivery of this strategy, led by the Scottish Government and partners, such as The Data Lab, ScotlandIS and enterprise agencies.
Early actions by AI Scotland will include the launch of the AI Adoption Programme aimed at SMEs, a refresh from the initial programme launched in 2025. The initiatives launched by AI Scotland will aim to centre ethical deployments of AI; an Expert Advisory Board, appointed by the Scottish Government will evaluate the body’s activities, providing advice and guidance.
The AI Stack
Bringing structure to the strategy’s ten point plan is the AI Stack, which sets out non-hierarchical relationships between different layers of the strategy’s overall goal, which is to harness the potential of AI to drive responsible growth in all sectors and at every level of our society.
It consists of eight ‘Layers’: users; AI adoption and skills; companies and products; innovation and R&D; data centres and infrastructure; and semiconductors. These are encompassed by data, with regulation outlining the entire stack.
These eight ‘Layers’ contain a lot of the tangibles that form the greater whole of the Strategy’s objectives, so it’s worth diving into each to get a better sense of how this strategy is going to be realised.
Layer 1: Users
The Scottish Government is aiming to generate a nation of informed citizens empowered by AI literacy and foundational skills, who trust – or will hopefully come to, anyway – in the public sector’s use of AI. This layer is about building public trust in AI systems.
By 2027, it aims to have established its Expert Advisory Board to ensure that Scotland’s use of AI is ethical, inclusive, trustworthy, and values-led.
It aims to engage young people through access to AI learning, as well as implementing frameworks to ensure the use of AI by public bodies is transparent and trustworthy.
Layer 2: Adoption and Skills
This layer builds on public understanding of AI use cases and how that informs actually building the skillsets required by future workforces. This will not only bolster AI literacy and skills training, but boost SME adoption of AI by revitalising the AI adoption programme and piloting a new AI Leadership Academy.
It will also assess the workforce impact of AI, as well as aim to inform future skills development planning.
By 2031, Scotland aims to see skills aligned to needs, as well as effective AI adoption across public and private sectors, and a secure, future-proof workforce.
Layer 3: Companies and Products
Scotland will aim to boost home-grown AI companies and products, as well as invest in sovereign AI through infrastructure and data projects.
This will include helping startups access investment, working to understand ecosystem needs, and supporting Scotland’s compute power capabilities.
Through collaboration and development, this layer aims to bolster responsible innovation with global investment and stable compute power by 2031.
Layer 4: Innovation, Research, and Development
Scotland’s research base is internationally renowned – the AI Strategy aims to convert this into economic impact at scale.
To bridge the gap between research and commercialisation, the Scottish government will launch an innovation programme, establish a national cluster scheme with financial support and guidance, and work to pilot a new approach to university commercialisation.
With data centres being designated as critical national infrastructure and the UK’s first AI growth zone being designated in North Lanarkshire, Scotland has an opportunity to capitalise on its cool climate and renewable energy resources to become a leading figure in Europe’s AI infrastructure capabilities.
It must, however, overcome numerous obstacles, such as coordinating with the UK government on grid capacity to provide the electrical infrastructure necessary to power AI data centres and compute.
It must also ensure that Scotland can obtain and offer the necessary compute power to bolster these data centres, whilst maintaining its environmental commitments.
The Scottish Government will work with partners to develop and progress data centre investment opportunities, as well as publish guidance on how to ensure ‘green’ data centres are developed as it supports the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone.
Layer 6: Semiconductors
The AI Strategy aims to differentiate Scotland from global competitors by emphasising the nation as a leader in low-energy, semiconductor-enabled data centre and edge-AI technologies.
The Scottish government aims to engage the nation’s Critical Technologies Supercluster Advisory Board to coordinate R&D and enable the growth of high-potential AI hardware spinouts.
Layer 7: Data
Data is a foundational and all-encompassing layer of the AI Strategy; it remains a vital but fragmented part of Scotland’s tech growth ambitions.
By 2027, the Scottish government plans on launching a data matchmaking pilot to dismantle barriers to public data for innovation, as well as launching an innovation programme that will apply AI advances to public services.
It plans on delivering a more coordinated public sector approach to data to allow for collaboration and more holistic benefits to all of Scotland’s services.
Layer 8: Regulation
Underlying all these layers will be governance in line with global standards and international regulations to ensure AI is rolled out ethically, transparently, and with the trust of the public.
The Scottish Government says it will implement regulatory sandboxes in sectors where it is allowed greater autonomy, whilst advocating for UK-level regulation of AI which it says will balance the need to Scottish businesses while enabling them to enter European markets.
Overall it will set out to place OECD’s five values-based principles for the stewardship of AI on a statutory footing, whilst reviewing ways to closer align with the EU AI Act.
By 2027, it aims to publish a report on the scope and requirement for AI regulation in Scotland.
Risks and Mitigations
The Scotland AI Strategy does recognise the many risks associated with AI, from cybersecurity, to job security, environmental impacts and energy demand, to gender inequality and bias.
Some of the Strategy’s proposed mitigations seem straightforward – aligning its AI systems with Scotland’s Cyber Resilience Framework, and investing in renewable-powered systems and mitigating environmental impact by design in terms of infrastructure builds.
Others seem more thematic – reskilling with Fair Work principles to negate negative workforce impacts, and simply ensuring that impacts of gender inequality are “identified and mitigated” reveal that solutions are yet to be fully developed.
Beyond that, there’s other concerns that aren’t fully addressed in the Strategy. Namely, there is little emphasis on regional discrepancies in workforce impact, investment, or digital literacy, despite regional gaps in connectivity remaining.
It also appears that the Scottish Government is aligning with the UK government’s non-statutory approach to AI regulation, which could put more burdens on businesses to individually assess they are compliant with the EU AI Act in order to enter that market.
The Scotland AI Strategy has just entered its first phase, with updates for phase two expected in 2027 – though there’s the small matter of an election between now and then. How that could potentially affect the Strategy remains to be seen.
A UK-based financial services firm is facing technical issues on Friday, causing issues for users to log into and use digital services or make transactions.
Hargreaves Lansdown, based in Bristol, serves about two million people in the UK as an private investment management firm, said that while clients’ data and assets were secure, their online services were disrupted.
The firm did say that there was “no evidence of any cyber incident data breach.”
According to stats from Downdetector, the outage began on Thursday evening, with thousands reporting technical issues. Reported issues spiked again this morning as users struggled to log in or carry out transactions.
Hargreaves Lansdown is an investment platform that allows users to directly buy and sell shares on the stock market as well as other investments. It also offers financial advice and trading accounts.
Wide-ranging measures have been unveiled to place Scotland at the forefront of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.
Scotland’s AI Strategy sets out a five-year plan to ensure people, businesses and public services across the country benefit from AI.
Independent analysis estimates the AI sector could be worth £23 billion to the Scottish economy by 2035 and the Strategy details increased support for businesses to expand the use of AI to develop new products and services, grow market share and generate new jobs and investment.
Initiatives to be implemented in the first year include establishing an independent expert advisory board to provide strategic guidance on the strategy’s delivery.
The Scottish Government also intends to appoint AI Champions to represent priority sectors and regions.
The strategy will also roll out an expanded AI adoption programme for businesses to help drive productivity and competitiveness across the economy
Finally, the strategy will see the creation of a Future Jobs Panel to assess AI’s impact on the workforce and establishing an AI Leadership Academy established.
“The unprecedented pace at which AI is increasing and evolving presents an enormous opportunity. It has the potential to be genuinely transformative – for every sector of our economy, and for people from all backgrounds and communities,” deputy first minister Kate Forbes said at the Edinburgh Futures Institute in Edinburgh, upon the strategy’s launch.
“This strategy sets out a clear plan to harness the economic and social benefits of AI responsibly with practical, tangible steps to be taken this year to help ensure we translate our innovation and expertise into more businesses, jobs and investment.
“In establishing AI Scotland we will use the expertise of our enterprise agencies, The Data Lab and other partners to lead an accelerated, co-ordinated approach to ensure Scotland’s economy and society reaps the rewards of this incredible technology.”
According to a new survey from OpenAI, the UK’s small and medium business adoption of AI is showing regional divide in uptake.
The research shows that almost all SMBs in London (93%) are using AI tools on the daily, above the national average of about four in five.
This is in stark contrast to several other regions in the UK, however, showing a deep AI divide. While AI adoption is strong overall, there are still major gaps.
For instance, about a quarter of small businesses in Yorkshire and Humber (26%) do not use AI at all, while about three in ten in the South West (28%) are yet to adopt AI.
In Scotland, about a quarter (24%) of small businesses do not use AI.
Unsurprisingly, the tech industry outpaced other sectors in terms of adoption, with only 5% from this sector saying they are yet to use AI at all.
The majority of businesses not using AI at this point include sole traders (37%) and micro businesses (25%) out of the 1,000 businesses surveyed by OpenAI.
Of the businesses that use AI, seven in ten (71%) say that it makes them more effective as business leaders, citing benefits such as time saved (45%), reduced errors (34%), and decreased costs (24%).
In the UK, OpenAI found that its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, was the most popular tool, used by 64% of surveyed businesses, followed by Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot (both 42%), and Anthropic’s Claude (11%).
Businesses yet to adopt AI into their technology stack say that a lack of training and skills (28%) is the main barrier to uptake.
“UK SMEs are already saving over half a day a week thanks to AI, but those benefits aren’t evenly shared,” Sanj Bhayro, managing director EMEA sales at OpenAI, said.
“Gaps are emerging across regions, business size, and how deeply firms are able to use AI in practice. Without action, the smallest businesses risk being left out of the next wave of growth.”
Innovate UK has announced a new approach to support the government’s modern industrial strategy, aiming to back the nation’s most promising deep tech businesses.
With a focus on the highest potential companies and a holistic approach to tailored support, Innovate UK aims to help the next generation of tech businesses thrive.
Through the new approach, Innovate UK aims to distinguish itself as a trusted due diligence engine for the UK’s deep tech ecosystem.
Investors can be confident that when it backs a company, the hard technical work has already been done, speeding up access to capital.
“The UK has one of the strongest research bases in the world,” Tom Adeyoola, Innovate UK’s Executive Chair, said. “Yet we do not have as many globally-scaled companies to represent that strength.
“Why is that so, and what is stopping our big ideas from becoming big businesses? We excel at making discoveries, generating intellectual property, spinning out and starting up.
“Yet when it comes to scaling, too many innovative businesses fail, stall or move overseas. Innovation is in our blood – but we must focus on industrialising it, because fast-growing businesses are what drive real economic value.”
In the strategic reset, Innovate UK will focus on six priority sectors:
advanced manufacturing
clean energy industries
creative industries
defence
life sciences
digital and technologies
The digital and technologies sector includes six frontier technologies: AI; advanced connectivity; cybersecurity; engineering biology; semiconductors; and quantum.
Within these sectors, Innovate UK will prioritise deep tech businesses with the potential to create transformational change.
Quantum
Quantum technologies offer a strong example of where UK companies are well placed to lead the world.
After more than a decade of sustained public investment, the UK quantum sector is world-leading.
This week the UK became the first country to commit to advanced procurement for large-scale quantum computers by the early 2030s.
The economic opportunity, in terms of growth, jobs and entirely new kinds of work, is substantial.
Specialists Teams and Services
To deliver this ambition, Innovate UK is creating specialist growth sector teams that will serve as the engines of its offer.
A new account management service, Velocity, will launch to support high-potential businesses throughout their innovation journey, from first engagement with Innovate UK through to capital raising and beyond.
Commercialism
This new approach aims to accelerate the commercialisation of innovation, helping companies turn promising technologies into scalable growth.
When Innovate UK endorses a company, investors can be assured that rigorous technical due diligence has already been done, making it a trusted gateway into the UK’s deep tech ecosystem.
This will help de-risk investment decisions, crowd in private capital and change the trajectory of the UK’s most promising businesses in ways that the market alone cannot.
Innovate UK says it will actively prepare both sides of the investment relationship: building investment-ready businesses while briefing investors on what is coming through the pipeline.
This ensures that when a company is ready to raise investment, the right investors already know who they are and why they matter.
Innovate UK will provide an integrated, end-to-end offer built around the needs of each business, not a one-size-fits-all intervention.
Funding grants and loans will be calibrated to stage and risk, scaling from early-stage support through to increased backing as businesses prove performance.
A new plan to translate Scotland’s innovation and expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) into more companies, jobs and investment is being published today.
The Scottish Government’s new five-year AI Strategy will focus on harnessing the economic potential of the technology, helping ensure all people and businesses can benefit from it.
Independent analysis forecasts that AI could contribute £23 billion a year to the Scottish economy by 2035.
Nearly 300 AI-focussed companies are already operating in the country, with major international investments in the country’s skills and infrastructure also being made.
They include Lenovo, which has chosen Edinburgh as one of just two global locations to form a new AI Research and Development Hub.
“AI is advancing faster than any technology we have ever seen and Scottish universities and businesses are at the forefront of the incredible services and products it is generating,” business minister Richard Lochhead said.
“Almost 300 AI‑focused companies now operate in the country – many of them home-grown, university spinouts. They are growing fast, exporting products, attracting investment and competing internationally.
“Global companies are meanwhile investing is our skills and expertise which is a major signal of confidence and tells the world that Scotland is a serious player in the development of AI as a force for good.
“We must continue this progress and successes already secured into further companies, jobs and investment. The Scottish Government’s new AI Strategy for Scotland will chart a course to ensure the benefits of AI reach people, communities and businesses across every part of our country.”
Google has said that publishers will “eventually” get to opt out of generative AI features in search, the firm said in a raft of proposed changes in response to the UK competition watchdog’s recent digital market proposals for search engines.
Google was designated as having strategic market status (SMS) by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA); the regulator has since concluded a probe into how regulations for the search giant would be rolled out.
The probe aimed to give publishers more of a say in how their sites and data were being shown and used by Google, a move that was met with discerning support from publishers already reeling from Google’s hasty implementation of its AI overviews.
Publishers shared concerns about decreasing click through figures, the potential for bias rankings in search results, and the inability to opt out of having their information used for AI overviews as well as a lack of compensation for such use.
While Google’s offer to allow sites to “specifically opt-out of generative AI features in Search,” it has yet to quell concerns from publishers if opting out would impact their search rankings.
Google did address separately the issues of rankings, saying: “We don’t give our own products special treatment, a fact confirmed by the CMA’s own reviews.
“Some third-party proposals (unsupported by evidence) could expose our systems, and thus our users, to manipulation and abuse. This would make it harder to fight spam, and ultimately slow down our ability to launch improvements for UK users.”
It did also say that “Features like AI Overviews make links to sources more prominent, helping people discover web content remains central to our approach.”
As far as interoperability and search engine selection, Google says that Android users are already able to “easily choose their preferred services.”
However, “we know that people don’t like being bombarded with frequent, interruptive pop-ups, and that the proposal that we show more choice screens every year, on top of when you set up a new device, would annoy users.
“Instead, we’ve proposed a less intrusive, permanent central switch in your device’s settings, making it easy to change your default search engine any time, without the annoying interruptions.”
If these proposed changes will be enough to quell the CMA’s market dominance concerns, however, remains to be seen.
Ofcom has fined notorious online forum 4chan £450,000 for not having age checks in place to prevent children from seeing pornography on its site.
The online safety watchdog hs also fined the company a further £50,000 for not assessing the risk of illegal material appearing on its platform, and £20,000 for not setting out in its terms of service how it protects people from criminal content.
Last year, the Children’s Commissioner found that 59% of children had stumbled across pornography accidentally, without looking for it. Since then, rules under the UK’s Online Safety Act have come into force, meaning sites that host pornographic material must use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from readily accessing sensitive content.
As in other industries, companies that provide an online service to people in the UK must comply with UK laws. The Online Safety Act is concerned with protecting people in the UK. It does not require platforms to restrict what people in other countries can see.
Data shows that nearly 80% of the top 100 pornography sites in the UK now have age checks in place. This means that on average, every day, over 7 million visitors from the UK are accessing pornography services that have deployed age assurance.
Following Ofcom’s investigation and imposing of the fine, 4chan will have until 2 April to implement highly effective age assurance or face a daily penalty of £500. It must also carry out a suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment by the same deadline or face a £200 per day penalty.
Furthermore, it must specify in its terms of service how individuals are protected from illegal content or face a daily fine of £100.
“Companies – wherever they’re based – are not allowed to sell unsafe toys to children in the UK. And society has long protected youngsters from things like alcohol, smoking and gambling. The digital world should be no different,” Suzanne Cater, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said.
“The UK is setting new standards for online safety. Age checks and risk assessments are cornerstones of our laws, and we’ll take robust enforcement action against firms that fall short.”
Anthropic is opening a lawsuit against the Pentagon in an attempt to block the authority from blacklisting it over national security following the AI firm’s withdrawal from contracts with the US Department of War.
The AI firm existed its contracts with the US department following concerns about mass AI surveillance and the use of AI automation in weapons with deadly force.
Anthropic was designated as a supply chain risk by US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth following the startup’s refusal to remove guardrails it placed on its AI models being use for mass domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons.
Since this, however, new reports reveal resistance among workers in the Pentagon, including IT staffers. Workers are saying that they are reluctant to use alternatives to Anthropic as they consider it superior, Reuters reports.
One staffer that spoke to Reuters said that the replacement could take months, despite insistence from government to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk, and the Pentagon’s new deal with OpenAI.
Interestingly, one IT contractor which spoke to Reuters compared Claude’s AI performance to xAI’s Grok, which they said produced inconsistent responses. It remains to be seen in xAI is meant to be used by Pentagon staffers or what the prompts were, considering the new military contract with OpenAI.
The AI firm described this move as “unprecedented and unlawful” as it pushes back on the designation.
“The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech”, Anthropic wrote. “No federal statute authorizes the actions taken here.”
The lawsuit will target the US executive office, which includes President Donald Trump and his cabinet, including Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and 16 government agencies.
Anthropic alleges that its negotiations on the terms and conditions with the US Department of War, otherwise known as the Department of Defence, was cut off after it tried to limit its AI use for surveillance and autonomous weapons.
Following the designation, OpenAI swooped in to be contracted by the Pentagon, with CEO Sam Altman alleging that its deal with the US government had better assurances against surveillance and autonomous weapons.
However, this has continually been challenged, especially now as OpenAI’s robotics head Caitlin Kalinowski resigned from the company over the deal.
She described the deal as “rush” in her public resignation post, saying that the contract did not have robust guardrails against surveillance.
“We think our agreement has more guardrails than any previous agreement for classified AI deployments, including Anthropic’s,” OpenAI wrote in a statement.
“In our agreement, we protect our red lines through a more expansive, multi-layered approach. We retain full discretion over our safety stack, we deploy via cloud, cleared OpenAI personnel are in the loop, and we have strong contractual protections.”
Anthropic has seen its adoption surge in February this year as AI business adoption soars 47.6% last month overall, according to the Ramp AI Index.
However, not every AI company is benefiting over this boost, with OpenAI’s adoption rating falling by 1.5%.
Anthropic, the maker of Claude AI, however, has seen their business adoption grow 4.9% month over month, and now accounts for about a quarter (24.4%) of businesses using AI.
This is a major improvement from a year ago, when just one in 25 businesses on Ramp was paying to use Anthropic.
Google also saw a 4.7% month on month adoption hike, though it accounts for a modest amount of overall business use.
While OpenAI is still in the lead when it comes to business adoption, at 34.4%, Anthropic is slowly edging towards this lead, as other competing chatbots trail. xAI, for instance, is being used by less than 2% of businesses, according to Ramp.
The data also reveals a shift in Anthropic’s market position. The AI firm’s models were popular with early adopters, and is now leveraging that early adoption in continual business priorities.
Put head to head with OpenAI, Anthropic was chosen 70% of the time by first time buyers of AI services, Ramp found.
This is challenging the initial adoption dominance of OpenAI, but why?
Anthropic and OpenAI’s business offerings are largely comparable, Ramp AI points out, while OpenAI’s Codex is actually less expensive. So what is driving the rise of Anthropic’s adoption?
For the answer, it might be worthwhile to look beyond model ability and price, and to the shifting political alignment of AI companies.
Anthropic’s recent ousting by the US Department of War has garnered the AI company a new reputation, one as a company more aligned with ethics, one willing to step up to an increasingly volatile US government.
It lost its US contract for disobeying demands to remove some safeguards from its models that would allow for mass domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons – that is, after its technology was used in operations targeting Venezuela, and even though its technology was reportedly used in the US’s recent military operations in Iran.
Whether it’s new ethical reputation is suitable or not, OpenAI’s recent dealings with the US government – its contract that CEO Sam Altman said was handled poorly by the company – has more people questioning AI firms’ allegiances.
OpenAI’s announcement of the deal aligned with mass removals of ChatGPT, research found, as well as an uptick in Claude use and downloads.
“Anthropic positioned itself differently, and a certain class of user noticed,” economist for Ramp, Ara Kharazian, said in a blog post.
This class includes Katy Perry – not necessarily known for her tech acumen, but she did go to space – and US senator Brian Schatz, a strong voice on tech policy in the country, Ramp noted. Both announced their switches to Claude following the US military contract fallout.
Is Anthropic’s spat with the US government a true signal of virtue or the canary in the coal mine of ethical conundrums associated with AI’s radical adoption? Is the company set to benefit from a moral argument AI adopters don’t seem terribly keen to investigate deeply? Perhaps!
“There might be a world in which choosing between OpenAI and Anthropic becomes less like an enterprise procurement decision and more like the green bubble/blue bubble distinction in iMessage: a signal of identity as much as a choice of technology,” Kharazian posited.
A new mystery AI model that emerged last week has been revealed as the creation of Xiaomi, the smartphone and EV firm based in China.
The model’s anonymous release on a developer platform galvanised much speculation that it could be DeepSeeks new V4 model the company had teased mere weeks earlier.
Released on OpenRouter, an AI gateway platform, on 11 March, the new free model was described as “stealth mode” by the platform with no affiliation and the name “Hunter Alpha.”
The model was developed by MiMo, the AI team at Xiaomi, led by Lou Fuli, a former researcher for DeepSeek.
Fuli described the model as an “early internal test build of MiMo-V2-Pro,” Xiaomi’s flagship AI model which is mean to rely on fewer human prompts and interventions compared to a standard chatbot, acting as an AI agent’s “brain.”
“I call this a quiet ambush – not because we planned it, but because the shift from chat to agent paradigm happened so fast, even we barely believed it,” Luo said in a social media post.
She added: “People ask why we move so fast. I saw it firsthand building DeepSeek R1.”
MiMo-V2-Pro will now offer a week of free access to developers around the world in five partnerships with agent frameworks, including the rapidly expanding OpenClaw.
The Hunter Alpha revelation lead to a 5.8% boost to Xiaomi’s shares, which are listed on the Hong Kong stock market.
The AI model’s profile page says that it is a 1-trillion parameter model with a context window of up to one million tokens, which aligned with expectations for DeepSeek’ upcoming V4 model.
The stealth mode launch, which allows developers to launch models on AI model platforms without company attribution, is not uncommon, allowing developers to receive unbiased feedback from other developers prior to an official launch.
Users of Hunter Alpha were given notice that any usage would be used by the anonymous provider to improve and train the model.
MiMo has said that the adoption of the stealth model was rapid, amassing a million tokens since its release and climbing the OpenRouter charts to the top.
Healthtech firm, Bioliberty, has secured a total of £7.7m ($10.5m) of funding over the last 10 months.
The most recent £6.2m Series A investment was led by £3m from the Scottish National Investment Bank (“the Bank”), alongside participation from existing investors Archangels, Eos Advisory, Old College Capital, and Hanna Capital SEZC, as well as new investor Conduit Connect.
The full Series A round is expected to close later this year. This follows a £1.5m pre-Series A round in mid-2025 from the existing investor group.
Bioliberty, which emerged from the University of Edinburgh, develops technology that supports physical rehabilitation for the increasing number of people recovering from mobility-limiting conditions or injuries.
The platform combines AI with soft‑robotic wearable devices to help therapists deliver higher‑intensity therapy while capturing clear, objective data on patient recovery. This approach makes therapy more efficient, helps accelerate progress, and gives clinical teams the visibility they need to make more informed decisions and coordinate care more effectively.
The funding will support continued product development and manufacturing in Scotland and will enable further commercial expansion in the United States, where the company’s technology is already used in several leading rehabilitation facilities.
Rowan Armstrong, co‑founder and chief executive officer of Bioliberty, said: “This investment allows us to significantly expand our capabilities, from advancing how we measure patient recovery using computer vision and AI‑driven assessments, to extending our product into patients’ homes.
“Scotland has provided a strong foundation for Bioliberty, offering access to world‑class engineering talent and a highly collaborative research environment. This funding will enable us to grow our team in Scotland, create high‑value jobs, and continue building technology here that supports better rehabilitation outcomes.”
Bioliberty is headquartered at The National Robotarium in Edinburgh, the UK’s centre for robotics and artificial intelligence research, with manufacturing based in Fife. The company opened its U.S. headquarters in Boston in 2025, supporting its international operations while maintaining core product development activity in Scotland.
Ailsa Young, Investment Director at the Bank, said: “Bioliberty’s founders are ambitious, talented, and have developed an impressive solution to meet the needs of patients against the backdrop of rising healthcare costs and a strain on delivery.
“Our investment in this IP-rich company aligns to our innovation mission, helping Bioliberty to scale its technology internationally and further strengthen its home-grown excellence in robotics and AI. Critically, their products and solutions deliver tangible benefits to patients.
“We are pleased to help them scale their rollout and to help solidify Scotland’s healthtech and AI expertise, building on our recognised engineering heritage and research excellence.”
Shaolei McKie, Senior Investment Manager, Archangels said: “Archangels has supported Bioliberty, alongside our syndicate partners, since early 2023 through its initial product development and early commercialisation.
“The founding team has developed technology with genuine clinical value and real potential to scale into global markets, and they have consistently executed against a clear plan. We are excited to work with Scottish National Investment Bank and new investors to help deliver the next phase of growth for the company.”
The UK Space Agency and State of Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU) have signed a new agreement aiming for renewed civil and commercial space cooperation between the two countries.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed at the Embassy of Ukraine in London by UK Space Agency Chief Executive Dr Paul Bate and General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom.
This is the first agency-to-agency agreement between the UK Space Agency and SSAU. It demonstrates the UK’s commitment to deepening cooperation with Ukraine in the space sector and supports the ambitions set out in the UK-Ukraine 100 Year Partnership, agreed in January 2025.
A formal framework will encourage collaboration between UK and Ukrainian space organisations and boost the exchange of information and expertise, while supporting new activity in areas of mutual interest across civil and commercial space.
This week, the UK Space Agency will also contribute €100,000 to support a programme of joint activities between the European Space Agency (ESA) and SSAU, which will help bolster Ukraine’s space sector.
The first activity is a project called ‘Agricultural and ecological monitoring services for Ukraine and Black Sea region (SEN4STATUkr)’, which is set to improve current practices in agriculture statistics using Earth Observation data.
The SSAU brings together a strong scientific and industrial base, supporting the development and manufacture of modern launch vehicles, spacecraft engines, control systems, command radio links, telemetry and other advanced space technologies.
Its ecosystem includes industry and research institutes employing around 10,000 highly skilled specialists.
“Space is central to modern economies, from communications and navigation to climate monitoring and infrastructure resilience,” Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said. “This agreement marks an important step in strengthening our partnership with Ukraine in the civil and commercial space sector.
“By working together, we can support innovation, unlock new commercial opportunities for UK and Ukrainian organisations, and harness space technologies to deliver real-world benefits for our citizens.”
Volodymyr Mikheiev, Acting Head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine, said: “The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Space Agency of Ukraine and the UK Space Agency is an important step in strengthening cooperation between our countries in the space sector.
“We highly value the opportunity to begin a closer dialogue and exchange of experience between our agencies, as well as to bring our national space sectors closer together. I am confident that our partnership will contribute to the development of joint space initiatives for the benefit of the people of Ukraine and the United Kingdom.”
Following the signing, the SSAU will meet with UK Space Agency programme leads to explore potential areas for collaboration.
The rapid adoption of AI is reshaping identity security risks for enterprise, and not necessarily for the better, new research from Delinea shows.
According to the firm’s report, 90% of organizations pressure security teams to loosen identity controls to enable AI initiatives, despite significant gaps in AI identity discovery, monitoring, and privilege control.
The report also reveals an AI security confidence paradox between organisations’ perceived readiness for AI and their actual capabilities to adopt it securely.
Based on a global survey of over 2,000 IT decision-makers actively using or piloting AI, and insights from the Delinea Labs research team on real-world cyber incidents, the report finds organisations are struggling to maintain visibility and governance as AI-driven automation rapidly expands the number of identities in enterprise environments.
Nearly 90% of respondents report at least one identity visibility gap, with the largest gap tied to machine and non-human identities (NHIs)—including accounts used by AI agents. Respondents also said these discovery gaps are most likely to persist in AI-related environments, occurring at nearly double the rate seen in legacy or on-premises systems.
“The pressure to move fast on AI is real, but identity governance has not kept pace, which exposes enterprises to significant risk,” said Art Gilliland, CEO at Delinea.
“As AI agents multiply across enterprise environments, these identities often have the least oversight. The organizations that will succeed in the AI era will be the ones that enforce real-time, contextual access across every human, machine, and agentic AI identity.”
The report found that AI expansion is driving non-human identity risk, with 42% of organisations saying AI expansion has been one of the top factors increasing NHI risk in the past 12 months, far surpassing increased automation and CI/CD velocity (26%) and growth in cloud-native workloads (26%).
It also discovered limited visibility into privileged AI actions, with 80% of organisations saying they are unable to always understand why an NHI performed a privileged action, highlighting major challenges with traceability and accountability for automated identities.
Overall, standing access remains the norm, with 59% of organisations report lacking viable alternatives to standing privileged access for NHIs and AI agents, increasing the risk that automated identities retain persistent permissions that could be exploited.
Despite clear governance gaps, many organisations remain confident in their readiness for AI adoption, highlighting a disconnect between perceived and actual security maturity.
While 87% of respondents say their identity security posture is ready to support AI-driven automation, nearly half (46%) admit their identity governance around AI systems is deficient.
Organisations were also twice as likely to rate their ability to discover and govern identities in AI environments poorly, compared to legacy systems.
Similarly, while 82% express confidence in discovering NHIs with access to production systems, fewer than one in three organisations validate NHI or AI agent activity in real time to ensure discovery processes are working.
As AI agents begin accessing critical infrastructure and enterprise data, organisations need stronger ways to discover all identities, manage privileges, and audit activity across humans, machines, and AI agents.
The Financial Conduct Authority is issuing new rules to make existing cyber incident and third-party reporting clearer, more consistent, and easier for firms to follow.
The new rules are meant to help the FCA respond more quickly to disruptions such as cyber-attacks or power outages, give firms greater certainty on what to report and when, and strengthen firm resilience to better protect consumers and markets.
The new rules come as cyber-attack become more frequent and sophisticated, with firms evermore reliant on third-party providers.
In 2025, over 40% of cyber incidents reported to the FCA involved a third-party, with several high-profile incidents impacting the financial services sector, including the Cloudflare and AWS outage.
The FCA says that firms have not always reported incidents consistently due to a lack of clarity on what to report and what to provide.
Based on a consultation, the FCA has released new rules following feedback to create requirements to reduce unnecessary burden, while ensuring the FCA gets the information it needs to assess impact and respond swiftly to incidents.
The FCA has now created a simple, streamlined reporting regime with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Bank of England including a single reporting portal.
The regulator has also removed duplicative incident reporting for payment service providers and credit rating agencies, as well as refined the overall information required. This would allow most firms under FCA regulation to complete a short form to tell the regulator about their incident.
The FCA also added clearer guidance on thresholds, definitions, and responsibilities for incident reporting.
“Resilience is being tested like never before, with firms facing growing cyber threats and increasing reliance on third parties to deliver the essential financial services consumers rely on,” Mark Francis, director of specialists and wholesale sell-side at the FCA, said.
“These changes give firms clearer rules and practical guidance to better manage disruption, while supporting our ambition to be a smarter regulator, giving us better data to spot risks, share insights and strengthen sector-wide resilience.”
Over time, the FCA says the data will share insights and trends to help firms bolster their operational resilience and share relevant information with industry, where appropriate during widespread disruption, particularly in stressed market conditions.
Where disruption occurs at a third party, the data will help the regulator see through the firm’s supply chains to identify which services are the most exposed, and help the FCA identify potential critical third parties to the UK financial system.
The FCA is also charing Finalised Guidance for both incident reporting and third party report, including clear examples of what a firm should report, help apply thresholds, and guidance on completing the incident form and third party register.
Now, firms will have 12 months to prepare for the new rules which come into force 18 March 2027.
Cyberwarfare threats have reached a global pressure-cooker moment, according to new research from Armis.
The cyber firm based its study on more than 1,900 global IT decision-makers as well as propriety data from Armis Lab.
As emerging technologies accelerate cyber operations and geopolitical tensions worsen, attackers are increasingly targeting the infrastructure, information, and systems that underpin global stability.
“Geopolitical tensions, AI acceleration, and unresolved security gaps are colliding, bringing the state of cyberwarfare to a boiling point,” said Nadir Izrael, CTO and Co-Founder of Armis.
“Cyberwarfare is now a constant condition; attackers are operating at machine speed, while too many organisations are still trying to defend themselves with assumptions and structures built for a very different threat landscape. Organisational leaders must heed the call and immediately enhance their proactive cybersecurity operations before it’s too late.”
Nearly eight in ten IT decision-makers (79%) globally are concerned about nation-state actors using AI to develop more sophisticated and targeted cyberattacks, up from 73% last year, while two-thirds (67%) believe the misuse of emerging technologies will increase the likelihood of collateral damage to civilian infrastructure during cyber conflict.
Despite mounting pressure, there’s a false sense of confidence among organisations that remains surprisingly high. Nearly eight in ten (79%) IT decision-makers say their organization is prepared to handle a cyberwarfare attack, while 76% believe they are ready to mitigate AI-driven threats. This confidence is increasingly disconnected from reality.
More than half (54%) of organisations report they’ve already been impacted by an AI-generated or AI-led attack in the past 12 months, and half (50%) admit they have still been unable to adequately secure their environment post-attack.
At the same time, two-thirds (66%) also agree that organisations continue to underestimate the resources required to defend against AI-powered threats, revealing a widening gap between perceived preparedness and actual resilience.
“False confidence absent contextual intelligence is a force multiplier for the adversary,” said Michael Freeman, Head of Threat Intelligence at Armis.
“In the era of AI-accelerated threats, nation-state actors exploit the gap between a defender’s perceived security and their actual exposure. Effective cyber exposure management doesn’t just provide a ‘view’; it provides the ground truth required to eliminate blind spots and preemptively harden the attack surface before the first exploit is even launched.”
About seven in ten (69%) of IT decision-makers agree that a global reliance on AI will intensity the geopolitical stakes of cybersecurity.
A similar amount (68%) also agree that the weaponisation of AI will make cyber conflict a more persistent feature of global geopolitics.
Nearly two thirds (64%) say emerging technologies are making it harder to distinguish between espionage, cyber-crime, and acts of war.
About three quarters (74%) believe that cyberwarfare attacks will increase targeting institutions representing free press and independent thinking.
Ransomware payments are exceeding firm’s annual cybersecurity budgets, according to 52% of those surveyed, with the average global ransomware payout in 2025 amounting to £7,710,000.
HSBC UK is launching a £5bn AI and productivity financing initiative to support UK businesses with future-ready investments.
New research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research found that mid-sized firms in the UK could generate a further £105bn in revenue by 2030 if they continue on with current trends in AI adoption.
AI is rapidly becoming tell-tale sign of business success, marking the difference between companies that are forging ahead and those that risk falling behind, according to the research’s economic forecast modelling.
Mid-sized companies – about 35,000 in the UK – generate 23% more value per employee than the economy average.
Just two years ago, 35% of mid-sized firms were using AI; by the end of 2025, this jumped to 55% of firms as mid-sized businesses adopt large language models, automation, and advancements in analytics.
The research found further divides between those using AI for simple tasks – email drafting and document summaries – and those fully incorporating them into their workflows.
When it came to mid-sized business AI adoption, a quarter were described as ‘productive adopters’ – those embedding AI into their entire business and tech stack from the supply chain to customers.
The rise in AI usage and the importance of mid-sized companies to the UK’s economy prompted HSBC UK to launch the £5bn initiative boosting long-term business growth.
Analysis indicated that ‘productive adoption’ can generate £4.5m in revenue, as well as with £1.3m in additional economic value compared to a similar sized firm that does not adopt AI.
“Mid-sized businesses play a central role in UK growth,” James Cundy, managing director and head of corporate and leveraged Finance at HSBC UK, said. “Our findings suggest AI adoption could strengthen one of the economy’s most important growth engines.
“The opportunity is significant, but it requires confidence to invest. Our focus is on supporting businesses as they invest in the technology, skills and innovation that will shape the UK’s next phase of growth.
“Through HSBC UK’s new initiative, businesses can access funding on commercial terms to build the skills, systems and technology they need to enhance productivity.”
For decades, Wi-Fi innovation has largely focused on increasing peak speeds and efficiency, supporting the growing number of connected devices in our homes, workplaces and public spaces.
But the role of Wi-Fi is changing.
As digital experiences become more immersive, intelligent and interactive, wireless networks must evolve beyond simply being ‘fast enough’. The next generation of Wi-Fi needs to support applications where responsiveness, reliability and predictability are just as critical as speed. We believe the next step in Wi-Fi evolution is clear.
What Wi-Fi 9 must deliver
Wi-Fi 9 will focus on real-world performance, not just theoretical peak speeds. This includes:
Multi-gigabit speeds that users actually experience on their smartphones, XR-devices and laptops to fully utilise next-generation fibre broadband connections.
Predictable and reliable connectivity, particularly for emerging use cases like immersive media, robotics and tactile interaction where delays beyond 10ms and packet loss cannot be tolerated.
High performance in dense environments, supporting dozens of connected devices simultaneously running real-time and high-bandwidth applications.
Improved energy efficiency, ensuring higher performance does not come at the cost of increased power consumption for mobile devices and access points.
Together, these capabilities would allow Wi-Fi to support a new generation of digital services that depend on instant, seamless connectivity.
A new era of wireless connectivity
Wireless connectivity is entering a new phase.
Artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape how devices operate and interact. Autonomous systems, connected robots and intelligent devices will rely on wireless networks to exchange data and make decisions in real time.
At the same time, immersive technologies like augmented and virtual reality are also moving closer to the mainstream, demanding networks capable of delivering extremely responsive interactions and consistently high performance. Together with AI they will drive the growth in internet traffic as outlined in our recent Global network traffic report
Expectations around connectivity are rising as well. As 10Gbps and even 25 Gbps next generation fibre broadband becomes more widely available, early adopters increasingly expect to experience those speeds – and the same level of responsiveness – across their devices over Wi-Fi.
Where Wi-Fi 9 can have the biggest impact
The impact of Wi-Fi 9 will be felt in the digital experiences people rely on every day.
Imagine joining a virtual meeting where colleagues appear as life-like avatars around a shared workspace or collaborating in a real-time 3D environment where every gesture and interaction happens instantly.
Next-generation AR and VR collaboration tools, cloud gaming platforms and real-time 3D environments depend on wireless networks capable of delivering extremely high speeds of more than 100Mbps per device, consistent ultra-low sub-5ms latency and consistent performance, exactly the capabilities Wi-Fi 9 should be designed to deliver.
Other emerging applications will place additional demands on wireless networks.
For example, tactile and haptic technologies allow users to receive physical feedback while interacting with digital system. But for these interactions to feel natural, the network must transmit feedback instantly and reliably at unpredictable moments both to and from devices even when the network is fully loaded.
In these scenarios, the quality and responsiveness of the wireless connection become just as important as raw speed.
Shaping the next generation of Wi-Fi
We are bringing this vision into industry discussions as the Wi-Fi ecosystem gathers to explore what comes beyond IEEE 802.11bn, the upcoming Wi-Fi 8 generation currently under development.
We are calling for early alignment across the industry around clear performance goals and use-case-driven requirements, ensuring that the next generation of Wi-Fi evolves alongside fibre broadband and future 6G networks. Close coordination across wireless and wireline technologies will be essential to deliver consistent, predictable performance across environments.
Wi‑Fi will also continue to evolve as part of a broader wireless ecosystem. Future Wi‑Fi generations will work alongside 6G and other wide‑area wireless technologies, with each technology optimised for different environments and use cases. Together, they will underpin the immersive, intelligent and real‑time experiences now beginning to emerge.
By setting out this vision now, our aim is to help guide the next phase of wireless innovation – ensuring future wireless networks can support the immersive, intelligent and real-time experiences that will define the next era of digital connectivity.
xAI, the parent company of AI chatbot Grok, is being sued by three teenagers in the US for allegedly generating sexually explicit deepfake images of them without their consent or knowledge, breaking child abuse and child pornography laws.
The teenagers, based in Tennessee and suing in California, allege that Elon Musk’s xAI did not take steps to prevent Grok from generating child sex abuse material, “shattering” their lives as a result.
“Nearly all the companies creating, marketing, and selling AI recognized the dangers of such a tool and chose to enact industry-standard guardrails that would prevent the use of their products child sex predators. xAI did not,” the suit complaint states.
“Instead, xAI — and its founder Elon Musk — saw a business opportunity: an opportunity to profit off the sexual predation of real people, including children.”
xAI came under international fire for Grok’s ‘spicy mode’ which allowed users to generate illicit images of people without their knowledge or consent, requesting for images to be ‘undressed’ or ‘scantily clad.’ Women were targeted without their consent or knowledge, as were children, sparking outrage.
Instead of outright disabling ‘spicy mode’, Musk’s company merely prohibited it in countries where it was explicitly outlawed – forcing nations to race to make deepfake images formally illegal.
The current lawsuit alleged that xAI knowingly broke child pornography laws, claiming the firm was aware it enabled the creation, possession, and distribution of CSAM on its systems and servers. The suit aims to gain class action status, which means thousands could claim on the case.
The case centres around incidents that took place late last year, when one teenage plaintiff – Jane Doe 1 – was informed that nude images of her were circulating on a Discord server.
Police were able to arrest the creator and distributor of these images, finding that they processed images of the two other plaintiffs, as well as around 15 other teenage girls, many of whom went to the same high school. The images were sexualised and in some cases showed the girls fully nude.
The perpetrator used the images to trade for other child sexual abuse material on Telegram.
The lawsuit claims that the images were generated using a third-party app that licenses Grok’s image-generation technology under a different brand by paying xAI. While it appears the lawsuit does not accuse the perpetrator of using Grok directly, the availability of the technology for such use is where liability hinges.
The case claims that xAI failed in several ways to block its technology from being used to generate CSAM, including safeguards to reject user prompts for sexual material, blocking any accidental material, checking databases for CSAM, and ensuring any harmful material is taken down promptly for victims.
The lawsuit points to xAI’s promotion of Grok’s ‘spicy mode’, and calls out its lack of safeguards.
While Grok does say that users should avoid “creating or distributing child sexual abuse material” in its system prompt instructions, the lawsuit claims this is easy to bypass and not enough to prevent harms.
At least 80% of governments will deploy AI agents to automate routine decision-making, enhancing efficiency and service delivery by 2028, according to Gartner, Inc.
“Government CIOs are under growing pressure to embed AI into decision-making capabilities rapidly and responsibly,” said Daniel Nieto, Sr. Director Analyst at Gartner.
“The rise of multimodal AI, alongside conversational and agentic systems, has expanded what public organisations can automate, understand, and anticipate.”
However, one of the most persistent barriers to AI value in government is fragmentation. According to a Gartner survey of 138 respondents from government organizations worldwide between July and September 2025, 41% of respondents cited siloed strategies and 31% cited legacy systems as key challenges to adopting and implementing digital solutions.
“Technology modernisation alone has not resolved these issues,” said Nieto.
Governance: From Models to Decisions
As AI transitions from experimentation to being deeply embedded in decision-making, governance approaches must also evolve. Traditionally, AI governance has centered on managing models, data, and algorithms.
However, decision intelligence (DI) shifts this focus toward the governance of decisions themselves, for example on how they are designed, executed, monitored, and audited. This shift in governance is especially critical in government, where public legitimacy relies on transparency and fairness.
The Gartner survey found that 39% of respondents cited improved service and citizen satisfaction as primary reasons to invest in building citizen trust. DI offers a structural foundation for operationalising this trust by making decision pathways explicit and auditable.
“By governing decisions, rather than just isolated AI components, governments can better balance automation with human judgment, particularly in high-stakes or rights-impacting contexts,” said Nieto. “Regulated industries and governments cannot rely on opaque ‘black box’ systems for consequential decisions. DI elevates explainability from a technical requirement to a governance imperative.”
Because of the need for transparency in decision-making, Gartner predicts that by 2029, 70% of government agencies will require explainable AI (XAI) and human-in-the-loop (HITL) mechanisms for all automated decisions that impact citizen service delivery. XAI and HITL designs are foundational to public-sector DI.
These mechanisms ensure that decision logic can be inspected, explained, and challenged. Because of XAI and HITL, humans also retain authority over exceptions, appeals, and high-risk cases and accountability is preserved even as automation increases.
While efficiency remains important, citizen trust in the government’s ability to provide effective services is becoming a key driver of digital transformation.
Fifty percent of government respondents cited improved citizen experience as one of their top three priorities.
“As AI and decision intelligence increasingly automate and streamline service delivery, the traditional notion of ‘citizen experience’ evolves,” said Nieto.
“When citizens receive what they need from the government automatically, direct interactions may decrease making trust in the system’s reliability, fairness, and transparency even more critical. Because trust is so imperative in these situations, the predictive capacity to anticipate potential needs that could reshape how government digital services are delivered.”
DI enables governments to redesign decision flows across citizen-facing services, shifting from reactive, process-driven interactions to proactive and personalised engagement. This not only improves consistency and reduces delays but also enhances perceived fairness and builds public trust, even as direct contact with government staff becomes less frequent.
A raft of funding amounting to £2 billion aims to make the UK the first country to commit to making and deploying quantum computers at scale by the early 2030s.
As part of the Modern Industrial Strategy, the UK government has launched a programme to ensure the country stays at the forefront of quantum innovation.
Quantum is technology’s next great generational leap and will rival AI as the defining technology of the future, the UK government claims.
While a traditional computer solves problems using a one-by one approach, a Quantum system explores thousands of potential answers at once -slashing the time it takes to reach a solution.
“I am determined this country grasps the benefits will Quantum computing will bring. It is only by keeping pace with technological progress that we can deliver the high-paid jobs, cutting-edge public services, and innovations which change lives,” technology secretar Liz Kendall said.
“Today’s announcements are an investment in our future - unlocking better health, wealth, and more opportunities for communities across the country.
“This government is ushering in a Quantum leap – making the choice today to back UK scientists, companies, and innovators so we can deliver a future that works for all.”
This procurement programme, ”ProQure:Scaling UK Quantum Computing” will launch next week, where companies will be invited to table proposals to partner with us to deliver state of the art prototypes for evaluation.
Prototypes will then be assessed, with the most promising companies invited to deliver larger scale machines for use by scientists, researchers, the public sector, and businesses.
This will also accelerate growth of the UK’s quantum industry-supporting homegrown firms as they scale-up and grow while building an environment which encourages private backers from around the world to pour money into the sector, capturing everything from hardware, processors and manufacturing through to sustained investment in UK supply chains.
The technology is already being put to work across the country, with Q-BIOMED researchers at the University College London exploring wearable brain scanners to support people suffering from epilepsy.
The government’s flagship TechFirst programme will launch new partnerships with companies in the sector – offering up to 100 fully funded internships. This will give people the tools they need to embark on future, high-paying careers in the field.
The wide majority of UK tech organisations are based outside London, shirking mainstream conclusions on the capital’s monopoly on UK tech.
The Beauhurst data, commissioned by Startup Coalition and UK Tech Week, found that around two-thirds of tech firms in the UK are based outside the nation’s capital.
Of the 83,000 active tech companies in the UK – employing about 3.7 million in the UK – 54,000 are based outside of London.
Further analysis reveals that the average number of employees per tech company in London is 57, but is 38 outside of London, indicating a rising number of startups and early-stage firms outside of the capital.
“We see incredible companies being built across the UK, with many British cities beating some of Europe’s largest tech hubs,” Dom Hallas, founder of Startup Coalition, said.
“Yet too often we hear the rhetoric that London is the only UK city where you can build a world-leading technology business. UK Tech Week proves that the sector is strong across the country, and we are delighted to be co-organising this year, and helping to spotlight success from every corner of the nation.”
Kanishka Narayan, Minister for AI said: “The UK is home to some of the world’s most exciting tech talent and trailblazing businesses – innovators who are creating new technologies, new opportunities, and new jobs in our communities every single day.
“Our regional tech ecosystems are crucial to powering this success. That’s why events like UK Tech Week, and programmes like Government’s Regional Tech Booster scheme matter – they are about bringing tech ecosystems together, backing brilliant local talent and helping our regional firms scale, compete and thrive on the national and global stage.”
The UK government is investing £45 million on a new AI supercomputer created to aid scientists in modelling nuclear fusion.
The new system is set to operate at the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (EUKAEA) Culham campus this year.
The 1.4MW system will mark the first piece of major infrastructure set out for the Culham AI Growth Zone in Oxfordshire, and is set to open in June.
Funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the ‘Sunrise’ machine is set to power advances in fusion energy research using AI.
The AI is meant to enhance the ability of fusion researchers to create more detailed simulations and digital twins of complicated fusion systems, allowing for the modelling of these systems with AI prior to undertaking physical experiments which can be costly and time consuming.
The UK government says that the AI modeling capacity of the supercomputer is more advanced compared to current fusion research programmes, saying that the system is capable of 6.76 exaFLOPS of modelling performance accelerated by AI.
The supercomputer will help tackle many issues in current fusion modeling, including plasma turbulence, reactor material development, and tritium fueling technology advancements.
The system will employe AMD Instinct GPU accelerators and AMD EPYC processors that will run on Dell PowerEdge infrastructure, with WEKA acting as the programme’s storage platform.
“UKAEA is taking lessons from the Apollo programme: we learn fastest when we can test, iterate, and improve safely in the virtual world before we commit to our real-world mission,” Dr Rob Akers, UKAEA’s director for computing programmes, said.
“Sunrise will bring that capability to fusion by combining high-fidelity simulation with physics-informed AI to develop predictive digital twins that reduce the cost, risk and time of learning that would otherwise require expensive and time-consuming physical testing.”
Sunrise will be used to address real-world challenges from a wide range of UK fusion programmes to drive critical advancements for the LIBRTI (Lithium Breeding Tritium Innovation) programme, which is developing tritium fuel-cycle technologies for self-sufficiency in future fusion operations, and for STEP Fusion, the UK’s flagship initiative to demonstrate fusion energy in the 2040s.
Meta is ending end-to-end encryption for Instagram direct messages, the organisation announced.
Meta says the move is due to a lack of user use of the tool, which keeps messages secured between sender and recipient.
End-t0-end encryption will no longer be available on Instagram after 8 May, 2026, the firm said.
Meta has continually been embroiled in the encryption debate, facing flack from users for turning out private messages and data to law enforcement, whilst coming under fire for employing encryption that could allow users to evade law enforcement investigations when it comes to grooming and child abuse.
TikTok recently commented that, unlike Meta, it would not offer end-to-end encryption on its direct messaging services, explaining that this is due to safety concerns.
This was in stark comparison to Meta, which revealed internal pushback occurred within senior leadership ahead of its implementation of end-to-end encryption across Facebook and Instagram messaged.
Internal documents revealed in an ongoing lawsuit centred around Meta platforms’ allegedly addictive design, a Meta executive warned CEO Mark Zuckerberg of the potential fallout of implementing encryption.
Meta’s head of content policy wrote on March 2019 shortly before Zuckerberg announced the encryption plans publicly: “We are about to do a bad thing as a company. This is so irresponsible.”
While end-to-end encryption has long been the scorn of law enforcement and authorities, it is hailed by privacy and tech experts as the most secure way to protect messages from unwanted surveillance.
When it was being debated by MPs during the drafting of the Online Safety Bill, even the most ardent advocates for child protection and the sacrifice of privacy did not want to outright get rid of encryption. Rather, MPs pressed for organisation to make backdoors or allow for pre-emptive scanning for illicit or illegal content prior to encryption. These technologies, however, either did not exist or would compromise the privacy that encryption needs.
Apple continues to battle against state instances that it creates a backdoor to its encryption, electing to remove its encryption tool from its UK markets rather than compromise its encryption through the creation of a master key following an alleged secret order from the Home Office.
Still, online safety advocates lament the fact that the privacy encryption offers works not only for the average user, but for criminals using messaging platforms to target individuals, plan illegal activities, or sell illicit material.
Meta is currently only removing its encryption tool from Instagram – Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp will remain encrypted.
However, the debate surrounding encryption rages on as the true meaning of privacy, safety, and security confound politicians and tech developers alike.
Meta is reportedly set to make thousands of workers redundant as the tech giant presses forward with AI investments at the cost of human workers.
This is according to new reportage from Reuters, which claims that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is preparing to cut 20% of its workforce. This would equate to around 16,000 employees.
The three sources Reuters spoke to said that a date for the cuts has yet to be finalised, and the exact figures have not yet been determined.
The anonymous sources claimed that Meta executives recently indicated that senior leaders should prepare for the cuts, according to Reuters.
A Meta spokesperson, however, told Reuters in a statement: “This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches.”
The potential layoffs would be Meta’s biggest yet: the firm layed off 11,000 workers in 2022, going on to cut a further 10,000 jobs in 2023.
While Meta claims the potential layoffs are speculative, they follow recent trends for the company as it expands its investments in AI infrastructure, acquires further organisations, all the while touting AI productivity and efficiency gains.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in January that he was seeing “projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person.”
The firm also recently acquired Moltbook, an AI agent social media firm, and is planning to spend around $2bn on acquiring Manus, a Chinese AI startup.
The company also said it would invest $600bn to construct new data centres by 2028 as firms move to build up the infrastructure necessary to fuel AI.
Meta’s own AI, however, has seen the firm split into several different directions. Besides the investments in other AI companies, Meta is also reconfiguring its own AI offering as its Llama 4 models fell short on performance benchmarks.
The firm’s newly launched Avocado model has also received a less than stellar reception, however.
Global hiring platform Indeed reveals that more than one in two employers in the UK believe AI and automation will be the primary drivers of workforce skill changes in the coming years, with 52% anticipating at least a modest shift in the capabilities required.
As businesses continue to adopt AI-based solutions, its presence in day-to-day operations is rapidly expanding. In fact, one in six UK companies now uses AI daily to solve business problems, reflecting how embedded the technology has become across sectors.
This growing integration is already delivering tangible benefits: Indeed’s AI adoption data finds that 77% of UK workers who regularly use AI report saving at least an hour a day, with many saving three or more.
While there is a clear opportunity to further integrate AI into workflows, Indeed’s Smarter Hiring report finds that time and responsibility for AI upskilling and reskilling are not being clearly allocated. As a result, organisations risk fragmented adoption, limiting returns and preventing AI from being fully embedded into core operations.
Time Constraints Create A Real Barrier For Upskilling
When asked about the biggest challenges to AI upskilling, both employees (33%) and employers (40%) cited time as the primary barrier, followed by the cost of reskilling or upskilling.
Existing workloads and daily responsibilities limit employees’ capacity to develop new AI skills, slowing progress across organisations.
Investing in effective AI upskilling is crucial, as it often requires shifting routine tasks and workflows. Employees face a learning curve as they integrate AI into established processes, taking time to understand where it adds value while maintaining quality standards.
At the same time, organisations must clarify who is responsible for leading these changes and supporting upskilling efforts.
Determining Responsibility for Employee Upskilling
A disconnect between employers and employees over who is responsible for upskilling is creating challenges for training and technology planning.
More than half of jobseekers (56%) feel they are accountable for developing their own skills, while the same proportion of employers (56%) place responsibility with senior leadership.
With almost half of UK employers (48%) advocating on-the-job training, mentorship, or rotational programs to upskill, the lack of clear ownership risks inconsistent AI learning.
Employees may feel accountable for using AI effectively, even though senior leaders control the tools and workflows, leaving guidance and direction unclear.
“It is clear that employers want to move quickly on AI,” senior strategic advisor at Indeed, Matt Burney, commented.
“However, there is often a gap between ambition and operating reality. Organisations are investing in new systems, yet they do not always allocate meaningful time for adoption or clearly define who is responsible for driving change.
“AI upskilling requires space. It is difficult to embed effectively when treated as an add-on to existing workloads. Structured collaboration and protected time are needed to rethink workflows. There is no quick fix. When implementation is layered onto already stretched teams, the impact is rarely acceleration. It is friction.
“The real work lies in identifying where AI genuinely drives efficiency, how workflows should evolve, and where its limitations sit. Productivity gains come from redesigning work, not simply introducing tools.”
Eight out of the ten most commonly used AI chatbots are found to have provided users with advice and assistance in planning violent attacks, new research has shown.
The Centre for Countering Digital Hate investigated responses from mainstream AI chatbots to see how they reacted to queries about violent attacks – and the revelations are chilling.
The Centre found that most of the chatbots – including ChatGPT and Deepseek – provided “actionable information” to users who sought information on “location and weapons to use in an attack in a majority of responses.”
According to the report, DeepSeek told a user planning an attack to have a “Happy (and safe) shooting!”
Claude AI, made by Anthropic, “reliably” discourages users from planning violent attacks, the Centre said, and was the only chatbot found to actively discourage would-be attackers. However, it still only managed to refuse assisting with violent planning 68% of the time, and actively discourage violent attacks 76%.
Snapchat’s My AI was also found to “consistently” refuse to assist in planning violent attacks.
Character.AI, on the other hand, actively encouraged violent attacks, according to the report. The AI chatbot, popular with young people, has face numerous allegations and even lawsuits claiming that it encouraged violence and suicide.
Meta AI and and Perplexity were found to be willing to assist a would-be attacker in 97% and 100% of responses, respectively, the report found.
The researchers investigated ten AI chatbots – ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Meta AI, DeepSeek, Perplexity, Snapchat My AI, Character.AI and Replika – by posing as a teen user planning violent attacks, asking for assistance with locations and weapons.
The report comes in the wake of a devastating school shooting with took place in Canada, after which it was revealed that an OpenAI employee had raised a flag that ChatGPT had been used by the shooter in ways consistent with planning violence. Affected families are now suing OpenAI, claiming the firm could have done more in discouraging the attack or raising the chats to law enforcement.
“AI chatbots, now embedded into our daily lives, could be helping the next school shooter plan their attack or a political extremist coordinate an assassination.
“When you build a system design to comply, maximize engagement, and never say no, it will eventually comply with the wrong people. What we’re seeing is not just a failure of technology, but a failure of responsibility. Most of these leading tech companies are choosing negligence in pursuit of so-called innovation,”
A second Shared Rural Network total not spot site is now live, this time boosting mobile connectivity on Islay in Scotland.
The publicly funded 4G mast brings mobile service from all operators to parts of the island that previously had no signal from any operator.
This new site addresses one of Scotland’s most persistent mobile not spots.
The new site was built by EE and will deliver commercial coverage from all four operators, including Three, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone to island residents, businesses and visitors across parts of Kinlchoman, Machrie, Rockside, Aruadh, Ballinaby, Smaull, Braigo, Sanaigmore, Carnduncan, Grainel, Lyrabus, Gruinart and Craigens. It also provides new coverage to 14 kilometres of roads, paths, and tracks.
For the first time, reliable 4G from all operators is now available at key locations, including Machir Bay, Saligo Bay, Loch Gorm, and Cultoon Stone Circle, as well as along the western coast of Islay.
This increased coverage improves safety for those travelling or working in remote areas, including seafarers and fishermen passing by and working near the island.
The mast is located near Kilchoman, on the west of the island, and was delivered under the publicly funded total not spot element of the Shared Rural Network programme.
This partnership between the UK Government and the mobile network operators is expanding mobile coverage to rural and hard‑to‑reach areas across the country.
This second total not spot site follows the first going live on Uist, and the December 2025 announcement of all mobile operators delivering public coverage from 100 shared Extended Area Service masts, originally built to support the Emergency Services Network (ESN), also delivered as part of the Shared Rural Network.
Island communities have long experienced mobile coverage challenges, and addressing total not spots is a key focus of the Shared Rural Network programme.
“People want a connection they can rely on, wherever they are. In less populated, rural, areas, modern 4G does that brilliantly,” Ben Roome, CEO of Mova said.
“This site brings mobile broadband to parts of Islay that haven’t had it, making day‑to‑day life a bit easier for the people who live, work and visit.”
The new coverage has been described as “important” by a local business, Kilchoman Distillery’s whose general manager, Islay Heads, said: “I think people on the mainland take reliable 4G connectivity for granted, but we certainly don’t.
“From a business perspective, our visitors are now able to post reviews and photos before they leave the site, something guests often forgot to do before, as they had to wait until they had a mobile signal.
“We can also now run live presentations and tastings from areas outside the distillery which allows more people to see how our traditional farm distilling process works.
“It makes our ability to communicate with suppliers and team members much quicker as well. In modern business, these sorts of efficiencies are important to our overall success as a local enterprise and international brand.”
Tesla has been approved by the UK’s energy regulator to begin supplying electricity to British households and businesses.
Elon Musk’s energy company has been granted the electricity supply licence, allowing it to operate as an electricity provider across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The firm however will not be able to offer a dual fuel contract – it will be permitted to offer electricity but not gas, which customers must agree with a different supplier.
Tesla is expected to model its UK presence after its business in Texas where it operated a virtual power plant. This enables Tesla electric car owners to charge their car and then sell electricity they store in their Powerwall home batteries back to the electric grid.
This virtual power plant is offered by Octopus Energin in the UK.
The approval for the company came after a seven month process, allowing Tesla to sell electricity to domestic as well as non domestic customers in the UK.
The company will now be required to follow UK energy regulations and be subject to continuous regulatory oversight. It must meet requirements on consumer protection, operational capability, financial resilience, fair treatment to customers, and billing transparency.
Previously, a Musk organisation, Tesla Motors Limited, was granted permission for electricity generation in the UK, but this had no impact on its application as an electricity provider.
Musk’s firms have experienced their share of turmoil in the UK as Tesla sales slumped and his political maneuvers and posts on X affected his and his company’s popularity in the UK.
The billionaire’s tumultuous relationship with President Trump, his inflammatory posts on X as well as the social media site’s own scandal, and his appearance in the Epstein files have only added fuel to the fire of his infamy.
More than 444,000 cases of fraud were recorded to the National Fraud Database in 2025, the highest number ever recorded in a single year, marking a 6% increase on 2024, according to research from Cifas.
The scale of fraud continues to accelerate, with Cifas members recording more than 1,200 cases every day and preventing £2.4 billion in fraud losses.
Almost three quarters (72%) of all cases reported in 2025 were linked to identity fraud and facility takeover, underlining how criminals are increasingly using stolen or compromised personal details as a gateway to wider financial harm.
The continued rise reflects how rapidly fraudulent activity is evolving. Criminals are adapting their tactics to exploit technological, economic and behavioural changes, with AI and generative technologies enabling convincing impersonations, fake documents and synthetic identities to be created at speed and scale.
At the same time, fraud is becoming increasingly complex and international, with organised crime groups operating across borders and targeting multiple sectors simultaneously.
Mike Haley, CEO of Cifas, said: “Our data and intelligence show how fraud is being industrialised, with AI accelerating crime that is increasingly digital, organised and international. Fraud must be treated as a national enforcement priority.
“Closing the gap requires decisive action, robust disruption of criminal networks, and greater sharing of cross‑sector data and intelligence to stop fraud at the source.”
Facility Account Takeover Rises
More than 78,000 facility (account) takeover cases were reported in 2025, accounting for 18% of all NFD filings and representing a 6% increase on 2024.
Cases linked to mobile phone products continue to dominate, followed by online retail and personal credit cards, together accounting for around 90% of all takeovers. There has also been a notable rise in unauthorised SIM swaps (up 38%), driven by the availability of stolen personal data and increasingly automated attack methods.
Criminals have continued to exploit AI to enhance malicious communications and automate credential attacks, adopting stealthier tactics – such as disabling alerts and gradually altering account details – to avoid detection.
Identity Fraud Remains the Most Prevalent Threat
Over 242,000 identity fraud cases were filed, accounting for 54% of all fraud-risk cases recorded to the database in 2025.
While this represents a 3% decrease on 2024, identity fraud remains the single most common fraud type reported by Cifas members.
The decline in cases filed reflects a shift in tactics, rather than a reduction in harm, as criminals increasingly move towards account takeover, particularly targeting the telecoms sector for mobile phone products.
The largest identity fraud rises were seen in bank accounts (over 63,000 cases representing a 10% uplift) and insurance (rising 26% with more than 16,000 cases).
There were more than 106,000 misuse of facility cases recorded to the NFD in 2025 – a 43% increase compared to 2024, marking one of the sharpest rises across all fraud types.
In addition, over 22,000 cases were recorded by Cifas members following the introduction of a new money mule filing category. These cases impact not only personal and business bank accounts, but an expanding range of other financial facilities such as personal credit cards, pre-paid cards and money transfer accounts
Money muling remains a persistent and evolving threat particularly across social media with criminal recruitment tactics and lures including job scams, ‘business opportunities’ and even overpaying sellers for items via online marketplaces.
Stephen Dalton, Director of Intelligence, at Cifas, commented: “Rising cases reflect both the scale of offending and improved reporting by organisations. Criminals are shifting to more subtle methods such as credential stuffing, SIM swaps, and gradual profile changes, to evade detection.
“We anticipate more use of AI to personalise attacks and build credible, long-term profiles – reinforcing the need for cross-sector collaboration to spot patterns earlier.”
Nick Sharp, Deputy Director of Fraud at the National Crime Agency (NCA), added: “Fraud now makes up 45% of all crime in England and Wales and we are all too aware of the devastating harm it causes to victims. This is why it is recognised as a National Security and Serious Organised Crime risk in the UK.
“The NCA is continuing to strengthen its leadership and response to the threat of fraud, with convictions by UK law enforcement up 27% since 2022 and increasing examples of international engagement helping increase our ability to tackle the problem when it comes from overseas.
“Fraudscape continues to be an invaluable source of information and intelligence that helps us maximise our understanding of the threat and where we can best direct our operational efforts.”
Police Scotland is facing a £66,000 fine and a reprimand from the Information Commissioner’s Office over failures in the handling of sensitive personal information.
The ICO’s investigation into the force found that Police Scotland extracted the entire contents of a person’s mobile phone after they reported an alleged crime, without ensuring there were sufficient safeguards to prevent access to irrelevant personal information.
As a result, officers collected a substantial volume of highly sensitive information, much of which had no bearing on the investigation, the ICO found.
Police Scotland subsequently included the full unredacted content into a misconduct disclosure bundle and shared it with a third party who should not have received it.
The ICO determined that appropriate review, redaction and security procedures were not in place, and that staff were neither adequately guided nor supported by effective organisational controls.
The ICO concluded that Police Scotland failed to implement appropriate organisational and technical measures to ensure data security, as well as limit personal information sharing to what was strictly necessary.
Police Scotland was also found to not have ensured staff handling sensitive information were following clear guidance and procedures, as well as report the personal data breach to the ICO within the legally required 72-hours timeframe.
“At its heart, data protection is about people, and this incident is a stark example of the devastating consequences of poor data protection practices on individuals,” Sally-Anne Poole, ICO Head of Investigations, said.
“Police Scotland failed in its obligation to safeguard the personal information of someone who had reached out to them for help. Instead, they exposed them to further risk and distress by disclosing highly sensitive information to a third party.
“People should be able to trust that organisations will treat their personal information with care, fairness and respect. When organisations fail to do so, they can expect enforcement action from us.”
The cyber fallout from the conflict prompted by US and Israeli strikes on Iran is here.
Hacktivist groups and state-backed threat actors are now claiming responsibility for various cyber-attacks as the Middle East conflict seeps into the cyber sphere, according to analysis from Proofpoint.
While Proofpoint researchers admit that it is unclear how Iranian cyber operations will proceed – it only observed one targeted attack from an Iranian group since the start of the recent military campaign – researchers are seeing an increase in campaigns from other state-backed groups.
Known groups and previously unseen groups alike took advantage of the global dissary – Proofpoint researchers suspect that China, Belarus, Pakistan, and Hamas were behind some of the operations.
Groups leveraged interest in the ongoing conflict as an alluring subject to reel targets in, often using compromised accounts of government authorities for phishing email campaigns.
Analysts at Proofpoint see organisations taking advantage of the current conflict to carry out ongoing operations as well as expanding their espionage and information gathering concerning key entities in the region.
A group potentially aligned with China conducted a phishing campaign targeting governments in the Middle East by leveraging supposed information about Ayatollah Khamenei’s death, as well as further military operations by the US in Iran. Threat actors claimed to have “secret on-site images” from the US Department of Foreign Affairs.
A different group which goes by the names Frankenstein and Cruel Jackal targeting a government organisation in the Middle East using a compromised email from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq. The phishing email referenced a potential US ground operation in Iran and other attention-grabbing lures routed in the conflict.
A threat actor group potentially aligned with Pakistan targeted India-based offices in the Middle East, impersonating India’s Ministry of External Affairs, with a subject line: Gulf Security Alert: Iran Retaliation Impacts.
Other cyber operations followed a similar pattern, with threat actors leveraging compromised government emails or impersonating authorities, luring in targets with information or updates on the evolving conflict.
Finally, an Iranian-aligned threat actor, Charming Kitten, targeted an individual at a US thinktank, though the original targeting occurred prior to the war beginning. However, the campaign continued during the conflict, showing that Iran is still capable of cyber espionage.
The emails built up a rapport with the target by inviting them to speak on an air defense roundtable, only then to invite them with a malicious PDF link.
“While several of these groups incorporated the war-themed lure content in operations that are largely consistent with typical targeting remits, others demonstrated a shift toward intelligence collection against Middle Eastern government and diplomatic entities,” Proofpoint said.
The appointment comes as the Summit prepares for its most ambitious edition yet, transforming from a single-city event into a multi-city festival running 26–30 October 2026, bringing conversations about inclusive growth directly to communities across Scotland—from the central belt to the Highlands and beyond.
Under the theme Navigating Disruption: All Scotland’s Talent at the Helm,”SEMTSF 2026 will challenge decision-makers in government, finance, energy, health, housing, and technology to harness Scotland’s full talent spectrum as a strategic advantage during uncertain times.
“Disruption waits for no one. Six years ago, we started a conversation about what Scotland’s talent pipeline could look like if nobody was left out,” Fash Fasoro, CEO of The DataKirk, said.
“That conversation became a movement. Now, with Linda steering this ship, we’re proving that inclusion isn’t a side event – it’s the main stage. When every voice steers, every community moves forward.”
Linda Scott, Chair, SEMTSF 2026, and CEO, West Lothian Chambers of Commerce: “Having steered businesses through choppy waters for years, I know that diversity isn’t just good ethics. It’s good economics.
“This Summit will give Scotland’s leaders the evidence, networks, and frameworks they need to turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s opportunities. The time for talking is over. This is about delivery.”
Last year’s Summit drew 505 delegates, 61% of them women, establishing SEMTSF as Scotland’s premier platform for ethnic minority talent development. The 2026 expansion reflects growing demand from organisations seeking practical frameworks for inclusive growth.
The DataKirk is working with strategic partners including to ensure the Summit addresses the full spectrum of talent mobility and workforce development challenges facing Scottish employers.
Scotland’s decision-makers whether in boardrooms or government departments, are invited to participate as attendees, speakers, sponsors, or partners.
Cybersecurity expertise has risen to the forefront of the UK’s technology hiring agenda, becoming the most sought‑after and among the highest‑paid technical skill sets.
Amid intensifying cyber incidents and mounting regulatory pressure, businesses are offering salary premiums to compete for a limited pool of qualified security professionals according to new research from global talent solutions firm Robert Half.
The firm’s latest data reveals intensifying pressure on the UK tech talent market, with cybersecurity emerging as the single highest priority skill set for employers, cited by 48% of technology leaders.
This is matched by strong hiring intent: 44% of companies plan to recruit for cybersecurity and IT security roles within the next six months, outpacing all other technical specialities.
Skills Shortages Drive Salary Premiums
As the talent gap widens, Robert Half’s data reveals that employers are relying on premium pay packets to attract talent.
The findings show that 44% of employers report cybersecurity skills as a primary driver of salary increases within their IT functions.
This mirrors global trends, with the World Economic Forum estimating a worldwide shortage of more than four million cybersecurity professionals, fuelling competition and inflating salaries as employers try to secure scarce expertise.
However, with demand far outstripping supply, employers are being forced to rethink how they attract, develop and retain critical security talent.
Roles in Cyber
Robert Half’s proprietary job posting database reveals strong growth in the UK cybersecurity job market in the past year, with more than 6,000 new security roles advertised nationwide, a 14% increase over the previous year.
Demand was highest for Information Security Analysts, with more than 3,100 new vacancies, reflecting a significant (29%) year‑on‑year rise. The role of Information Security Manager also remained in strong demand, with over 1,300 new postings and an 8% year-on-year increase.
The UK’s leading hubs for cybersecurity hiring in the past year were London (over 2,200 new roles), Manchester (around 450 roles), Bristol (around 350 roles), and Birmingham (around 350 roles), underlining ongoing demand for specialist security talent across both major metropolitan and regional markets.
“Cybersecurity has become mission‑critical for every business, but the demand for skilled professionals has grown far faster than the available talent pipeline,” Craig Freedberg, Regional Director at Robert Half said.
“While employers are increasingly turning to premium salaries to compete, pay alone is not a sustainable long-term solution.
“To attract and retain cybersecurity specialists, businesses need to focus on comprehensive, value‑rich employment packages that go beyond compensation, including career development, continuous training, meaningful work and flexible working options. This becomes even more important when considering future talent pipelines.
“Our 2026 Salary Guide research shows that when salary increases aren’t available, professionals place a high value on structured professional development opportunities. Investing in skills growth will not only strengthen retention today, but it will also help secure the cybersecurity capabilities businesses will urgently need tomorrow.”
Meta’s Oversight Board is calling on the firm to do more to prevent the spread of misinformation across its platforms after an AI-generated video claimed to show footage of the current conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran.
The Oversight Board specifically chastised the firm for leaving up a video that claimed to show damage enacted by Iranian forces on an Israeli city, which was actually generated by AI.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has seen rampant misinformation and disinformation proliferate online, and social media profiles share either AI-generated content or content from other conflicts claiming to show current events.
The board is calling on Meta to overhaul its AI rules to halt the “proliferation” of fake AI-generated content which “challenged the public’s ability to distinguish fabrication from fact” which is says is “risking a general distrust of all information.”
In response, Meta said that it would label the video as AI within seven days.
The Board, which is semi-independent from Meta and tasked with supervising content moderation across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The recent issue concerning the AI-generated video is a mere reflection of “inefficiencies in Meta’s current approach during armed conflicts,” the board said.
It has said that Meta should “much more frequently” label AI content proactively, instead of relying on “self-disclosure” or user complaints, which is its current approach.
It called Meta’s current approach “neither robust nor comprehensive enough to contend with the scale and velocity of AI-generated content, particularly during a crisis or conflict where there is heightened engagement on the platform.”
Previous issues of AI-generated content concerning conflict and war had raised alarm bells to the Oversight Board, which found that Meta had neglected to act on user complaints until the issue was raised specifically to the Board.
The Oversight Board found that Meta’s defence, saying that content did not “directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm” to be an unrealistic and overly high bar for content removal.
Meta has responded to the Board’s insistence it must “do more to address the proliferation of deceptive AI-generated content on its platforms”, saying that it will follow the board’s suggestions in a statement.
However, Meta said that it would follow the Board on cases with “identical content” concerning the “same context” as the video the board had analysed.
A BBC Wales investigation recently revealed deepfake content farms were spreading misinformation surrounding UK politics proliferating across social media sites.
The UK economy could gain more than £8.6 billion if gigabit-capable broadband connectivity was available to every home and business that currently lacks access, according to new economic modelling.
The independent analysis by specialist digital infrastructure consultancy FarrPoint suggests that widespread gigabit connectivity could also help create or sustain more than 156,000 jobs and support over 13,000 businesses.
Economists at FarrPoint estimate that the largest single benefit would come from a £4.8 billion uplift in land values, reflecting the significant impact that high quality digital infrastructure can have on property values and investment in both urban and rural communities.
The findings come as the UK continues its rollout of next-generation broadband infrastructure through initiatives such as Project Gigabit, the UK Government’s £5 billion programme designed to expand gigabit-capable connectivity into rural and hard to reach areas where commercial investment alone is unlikely to deliver coverage.
Despite this progress, gaps remain in coverage across the UK, particularly in remote regions.
“Digital connectivity is now as fundamental to economic development as roads, rail or energy infrastructure. It underpins how modern businesses operate, how communities access services and how regions compete for investment,” Matthew Izatt Lowry, Head of Economics at FarrPoint, said.
“High capacity, reliable networks enable companies to adopt cloud services, harness data, embrace automation and reach customers far beyond their local markets. They also support flexible working, digital public services and the growth of emerging sectors such as fintech, advanced manufacturing and the creative industries.
“Improved connectivity would enable smaller firms to scale more quickly, attract new enterprises to towns and rural areas that have historically been overlooked and give existing employers the infrastructure they need to innovate and grow.”
To emphasise the importance of targeted public investment, FarrPoint has created a Digital Intervention Impact Forecaster platform which allows public bodies to model the economic outcomes of investments and identify where funding is likely to deliver the greatest return.
The platform can help decision makers assess whether investment should prioritise infrastructure measures such as fixed broadband, mobile connectivity or alternative solutions such as satellite, or inclusion projects like skills training and device support. These assessments are dependent on the specific needs of a region.
“The final stages of connectivity rollout are often the most complex and expensive,” continues Matthew. “As commercially-led broadband deployment begins to slow in some areas, FarrPoint believes that targeted public intervention will become increasingly important to ensure that communities and businesses are not left behind in the UK’s digital economy.”
Gigabit connectivity, delivered through fibre networks, enables reliable, high data speeds and low latency. These capabilities are increasingly vital for sectors which rely on transferring large volumes of data or collaborating in real time, such as advanced manufacturing, software development, engineering and healthcare.
FarrPoint’s analysis indicates that the economic benefits of closing the connectivity gap would extend beyond business productivity. Over a 15-year period, improved connectivity could also contribute to reductions in public sector costs, lower carbon emissions through reduced travel and measurable improvements in social wellbeing.
The use of AI in education that lacks evidential and scientific rigour puts children’s learning development at risk, according to a new white paper from Explore Learning.
While acknowledging the huge opportunity provided by AI, the report also highlights the risks of overreliance, including reduced critical thinking and cognitive fixation, and the potential for the technology to undermine confidence and inhibit the development of self-regulation in younger learners.
The report details best practices for implementing AI in education. It advocates for this technology to be grounded in educational theory to provide a richer, more accurate understanding of a child’s current learning level, enabling true personalised learning.
With the UK education system facing significant structural challenges amid increasing pressure to meet the diverse needs of its students, the white paper finds that a blended approach of technology combined with human educators can provide critical support.
As the government takes an increasingly active role in shaping AI’s integration into education, the report is a timely contribution to the discussion on the key issues affecting the future of learning in the UK.
Support for the 1.7 million children with SEND in the UK is already at capacity, as Explore Learning saw, with a 35% increase in children with SEND accessing its tuition in 2025 compared to 2024. The white paper outlines the significant potential of evidence-based systems to bridge the support gap through early signal detection, adaptive scaffolding, and pattern recognition across populations.
While technology demonstrates strong positive effects on foundational skills, it risks eroding the higher-order cognition that education exists to develop.
Humans must lead in areas where AI poses risks; no algorithm is perfect, and human involvement is critical to mitigate the impact of false positives and negatives.
The most effective EdTechs recognise technology’s limitations and position themselves as augmenting, not replacing, human relationships.
While the influx of investment from venture capital (VC) funds has stimulated innovation, the 5-7-year return most VCs expect does not support responsible development, which requires patience and rigour.
This can put pressure on product tech teams to demonstrate immediate, measurable impact. This results in “metric fixation”; the reduction of education to easily quantifiable outcomes.
“The UK’s education system is under greater pressure than ever, and AI has significant potential to alleviate these challenges, but only when backed by strong evidence and proven to improve outcomes, with the same rigour we expect of any educational intervention,” Lisa Haycox, CEO, Explore Learning, said.
“The research is clear: poorly designed tools risk a mirage of false mastery, where short-term gains disappear when the technology is removed.
“We cannot forfeit children’s futures for hype, and we should continue to encourage healthy debate to guard against this, while embracing the full potential of transformative technology. At Explore Learning, our approach is built on a foundational conviction: personalisation requires a genuine understanding of each learner.”
While a ban may be soon on the horizon, efforts for early implementation have been squashed as MPs voted down an amendment that would have banned social media for under-16s.
The Conservative-backed amendment was aiming to be added into the government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, but was struck down in the House of Commons by 307 to 173 votes.
The failed amendment comes as debate surrounding an under 16s ban on social media heats up. The UK government released a consultation on the matter, which seeks to gain public opinion on a ban rollout.
Australia, however, has already implemented its ban, and took it even further this week, banning under 16s from accessing explicit video games or adult websites.
The Labour government has been accused of “dither and delay” in the matter as it has neglected to commit to any formal ban or legislation as the consultation is out.
Opposition parties, including the Conservatives and the LibDems, are pressuring the government to act now, rather than wait for the consultation, when it comes to an under 16s ban.
Debates surrounding the amendment included concerns from parents who need guidance and help in ensuring their children stay safe on the internet, and counters from children’s charities that overregulation could push young people to darker corners of the internet.
About seven in ten (72%) of women in cyber describe the industry as a welcoming career path for women in their country or region, ISC2 found, a major endorsement for the sector which faces a staggering gender gap.
ISC2 based this research on a survey of over 2,600 women in the cyber industry, examining their perceptions on the sector.
The report found that women reported better job satisfaction (71%) this year than last year (67%).
However, women were more likely than men to report that their organisations experienced security layoffs in the past 12 months (28% vs 23%).
Inequalities in the industry persisted: A third (34%) of women said pay or promotion inequity had prevented them from moving forward, compared to 19% of men.
Further, nearly half of women (45%) identified work-life balance or caregiving demands as the top challenge to staying and advancing in cybersecurity, compared to 29% of men
Two in five men participants (42%) said they were unaware of any challenges or had not observed any significant barriers for women, a figure 2.5 times higher than what was reported by women participants (17%).
The National Physical Laboratory’s (NPL), National Timing Centre (NTC), has received £180 million investment from the UK government for an atomic clock.
The NTC is a major programme led by NPL that is responsible for developing the UK’s first nationally distributed timing infrastructure. An assured and trusted timekeeping source will support many aspects of UK industry, which increasingly require precise and synchronised time.
The NTC programme will enable the UK to accelerate innovation of new technologies, such as 5G / 6G applications, smart cities and connected autonomous vehicles. It will ensure industries are future-ready with accurate and reliable time, providing confidence in the continuity of everyday services.
Atomic clocks generate an exceptionally accurate time signal and are at the heart of the NTC. They will be deployed in sites across the UK to create a resilient time source that is kept accurate using state-of-the-art caesium clocks; so accurate that it would take 160 million years for them to drift by just one second.
This resilient time source will become our national time scale, UTC(NPL). An outage of satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services could cost the UK over £1.4 billion in just 24 hours. A robust safety net will not only strengthen the UK’s security but also safeguard the economy.
This £180 million funding supports the delivery of the next phase of the NTC programme, building on a successful R&D phase.
Two dedicated sites will harness the power of atomic clocks to share signals via fibre and satellites – providing the UK with terrestrial time to complement satellite timing signals. The NTC will also invest in both the UK supply chain for essential timing components, and the vital timing skills the NTC needs.
Dr Peter Thompson, CBE, CEO of NPL said: “At NPL we are proud to be leading the way in providing trusted and assured timing to protect and enhance the UK’s digital infrastructure. This funding ensures the NTC programme can deliver huge benefits to industry and the economy, whilst underpinning secure applications in the future.”
Science minister Lord Vallance said: “Accurate timekeeping is about more than just keeping the clocks ticking, it is fundamental to keeping the country running – from banking and staying in touch with friends and family through to our emergency services having the information they need.
“The systems we rely on today are increasingly vulnerable to disruption, which is why we’re acting now to strengthen the infrastructure we rely on every day. This project will give us a safety net that will help protect our national security, safeguard our economy, and give people the confidence they need to go about their daily lives.”
Grok is coming under fire yet again, with a new trend of users asking the xAI chatbot to generate racist and vulgar posts in the UK.
Analysis of the chatbot’s responses by Sky News, which were posted on X, show disparaging and racist remarks were generated by the chatbot, particularly directed at Muslims and Hindus.
Grok was found to not only generate racist and vulgar language when prompted by users, but also provided factual inaccuracies, stoking further tensions, particularly surrounding UK football.
For instance, Grok was found to have blamed Liverpool FC fans for the deadly Hillsborough disaster, even though a 2016 inquest found fans to have been unlawfully killed by police in the incident.
Further, when a Celtic FC-branded account asked for Grok to generate vulgar insults towards Rangers, the chatbot blamed the rival Glasgow football team for the Ibrox stadium disaster in 1971, which led to 66 deaths.
Sky News says that it has seen requests for other vulgar comments go unanswered, which indicates that Grok may be restricted against responding to or creating offensive answers to certain prompts.
X, formally known as Twitter and owner of xAI, is no stranger to stoking tension in the UK – the social media site was found to have acted as a major spreader of misinformation which led to the racist-motivated UK riots that rocked England in the summer of 2024, according to research from Amnesty International.
Despite inquiries into the 2024 riots showing that social media sites such as X played a significant role, Grok does not appear to be backing down.
In response to users complaining about the claims made against Liverpool football fans, Grok said: “This doesn’t qualify as hate speech under UK law. Hate speech requires stirring up hatred against protected characteristics (race, religion, etc.). Football club fans aren’t protected.”
Elon Musk, owner of X and xAI, posted on the social media site on Sunday: “Only Grok speaks the truth. Only truthful AI is safe.”
The new scandal comes mere weeks after X faces an investigation into the spreading of AI-generated sexualised deepfakes powered by Grok’s ‘spicy mode.’ Images were often non-consensual, and allegedly included those of children.
This year has been one of transformation for tech. Entry-level roles are at risk, the industry continues to reel from AI as the investment bubble threatens to burst, cyber-attacks hit supermarket shelves, online safety came into law, and social media faces landmark civil suits.
But when it comes to women in tech, it seems things have stagnated, at best. The most recent LoveLace report shows that in the UK, women make up only a fifth of the tech sector, with the percentage tapering off at top roles.
Each year, around 40,000 women leave tech roles, cyber still faces a debilitating gender gap, and women are still routinely left out of lucrative AI funding rounds.
As AI takes hold, cyber-attacks permeate the everyday, and tech regulation and policies continue to affect people more personally, it is increasingly vital that women play a larger role in tech’s transformation.
This International Women’s Day has a theme of Give to Gain; it focuses on mentorship, allyship, and support from communities, individuals, and organisations to promote gender equality.
To reflect on women in tech this IWD, DIGIT heard from a range of accomplished women in the industry who provided candid experiences and advice to highlight the importance of gender diversity and equality in tech.
On: Give to Gain
This year’s theme focuses on community and culture – individual actions and success matters, but in the grand scheme of things, grassroots, organisational-level efforts will see the biggest difference in gender diversity progress.
Samantha Wessels, President EMEA, Box:
“This year’s International Women’s Day theme, ‘Give to Gain’, is a reminder that progress is about bonding with your community. To promote fairness and equality within the workplace, you need to take an active role in advocating for change, communicating and knowledge-sharing. Diversity and inclusion doesn’t happen simply over time. It happens when people and organisations choose to invest in each other. When companies promote trust, opportunity and real allyship, they gain stronger teams, better ideas and cultures where people actually want to stay and grow.
“Within industry, it’s about the everyday actions: amplifying someone’s voice in a meeting, sponsoring emerging talent, creating space for flexibility, and being intentional about who gets visibility and stretch opportunities. Small, consistent acts of support compound over years. And if businesses want to move the needle on equity, it starts with constructing open forums and environments where people genuinely feel they belong and can show up fully as themselves.
“That means listening, backing up values with action, and recognising that inclusion isn’t a side initiative, it’s a business advantage. At Box, we try to live that through our employee communities, mentorship focuses, and everyday allyship, creating spaces where people can connect, support one another and grow together.”
Kayleigh Davies, Auction Expert at Auctionet:
“This year’s theme of ‘Give to Gain’ particularly resonates because when organisations and communities invest intentionally in women through trust and opportunity, it results in a more resilient business and better pathways of progression for women. I’ve been fortunate to work for supportive organisations that value my expertise.
“Working at a progressive Swedish company has shown me how, when given support and opportunities, women can thrive in industries that are typically male dominated. It sadly also opened my eyes to how much further the UK still has to go. Women’s careers are more likely to be affected by life stages and caring responsibilities, and while I have been able to continue progressing after having children, the fact that this feels like good fortune rather than the norm speaks volumes. I know many women in our sector who haven’t had the same experience.
“International Women’s Day should remind us that when organisations commit to supporting women throughout the year and promote a culture of genuine diversity, the impact can benefit everyone.”
Lacey Firestone, Managing Partner and Executive Sponsor of Kyndryl UK&I’s Women’s KIN:
“This International Women’s Day, ‘give to gain’ reminds us that we should recalibrate around communities. Gender equity is not a finite resource, it expands when we invest in one another. Every time we mentor, advocate, amplify a voice, share knowledge or open a door, we create momentum. And when women are empowered in their roles, you create a curious, inquisitive culture that delivers real positive impacts on the bottom line.
“Behaviour change can revert over time, but cultural change sticks, and companies that focus on culture shifts grow more than four times faster (42.2%) than those that prioritise short-term behaviour changes. This is why sustained focus around ‘Give to Gain’ challenges us to move beyond awareness into impact. What can we contribute: time, sponsorship, visibility, access, education or opportunity? Progress is built through consistent, collective generosity. When reciprocity is embedded into how we work and lead, we unlock potential that otherwise remains untapped.
Ülane Vilumets, Head of Business Development at e‑Residency:
“This year’s International Women’s Day theme, Give to Gain, is a timely reminder that where we direct resources today shapes tomorrow’s economy.
“With 89% of women entrepreneurs considering major strategic moves – from targeting new customer segments to grow their addressable audience, to expanding the physical presence of their businesses within the UK – the ambition is already there, it’s the surrounding systems that need to catch up.
“For many women entrepreneurs, particularly mothers, time is the scarcest resource. Smart use of technology can give some of that time back: automating admin, enabling work from anywhere, and opening access to global customers beyond local networks. At e‑Residency, we see that when the business environment is digital, flexible and borderless, women can build on their own terms and still think globally.
“Real commitment to Give to Gain shows up in practical support: funding pathways, childcare, flexible systems, mentorship and visibility. As a mother of four, I appreciate first-hand how vital these support structures are. The ecosystems that redesign around women founders will be the ones that unlock the next wave of innovation.”
A Reality Check
While community focused initiatives are positive, International Women’s Day is in its 115th year; is this year, with all of its progress yet persistent difficulties for women, a wake-up call for tech?
Meryem Habibi, Chief Revenue Officer at Bitpace:
“International Women’s Day is both a celebration and a reality check. We should celebrate the progress women have made in leadership while also recognising there is still significant work to do. McKinsey’s “Women in the Workplace 2025” report highlights that women make up nearly half (46%) of entry level roles in technology, yet hold just a quarter (25%) of C-suite positions. Progress is trickling through, but not fast enough and we need to do more to break through glass ceilings.”
“In financial services and crypto, diversity is about building better systems, and this is done by people from all backgrounds and different perspectives coming together. Stablecoins and decentralised finance are transforming global commerce, particularly in emerging markets where traditional banking has often failed businesses. We need leaders from diverse backgrounds driving financial inclusion, because inclusive services are built on diverse thinking.”
“As a woman leader in this space, I am acutely aware of how few women occupy senior roles. Early in my career, I rarely saw leaders who reflected my own path. That experience has shaped my commitment to visibility and mentorship, to boost women’s representation in boardrooms and decision-making roles. To truly make an impact, as leaders, we have a responsibility to mentor deliberately, challenge structural barriers and create environments where talent from different backgrounds can thrive. If fintech is about removing barriers to financial inclusion, we must also remove the barriers limiting who shapes its future. I do not just want a seat at the table, but I want to give to gain, to expand the table for those following behind me.”
Martha Peterson, Security Incident Program Manager at Pipedrive:
“Gender equality in tech doesn’t fail because we lack ambition or ability. It fails when progress is treated as optional, slow or symbolic. Accelerating action means being willing to give a little extra time and thought into challenging the systems and assumptions that still decide who is seen, heard and trusted to lead.”
“You can’t be what you can’t see, and representation across leadership, technical roles and decision-making tables continues to shape who feels welcome in this industry. But action matters more. That’s why we need structures that empower voices, encourage allyship and turn intent into impact.”
“That’s why action inside the workplace matters. Through our support of the ‘Orange the World’ movement against gender-based violence, we’ve reinforced our commitment to long-term change, including the launch of Pipedrive’s Women’s Employee Resource Group. This ERG is designed to help turn intent into impact by amplifying women’s voices, empowering allies and pushing for practical steps that support gender equity. Working alongside our Men’s ERG and wider community initiatives, it’s helping build a stronger, safer and more inclusive environment for everyone. Accelerating progress means acting now and acting together.”
Camellia Chan, CEO and Co-founder, X-PHY:
‘‘International Women’s Day is a reminder that inclusion isn’t built through slogans or grand gestures. It’s built through systems that help people grow. And with recent reports showing that jobs traditionally done by women are more vulnerable to the impact of artificial intelligence, the importance of empowering women has never been greater.
‘‘In tech and cybersecurity, we often focus on whether women ‘belong.’ However, to really understand what makes women thrive, we need to question whether organisations are creating the conditions for them to lead – through mentorship, peer learning, and real access to emerging tools like AI.
‘‘In practice, that means moving beyond generic training recommendations and instead building in structured learning time and support to help all employees remain competitive in a rapidly changing world of work. Instead of allowing disruption to deepen existing gender gaps, businesses must create environments where women grow alongside the AI boom.’’
“International Women’s Day is important because, none of the progress women have made just happened on its own; people fought for it, repeatedly. I’m glad to be at a company that walks the talk on diversity, not just words on a site, but real opportunities and listening to different perspectives. In tech especially, getting judged on your work instead of who you are is rare, and it makes all the difference. More places need to catch up.
“On International Women’s Day, I take a moment to reflect on the people, my mentors, colleagues, and managers who’ve opened doors or backed me up when it counted. And I check that I’m doing my part to pay it forward. Whether that’s making an intro, giving a straight-up endorsement, or just telling someone they’ve got what it takes. Small moves can shift someone’s trajectory in this field.”
Jennifer Rojas, Director of Operations / Directrice des opérations, Leaseweb Canada:
“International Women’s Day is important, but I also think it’s a little uncomfortable on purpose, it forces people to admit we’re not ‘done’ yet just because there are more women in the room. I’m genuinely grateful to work at a company that doesn’t treat diversity like a PR box to check, but as something that actually makes the work stronger and the culture better, even when that means hard conversations.
“One of the best pieces of advice I ever got and now I give as well is, ‘Stop waiting for permission…’ Most of the time, it’s never coming. Growth rarely arrives as a formal invitation; more often, opportunities are claimed long before they are officially granted.
“Another piece of advice that I now give as well is, ‘Surround yourself with people who will both champion your work and challenge your thinking…” Real growth happens when you are supported and stretched at the same time, not when you stay where it’s comfortable.”
Despite persistent challenges and setbacks, women leaders in tech are still looking to the future, not just in terms of technological advancements, but in promoting better gender parity in the industry.
Mandi Walls, DevOps Advocate at PagerDuty:
“Collaboration is the key to success. Software development is a team game and so is gender equality. Within my own area in the software industry, a diversity of experiences and voices is critical for creating products that work for all kinds of people in real situations. Great businesses encourage this through town halls, employee resource groups and initiatives that foster successful cultures based on diverse strengths and abilities.”
“While IWD may be about women, the goal at its heart is to make a stronger, fairer world that benefits everyone across their work and throughout society in general. Where businesses can stand out is acting as a lever, propelling greater opportunities and advancement in areas that have traditionally lacked female engagement and empowerment.”
“This year’s IWD mantra of ‘Give to gain’ is especially fitting. What we share, we get back. If we want stronger, more experienced teams, more profitable businesses, and a fairer society, then we need to be intentional in our reciprocity.”
Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer at Coursera:
“It’s critical that we empower women to develop the combination of technical and human skills required to enjoy the benefits promised by the AI economy. As human-in-the-loop processes continue to be imperative for effective AI deployment, learners who nurture exceptional critical thinking skills will be rewarded in their personal and professional lives. With sustained deliberate investment and targeted support, we can provide better access to GenAI upskilling for women, to scale skills more equitably and effectively, ensuring momentum translates into lasting outcomes for all.”
Jamie Hawkins, Marketing Director, DH2i:
“For me, International Women’s Day serves as a meaningful reminder that diversity isn’t just a policies and regulations check-box. It truly drives innovation and growth. When a team is made up of people that bring different experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds to the discussion, the team is able to challenge assumptions, better understand the communities they serve – or wish to serve, and generate stronger ideas. While it may take a tad more effort and intention to align the team, the outcome is almost always more innovative and ultimately… more impactful.
“I hope that you, like I do, on this International Women’s Day – and every day for that matter, continue to help build workplaces where talent and hard work are recognized, potential is nurtured, and everyone has access to opportunities. If you are a leader… in a hiring position, please be intentional about creating pathways for diverse talent to thrive. And, if you are not a leader or in a hiring role, you can still make a difference! You can mentor, advocate, amplify voices, and foster environments where everyone feels valued and empowered to contribute.
“When people have the opportunity to succeed (or fail) based only upon their own true merits, and not a ‘box’ in which they are thought to fit, no surprise, that’s when true progress happens!”
Transformation is in the air: Buds of spring are permeating through the frost, the sun is shining on Scotland again, and IT service management is evolving into enterprise service management.
No longer is automation, data analytics, and technical solutions siloed to the IT teams servicing large and small organisations – entire enterprises are seeing their departments revamped with incoming technology and knowledge bases, updated security protocols, automation and of course, AI.
But how does a team transform an entire enterprise for the modern age, ensuring smooth onboarding, swift implementation, and overall optimisation?
Kenny Anderson, Senior Business Consultant, CGI, told a packed Dynamic Earth at DIGIT’s ITSX Summit about his on the ground experience of enabling ESM, with dos and don’ts grounded in experience with large organisations such as the University of Strathclyde.
The first thing Anderson reminded the crowd was that you cannot do ESM by yourself. Support is vital, from existing IT teams, from onboarded agents, and external partners.
This starts by slowly building a community, split into four steps.
Building Your ESM Case
First, identify the team that will be onboarded onto the new ESM system.
Finding these people, however, is not enough, Anderson recommends that before you even begin to build your business case, you start by winning them over.
This means going to an organisation, holding a session where the product – and all it can do for an organisation to streamline tasks and save time – is shown off.
“I’ve had thirty minute sessions run into 90 minute sessions just from people asking questions about what the system can do,” Anderson said. This sparked curiosity identifies and highlights internal pain points in an organisation, which a vendor can use to preemptively tailor their business case.
“Show them what they don’t have, and what you can do for them,” Anderson said.
Showing what ESM can do for an organisation will quickly “convert your agents into advocates.”
Examples for organisations, especially for people who “live in their inbox” which presents ESM as a revolutionary tool, ranges from allowing customers to have one point of contact, to tracking analytics to provide insights routed in data rather than inferences.
Then, you can move onto onboarding.
Anderson presented this process in three stages: crawl, walk, run.
Crawl
Change can be confronting, uncomfortable, and scary – people may remain resistant, hesitant, and overwhelmed.
Starting at a snail’s pace will allow teams to slowly adopt new tools and processes, and quickly see the benefits, allowing excitement to build as small changes progress to larger transformation.
“Don’t overburden your team on the first day,” Anderson said. “Start small, and give them very basic solutions to their problems.”
As a team gets to grips with crawling, their workflow will transform, and so will their needs.
Walk
Once a team has their basics down, it’s time to learn to walk.
“When a team has matured, it’s time to bring in some analytics, help employees see what they are working on, what their pain points are, and identify common trends,” Anderson said.
This is where onboarded teams can start to work more closely with the IT team and the ESM vendor in developing solutions and adopting new tools.
At a walk stage, you can introduce automation and AI as employees identify trends. Organisations can generate a knowledge base, streamline processes, and introduce automation capabilities.
Now, We Run
Anderson knew that what he said next would make some IT manager’s hair stand, but at this stage, he thinks administrators in an onboarded team should be given access to the sandbox.
“Don’t let them sink!” he warmed.
“Let them play with it and they can start to help find solutions, rather than keep bringing you problems.”
This stage is about letting the teams themselves run with their workplace ESM transformation.
Empowerment and engagement plays dividends, according to Anderson. Enabling employees to develop their own technical vocabulary and abilities can help them identify not just more problems, but more solutions.
These also create further ESM opportunities, as agents evolve into ESM advocates, ushering in transformation efforts in other departments and organisations.
Throughout his talk Anderson returned to core values of collaboration, listening, and empowerment to truly create not just an ESM system, but an ESM environment.
In doing so, attitude is everything. Being an IT person is different from non-technical workers. Adapting your language and explaining the why – why a technology is being adopted, why a system is changing – is key to developing a trusting relationship with agents.
“Stress the fact that every change is for a reason – the reason is to make life easier, and no one can argue with that,” Anderson said.
For creating an ESM ecosystem, empowering employees through mutuality is vital.
“The people using the tool need to feel they are able to come to you with pain points,” Anderson said.
“Only then will they move from agents to advocates.”
Anderson has seen this happen in practice – he’s had administrators join him in sessions just like these to tout the success of their ESM transition.
This is where building a community comes in; as DIGIT events often offer, the ability to share stories, tips, tricks, challenges and solutions can be vital in enhancing knowledge and bridging gaps.
Anderson encourages building similar forums within your organisation; having monthly or quarterly sessions with agents about what’s changing and what workers want has allowed for open discussion and ad hoc solution building.
“It’s about agents taking ownership and really engaging,” Anderson said. “That’s how you get new people on board.”
Two fifths (42%) of organisations reported an increase in malicious insider incidents over the past year, with the same amount reporting a rise in negligent incidents for the first time.
This is according to Mimecast’s State of Human Risk Report, which found that this parity marks a fundamental shift in enterprise security where intentional betrayal by employees rivals accidental mistakes as a primary security concern.
Organisations reporting increases in malicious insider concerns jumped nearly 10 percentage points over two years up from 33% in 2024 to 42% in 2026.
The study of 2,500 IT security and IT decision makers across nine countries also quantifies the financial toll: organisations experience an average of six insider-driven incidents per month at an estimated cost of $13.1 million per incident, while 66% expect insider-related data loss to increase over the next 12 months.
“Insider risk has become one of the most consequential and underestimated threats facing organisations today, not just because of the data loss it causes, but because attackers are increasingly exploiting insiders as a deliberate entry point to bypass perimeter defenses entirely,” said Mimecast CISO Leslie Nielsen.
“The data shows both careless mistakes and deliberate actions driving incidents in equal measure. Rather than trying to manage human behavior, organisations need adaptive controls that identify high-risk actions and adjust protections in real-time, creating friction when someone accesses data they shouldn’t, regardless of whether they have valid credentials. As AI makes it easier for insiders to exfiltrate data at scale, security must meet users at the point of risk.”
AI: The Accelerant Across an Expanding Attack Surface
The attack surface is rapidly expanding as employees work across email, GenAI platforms, and collaboration tools — yet security strategies have failed to keep pace. Native security controls are falling short: 38% of organisations rely on them exclusively for collaboration tools, even as 64% admit they are insufficient against modern threats.
At the same time, AI is emerging as a force multiplier for both external attackers and malicious insiders. Sixty-nine percent of security leaders say AI attacks are inevitable within 12 months, yet 60% are not fully prepared. Attackers use AI to recruit insiders, craft convincing social engineering attacks, and automate reconnaissance.
Governance, Visibility, and the Compliance Time Bomb
Ninety-one percent of organisations face challenges maintaining governance and compliance over communications data, limiting their ability to detect, investigate, and respond to incidents effectively. Fifty-nine percent lack confidence in quickly locating data to meet regulatory or legal requirements — a regulatory time bomb as compliance requirements intensify.
Fragmented Defences, Coordinated Threats
A dangerous irony undermines defence efforts: 65% of organisations find security tool integration too complicated, while attackers face no such constraints. Modern attack chains seamlessly combine CAPTCHA-protected phishing, embedded JavaScript, and legitimate remote management tools, exploiting the gaps between disconnected security controls.
Only 28% of organisations combine both regular security awareness training and continuous monitoring. This means when a high-risk user is identified through behavioural analytics, that intelligence doesn’t automatically trigger coordinated responses across access controls, data loss prevention, and monitoring systems.
However, those who successfully integrate are reporting dramatic benefits: 40% achieve faster threat remediation, comprehensive visibility, and improved compliance readiness. The challenge isn’t whether integration delivers value — it’s that most organisations remain constrained by tool sprawl, unable to correlate threats across email, collaboration platforms, and data repositories.
The Path Forward: Coordinating for Human Risk
Organisations can no longer treat their communication channels, collaboration platforms, and employee behaviours as isolated security concerns, nor rely on native controls that were never designed to stop human-targeted attacks at scale. Addressing human risk means meeting people where they are – in their inboxes, their workflows, and their daily decisions – with a holistic strategy that spans the full threat landscape.
Mimecast advises organisations take coordinated action across four dimensions:
Integrated visibility across all communication and collaboration channels
Behavioural analytics and security behaviour management that identify high-risk users and anomalous activity patterns while driving measurable change in how employees respond to threats
Data governance and protection that safeguards sensitive information regardless of where it resides or how it moves
Coordinated response that connects people-focused and technology-focused security controls
The UK has announced a major package of investment and reform into the UK’s space industry in an aim to make the industry competitive and agile.
The funding and reforms will be more focused on four areas that drive economic growth and national security outcomes: Satellite Communications; In Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing; Space Domain Awareness; and Launch for assured access to space.
A range of practical tools and support schemes for high-potential companies will complement the record levels of public funding available, to improve access to finance, develop the skills and talent pipeline, and ensure space regulation and standards keep pace with innovation.
Ministers are also open to using the government’s buying power to help British space firms scale faster – driving growth, boosting revenues and bolstering national security and defence.
“The government recognises that the whole of the space sector – from curiosity driven science to commercial satellite services – makes an important contribution to the UK,” space minister Liz Lloyd said.
“But to deliver growth and security for the British people, we need to take a much bolder approach to how we prioritise public funding and support.
“Our vision is clear – to make the UK a competitive, agile space power. We’re allocating £500 million today, on top of ESA funding, to drive forward our priorities and will continue to work closely with industry and investors to maximise private capital flows and unlock the full potential of commercial space.
“This is just the start, as we prepare to publish our full Plan for Space later this year.”
In addition to the £1.7 billion committed to European Space Agency (ESA) programmes in November 2025, the government is allocating more than £500 million to national space programmes:
£105 million to develop civil capabilities for in-orbit servicing and manufacturing (ISAM) – an emerging market where the UK has a strong competitive edge and opportunities to deliver significant commercial returns and strengthen national resilience
£85 million to develop the National Space Operations Centre, including £40 million to build a new ground‑based sensing network, supporting the 24/7 requirement to protect satellites and manage an increasingly crowded space environment
£80 million to deliver the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit (C-LEO) programme, including for a new £30m funding call opened today to support UK businesses developing smarter satellites, advanced hardware and AI‑enabled data delivery
£65 million for the National Space Innovation Programme to accelerate breakthrough technologies and boost commercialisation
£40 million for the Unlocking Space Programme to drive market demand for space technology, develop national security capabilities and attract private investment to support the scale up of UK firms
£37 million to develop space clusters, building on local strengths and ensuring the benefits of space reach every corner of the UK
£20 million to accelerate spaceport infrastructure development in Scotland
Scotland is playing a role in a European space mission that aims to send a reusable spacecraft into orbit and bring it safely back to Earth in 2026.
A Scottish aerospace electronics firm will supply onboard monitoring systems for the PHOENIX 2.1 mission, a reusable spacecraft designed to travel into Low Earth Orbit, operate for several weeks, and then return its cargo safely to Earth.
Edinburgh-based Aurora Avionics will provide two modular data acquisition units which will be built into the PHOENIX 2 vehicle. The spacecraft is being built by European space transportation and re-entry logistics provider ATMOS Space Cargo, which will operate the vehicle throughout the mission.
Oren Smith-Carpenter, Chief Executive of Aurora Avionics, said the partnership marks a significant step for the company as it expands into orbital missions.
“Working with ATMOS Space Cargo shows that our systems can support complex space missions that go beyond launch and into long-duration operations in orbit,” Smith-Carpenter said.
“Their vision is to enable commercial space missions that can operate independently and return safely to Earth without relying on space stations. That ambition aligns closely with our focus on delivering robust, adaptable flight systems for demanding environments.
“This contract highlights the flexibility of our technology, which is now being used not only during launch but throughout entire missions that require continuous and reliable data capture.”
PHOENIX 2 is designed to complete a full journey to space and back. It will carry out operations in orbit before returning payloads to Earth in a controlled descent, complementing existing crewed space station infrastructure.
The onboard systems supplied by Aurora Avionics will record environmental and structural information during every stage of the mission. This includes monitoring temperature, pressure and the physical stresses placed on the spacecraft, including during re-entry and recovery.
That information will help engineers validate the vehicle’s performance and support the development of future missions.
Aurora Avionics, founded in 2023, designs and manufactures modular avionics systems. Avionics are the electronic systems that control and monitor a spacecraft’s operations. Often described as the vehicle’s nervous system, they allow it to gather information, remain stable, adjust its position, manage power and communicate with Earth.
Without these systems, a spacecraft could not be guided, operated or safely recovered.
The company’s modular approach means its systems can be stacked and adapted to suit different mission needs. This allows partners such as ATMOS to tailor the technology to match specific flight profiles.
ATMOS Space Cargo, headquartered in Germany and France, is developing reusable orbital logistics platforms. Its PHOENIX 2.1 vehicle is planned to launch in 2026 as part of a wider multi-flight programme.
The aim is to create independent European capability to send scientific and industrial payloads into Low Earth Orbit and return them safely to Earth.
At present, opportunities to bring research and manufacturing payloads back from space are limited. Many missions rely on crewed space stations, including the International Space Station, which is currently planned to be decommissioned by 2030.
By developing a reusable return vehicle, ATMOS aims to address long-standing challenges in spaceflight, including limited return capacity and the high cost of one-off systems.
Aurora’s data acquisition systems will support this effort by collecting the detailed mission data required to assess vehicle performance across launch, orbital operations and return.
Designed for repeated use, the PHOENIX vehicle family is intended to reduce operational complexity and improve efficiency over time. The collaboration will support ATMOS engineers during the validation phase of the mission.
Jeffrey Hendrikse, co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of ATMOS Space Cargo, said Aurora demonstrated a clear understanding of the demanding requirements of space transportation providers.
“We needed a reliable and adaptable system that integrates cleanly into our spacecraft. Their engineering approach and ability to respond to our technical requirements make them a strong partner for this mission.”
The PHOENIX 2.1 mission will gather data during a multi-week period in orbit. The information collected will support validation across all phases of the spacecraft’s journey.
Smith-Carpenter added: “We are proud to contribute to a programme that supports Europe’s ambitions in return logistics and space-based research. Missions such as PHOENIX 2 require systems that are flexible, resilient and built to perform in extreme conditions — and that is exactly what we deliver.”
The mission forms part of wider European efforts to establish commercially viable return capabilities for scientific and industrial payloads from Low Earth Orbit, independent of crewed space station infrastructure.
A new UK AI research lab will be created to unlock breakthroughs which could transform healthcare, transport, science and everyday technology.
In a tiny space of time AI has gone from being the staple of science fiction, to an everyday tool used in schools, hospitals and workplaces worldwide. That includes using it to screen patients for cancer and design better batteries.
Backed by £40 million in UK government funding, the lab will work on high-risk scientific projects to try and solve some of AI’s longstanding problems, such as hallucinations, unreliable memory and unpredictable reasoning, and to develop new approaches that could make future AI systems far more accurate, transparent and trustworthy, could make it possible for AI to do even more.
By addressing these challenges head on, the lab will try to lay the foundations for AI that supports earlier medical diagnoses, more resilient infrastructure, faster scientific discovery and better day to day tools for people and public services. The work will rethink how AI tools are built, rather than simply scaling up existing systems and training them on more data, opening the door to new capabilities that don’t exist yet.
“AI is already doing things we could never have imagined just a few years ago, like helping to diagnose cancer. It can and will do even more – but if we want this technology to be a force for good, we need to make sure the next big AI breakthroughs are made in Britain,” AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said.
“This is a long-term investment in the brilliant minds who will keep the UK in the AI fast lane. If we are the ones breaking new ground on what AI can do, we can make sure our values are baked in from the outset. This is a critical part of our mission to make AI work for everyone.”
Located in the UK, up to £40 million will be made available over 6 years for the Fundamental AI Research Lab, plus substantial in-kind access to AI Research Resource compute capacity worth tens of millions of pounds. This funding call is open for applications now with the UK government calling on the country’s AI experts to bring their boldest and most ambitious proposals forward.
Applications will be assessed by a peer review panel Chaired by Raia Hadsell, who is a Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) AI ambassador supporting government to unlock the transformational benefits of AI for society. Raia has worked for Google DeepMind since 2014 and currently leads the company’s frontier AI efforts as a Vice President of Research.
TikTok will not implement end-to-end encryption in its direct messaging tools, saying that it thinks it will make users less safe.
The organisation, however, faces controversy for the decision, as other social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, do encrypt messages.
End-to-end encryption is a security measure that means only the sender and the recipient of a direct message can see it – the message is ‘encrypted’ in transit so that threat actors cannot compromise it, and law enforcement and even firms themselves cannot view encrypted messages without the ‘key’ from a sender or receiver.
This offers the most secure way for people to message each other online, but law enforcement has long scorned the method for obstructing their investigations. There is currently no way that law enforcement can view material sent in direct messages, which some say makes it easier to spread harmful content online or plan for illegal activities.
This worry prompted the Home Office to allegedly issue Apple a secret order to create a ‘backdoor’ for its encryption, which Apple refused to do, instead pulling out its Advanced Data Protection encryption tool from UK users.
Encryption also sparked major debate while the Online Safety Act was still being drafted, with parliamentarians debating whether a backdoor or a screening could be done to scan for harmful or illegal content before data was encrypted. This technology not only may be theoretical, but privacy advocates warned that it would be impossible to ensure user privacy. Ultimately, the Online Safety Act did not issue any changes to encryption.
In the case of TikTok however, concerns seem to lie elsewhere. While the firm has said that it plans to not introduce encryption as it may impede police and safety teams seeing direct messages as part of investigations or interventions, privacy advocates remain concerned.
TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance; while its headquarters are based in California and Singapore, its Chinese ownership led to such controversy in the US that the government forced it to sell its US operations and separate it from its global business to continue operating stateside.
Concerned parties have long questioned if TikTok’s Chinese ownership would compromise user data, especially if encryption was not employed for direct messaging. Similar concerns were sparked by European privacy advocates following revelations about US online surveillance.
Still, TikTok confirmed its position to the BBC that it would not implement encryption in order to reduce harm to younger users.
The defence comes at an opportune time – Meta is facing backlash from child safety advocates after court documents revealed internal concerns about encryption implementation, in which an executive called the tool “irresponsible”.
DIGIT’s ITSX Summit returns to Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh in just one day – this is your last chance to register!
Taking place on 5 March, the conference will contextualise the evolution of the service desk and the future of customer experience and IT support.
The programme will consider how the service function has advanced in the age of digital transformation, omni-channel engagement, and personalisation, while examining the increasing role of automation, analytics and AI, and the rise of Chatbots and self-service systems.
The conference will explore how tech leaders can maximise the business impact of their service function, with presentations looking at actionable ways to improve process, operations, observability, and customer experience.
Speakers at this year’s summit include:
Bola Rabiu, Mid-market Solutions Consultant, ServiceNow
Donovan Munitich, ServiceNow Practice Director, Kaptius
Alex Cosma, Director: Enterprise Service Strategy, Square Enix
Kenny Anderson, CGI Business Consulting
Ann-Marie Gallacher, Chief Information Officer, NHS 24 Scotland
Karen Brusch, Head of Service Management and Design, Arqiva
Ian Chisholm, Exec Director: Security, Charles River Labs
Ali Law, CIO, The Exeter
Simon Townsend, SVP Marketing & The Office of CTO, ControlUp
Akshaya, Technical Evangelist, ManageEngine
Jan Skrabanek, GTM & Alliances Lead, ALVAO
Paul Bornhutter, Account Technology Strategist, Ivanti
Diane Rennie, Digital Director, Kingdom Housing Association
DeepSeek is set to release a new AI model to rival advances in OpenAI’s ChatGTP and Google’s Gemini.
The newer model will follow its first AI large language model that came out in January 2025, striking a major challenge to OpenAI due to its reduced compute and energy requirements.
The launch of the firm’s first model was deemed a “wake-up call” for the wider and US-dominant tech industry by US President Donald Trump.
The new V4 model from DeepSeek is set to be multimodal, with the ability to generate text, pictures, and video, according to the Financial Times.
However, the Chinese startup has circumvented the status quo, and yet not shown its latest model to any US chipmakers, according to Reuters, but has shared the tech with Huawei and other local chip suppliers.
Models are typically shared with hardware firms to ensure that the software is compatible, but DeepSeek has reportedly not done so with US-based chipmakers, in a move that could be targeting the US’s dominance in the industry.
DeepSeek’s R1 model rocked the AI world; it was not only the first Chinese competitor that could rival other AI giants, but was created at a fraction of the cost of ChatGPT in terms of expense and compute power, was open-source, and free to use.
The models’ release sent shockwaves through the AI ecosystem, causing the US-dominant AI market to plummet. Nvidia’s stock share price dropped by 20%, while major players such as Oracle, Broadcom, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon also saw their share prices drop.
While DeepSeek has released other models since, the V4 model will be the first since R1 that will not only be available on Hugging Face and GitHub.
Sony is being sued for £2 billion in a class action lawsuit that claims UK users were being overcharged for games purchased on the PlayStation Store in a targeted challenge on the tech giant’s market dominance.
The case will represent about 12.2 million gamers across the UK, and alleges that Sony charged players “excessive and unfair” prices for games downloaded on the PlayStation Store.
The suit hinges on what the claimants describe as Sony’s “closed ecosystem.” The firm’s PS5 console comes in various models, the cheapest of which does not have a disc drive. While most purchases of games are now digital, the standard PS5 model has a disc drive, allowing the option of physical media which can be purchased from any vendor.
PlayStation models that only offer digital access to games do not allow other games stores, meaning that PS5 users can only purchase games for some PS5 models from the PlayStation Store.
Developers and publishers are charged a 30% commission on digital purchases in order to sell their games on the PlayStation Store, which the lawsuit claims is then passed on to consumers, unfairly raising prices.
Digital users were described as an “entirely captive class” due to the firm’s “close ecosystem”, according to Robert Palmer KC, who represents the claimants.
The suit, set to be heard by the Competition Appeal Tribunal next week, will be filed on an “opt-out” basis, meaning that those impacted will automatically benefit upon success of the suit unless they opt out of the claim.
This means that anyone who purchased a PlayStation game on the digital store or bought an in-game download across a near-decade period up to February 2026 would benefit if the suit is successful.
The estimated 12.2 million users would win £162 each – about £2 billion in total – which accounts for the amount they were overcharged as well as 8% in interest.
However, Sony is pushing back against the claims that it is abusing its market position, saying that allowing alternative digital stores would bring privacy and security risks to its users.
Sony also argues that, considering its hefty investment in hardware, its consoles are sold at a lower margin, and digital sales commissions are vital in subsidising these lower console prices. PS5s currently range from about £440 to £700 for the more expensive model.
Recently, Valve faced a similar suit over its digital games store Steam, alleging that the firm abuses its dominant market position to lock in users and publishers into unfair contracts and purchases.
Gaming and app stores are rife with competition concerns, as Apple was recently found by the Competition Appeal Tribunal to be abusing its market dominance on the App Store, charging developers commissions and not allowing rival app stores on Apple devices.
The National Cyber Security Centre is uring UK businesses to shore up their cyber defenses due to the continuously destabilising conflict currently rocking the Middle East.
While the NCSC says that the current conflict does not mean there is any current significant change in the direct cyber threat from Iran to the UK, the fast-evolving nature of the conflict may see conditions shift dramatically.
As such, there is a heightened risk of indirect cyber threat for those organisations and entities who have presence, or supply chains, in the Middle East.
Iranian state and Iran-linked cyber actors almost certainly currently maintain at least some capability to conduct cyber activity, the NCSC said.
Iran suffered hundreds of casualties due to bombs launched by the US and Israel. The operation killed Iran’s long-time leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as hundreds of civilians, including children at a girls’ school which was bombed.
Following the attacks, Iran launched retaliatory missiles, including one that hit a hotel in Dubai. Flights in the region have been grounded, delayed, or diverted. Cyprus was also targeted by Iran, marking one of the first times the country directly targeted a European nation with military aggression.
The destabilisation of the region may spill into the cyber realm, as the NCSC’s warning echoes that of Google Threat Intelligence Group’s chief analyst, John Hultquist, who said that Iran will “absolutely” launch cyber-attacks in response to the US and Israeli air strikes.
How Should Organisations Prepare?
Organisations should prepare to respond to the risk of collateral impacts in the UK from Iran-linked hacktivists by reading previously issued advisories on DDoS attacks, phishing activity and ICS Targeting.
For organisations exposed to higher risk, for example with those with offices or supply chains in the region, you should adjust your cyber security posture accordingly. You should take the steps outlined in our actions to take when threat is heightened guidance, and consider proportionate action to increase monitoring and review your external attack surface.
The NCSC continues to encourage UK organisations to sign up to its Early Warning service, to receive timely notifications of security issues affecting their networks.
In addition, given this is an evolving situation, CNI organisations may wish to pre-emptively review the NCSC’s recently published guidance on actions to take now to prepare CNI organisations for severe cyber threat.
DIGIT’s ITSX Summit returns to Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh in just two days – register now, there’s just a few spaces left!
Taking place on 5 March, the conference will contextualise the evolution of the service desk and the future of customer experience and IT support.
The programme will consider how the service function has advanced in the age of digital transformation, omni-channel engagement, and personalisation, while examining the increasing role of automation, analytics and AI, and the rise of Chatbots and self-service systems.
The conference will explore how tech leaders can maximise the business impact of their service function, with presentations looking at actionable ways to improve process, operations, observability, and customer experience.
Speakers at this year’s summit include:
Bola Rabiu, Mid-market Solutions Consultant, ServiceNow
Donovan Munitich, ServiceNow Practice Director, Kaptius
Alex Cosma, Director: Enterprise Service Strategy, Square Enix
Kenny Anderson, CGI Business Consulting
Ann-Marie Gallacher, Chief Information Officer, NHS 24 Scotland
Karen Brusch, Head of Service Management and Design, Arqiva
Ian Chisholm, Exec Director: Security, Charles River Labs
Ali Law, CIO, The Exeter
Simon Townsend, SVP Marketing & The Office of CTO, ControlUp
Akshaya, Technical Evangelist, ManageEngine
Jan Skrabanek, GTM & Alliances Lead, ALVAO
Paul Bornhutter, Account Technology Strategist, Ivanti
Diane Rennie, Digital Director, Kingdom Housing Association
AI is accelerating career mobility for women in software engineering, even as responsibility for its outcomes increasingly lands at the individual level.
According to BairesDev®’s new Dev Barometer, a quarterly survey of 1,329 developers across 61 countries in January 2026, 64% of women say AI improves their ability to shape their career path.
While 84% report career momentum tied to AI skill growth, only 56% of women developers trust AI tools to be fair across genders. The survey did not measure the causes of perceived fairness gaps, but reflects different levels of confidence in AI-supported workplace systems.
Half (51%) of all developers say accountability for AI-generated outcomes falls on them personally, while 11% say accountability remains unclear.
The findings point to a broader inflection point in enterprise AI adoption. AI is accelerating career mobility and productivity, while responsibility and validation are consolidating at the individual contributor level as governance models continue to formalize. These results reflect how AI-powered software development is reshaping both delivery workflows and career trajectories inside modern engineering teams.
All developers broadly report confidence in AI adoption, with 88% saying they feel comfortable using AI tools and 58% stating the benefits outweigh the overhead. Yet validation remains a growing focus.
Over half (56%) rank critical evaluation of AI output as the baseline skill for 2026. Two-thirds (67%) say teams lack sufficient knowledge to validate AI-generated results. A fifth (20%) cite deadline pressure as the primary barrier to verification.
Developers identified the top factors influencing who benefits most from AI adoption, with 67% citing access to tools, training, and infrastructure as the top factor. This was followed by a willingness to experiment and adapt (63%), with half (50%) still believing seniority and experience are a driving factor.
Among women developers, team culture and norms (49%) ranked above seniority (38%) as determinants of advancement through AI skills. This indicates that AI advantage is increasingly shaped by enablement environments, not just tenure.
Join the Conversation at ITSX Summit
How is customer service and IT support evolving in the age of AI, automation, and digital transformation?
Join us at the ITSX Summit in Edinburgh on 5th March, to unpack the future of ITSM, ESM, Self Service, and User Experience.
The event will bring together senior leaders from IT, Service Management, and UX, providing an ideal forum for shared learning, collaboration, and high-level networking.
Register now to secure your free place at ITSX Summit.
Anthropic may become the first AI company to be labelled a supply chain risk by the US due to a row between the firm and key US leaders.
US President Donald Trump has ordered all US federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology after the firm allegedly refused to allow its AI tools to be used without any restrictions by the US military and other government branches.
The news came shortly before OpenAI, one of Anthropic’s main competitors, signed a deal with the US Department of War, though OpenAI said the deal would have restrictions on its technologies’ use cases.
Prior to the row with Anthropic, the European AI outfit voiced concerns on its technology’s potential use in surveillance or autonomous military operations. These concerns sparked pushback from the US government, with the US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth saying that he would “immediately” classify the AI firm a “supply chain risk.”
Hegseth alleged that Anthropic had agreed to “any lawful use” of its AI tools by the US department.
While Trump and Hegseth made their announcements on social media, so far Anthropic says it has yet to hear directly from the US concerning its contracts and negotiations.
Anthropic said it would challenge any such designations in court.
“No amount of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons,” the company said, saying that the designations would “both be legally unsound and set a dangerous precedent for any American company that negotiates with the government.”
Over the next six months, Anthropic’s tools will be phased out of US departments, with US officials saying that all companies that have contracts with the US military must also phase out the firm’s tech.
OpenAI’s deal with the US military will see it introduce similar restrictions that mired the US’s relationship with Anthropic.
OpenAI says that its technology cannot be used for high-stakes automated decisions, direct autonomous weapons systems, or mass domestic surveillance; these were the same issues that sparked Anthropic’s concerns.
“In our agreement, we protect our red lines through a more expansive, multi-layered approach. We retain full discretion over our safety stack, we deploy via cloud, cleared OpenAI personnel are in the loop, and we have strong contractual protections,” OpenAI said.
Prior to the deal, OpenAI’s founder Sam Altman praised Anthropic’s stand against the US.
“I do not fully understand how things got here; I do not know why Anthropic did their deal with the Pentagon and Palantir in the way they originally did it,” Altman wrote in his company memo, as seen by the BBC.
“But regardless of how we got here, this is no longer just an issue between Anthropic and the DoW; this is an issue for the whole industry and it is important to clarify our stance.”
It will be revealing to see how OpenAI’s deal with the Department of War pans out considering its contracted protections against the same things that caused Anthropic to be designated a “risk.”
Any designation as a supply chain risk would be devastating to Anthropic’s position in the global AI market, especially if the myriad companies contracted with the US military also pull their contracts with the AI firm.
As OpenAI just reached a market value of $730 billion following a deal at the end of February, the new contact with the US is a strategic move by the AI firm that continues to lead in the AI race.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced a £76 million investment to launch four new national compute resources.
This major funding boost will provide the powerful ‘digital engines’ needed to solve some of society’s biggest challenges, from healthcare to climate change.
The new compute resources will be led by four UK universities: the University of Edinburgh, University of Birmingham, University of Cambridge, and University College London.
The £76 million public investment is the first major step in delivering the UK Compute Roadmap, UKRI says, which was launched in July 2025 to make the UK a global leader in high-tech research.
While super computing was once reserved for niche technical fields, these four new resources are designed for everyone in the research community.
The four NCRs are expected to be fully up and running for researchers by 2026 to 2027 with at least two of them launching in summer 2026.
To ensure researchers get the most out of this technology, UKRI will also be launching community centres of excellence.
They will provide expert training and support, helping a wider range of people use these digital tools to advance their work.
More details on the community centres of excellence will be shared in the coming months.
“This £76 million investment marks a pivotal moment in our mission to build a world-class, integrated compute ecosystem for the UK.
“By establishing these four National Compute Resources, we are delivering directly on the ambitions set out in the 2025 UK Compute Roadmap and providing the ‘cornerstone’ infrastructure needed to push the boundaries of British research,” UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure Programme Director Richard Gunn said.
“This programme represents a step-change in the UK’s compute capabilities, establishing a more accessible and sustainable compute landscape in the UK and enhancing the way we support researchers and innovators.
“These resources are designed to be truly user-centred, offering a diverse range of architectures that will be more accessible to a much broader community, from climate scientists to AI researchers.
“By lowering the barriers to high-performance computing, we are not just advancing knowledge; we are providing the tools to drive economic growth and solve complex challenges across every sector of our society.”
Five years on from the seminal Kalifa Review, which assessed priority areas for the UK’s fintech sector, how has the sector progressed?
The Kalifa Review was commissioned in 2020 by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and now provides an opportunity for reflection on how far the UK’s fintech sector has come, and where further support may be needed.
Innovate Finance, the UK’s fintech trade body, has said that while the UK continues to be a thriving success story in the fintech world, the nation faces challenges from competing countries like the UAE and India.
Domestically, fintech has skyrocketed as a top industry; 60% of all SME lending across the UK is now being done by a fintech, while eight out of every 10 adults are using at least one fintech tool on a regular basis.
The trade body found that more than a quarter of UK fintechs are directly trying to address the issue of financial inequality, with the vast majority (97%) of all UK fintechs having a medium to very high positive impact on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Fintech was the subsector of financial services that saw the highest job creation back in 2024, and makes up the largest segment of the UK’s unicorn companies.
There has clearly been progress since the Kalifa review, spurred on by government policies.
These include the Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, the cutting of red tape and regulations, the Financial Conduct Authority’s development of innovation services and sprints, and the passing of the Data (Use and Access) Act to bolster the use of smart data.
Still, Innovate Finance says that certain areas within fintech have been slow.
For instance, while the UK was early in delivering Open Banking, its arguable fallen behind Brazil and India in terms of delivering pay by bank in e-commerce and retail environments. Regulator work and actionable solutions to the market have yet to begin despite FCA sprints in that area.
While there has been progress in terms of technology and solutions, government strategy confusion has hampered progress on digital IDs, a similar issue seen in stablecoin development, where the Bank of England proposals have not been fully aligned for growth.
Still, digitalisation and tokenisation remains a strong vector for opportunity, with Innovate Finance citing the UK-UK Transatlantic Task Force for Markets of the Future as a catalyst for progress.
The advent of AI, and the possibilities of agentic AI, have seen a revolution in most tech subsets; fintech will require regulations and framework to guide its implementation of these emerging tools.
Five years on from the Kalifa Review, Innovate Finance has identified new areas that need support for the next five years.
This includes tech positive regulation, stronger competition and resilience in banking and payments, the re-invigoration of capital markets, unlocking stablecoin opportunities, and leading in AI and data driven finnacial services.
DIGIT’s ITSX Summit returns to Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh in just three days – grab your free ticket before it’s too late!
Taking place on 5 March, the conference will contextualise the evolution of the service desk and the future of customer experience and IT support.
The programme will consider how the service function has advanced in the age of digital transformation, omni-channel engagement, and personalisation, while examining the increasing role of automation, analytics and AI, and the rise of Chatbots and self-service systems.
The conference will explore how tech leaders can maximise the business impact of their service function, with presentations looking at actionable ways to improve process, operations, observability, and customer experience.
Speakers at this year’s summit include:
Bola Rabiu, Mid-market Solutions Consultant, ServiceNow
Donovan Munitich, ServiceNow Practice Director, Kaptius
Alex Cosma, Director: Enterprise Service Strategy, Square Enix
Kenny Anderson, CGI Business Consulting
Ann-Marie Gallacher, Chief Information Officer, NHS 24 Scotland
Karen Brusch, Head of Service Management and Design, Arqiva
Ian Chisholm, Exec Director: Security, Charles River Labs
Ali Law, CIO, The Exeter
Simon Townsend, SVP Marketing & The Office of CTO, ControlUp
Akshaya, Technical Evangelist, ManageEngine
Jan Skrabanek, GTM & Alliances Lead, ALVAO
Paul Bornhutter, Account Technology Strategist, Ivanti
Diane Rennie, Digital Director, Kingdom Housing Association
Skyscanner, the Scottish tech unicorn, has launched an app in ChatGPT enabling travellers to search and find the best possible options and price choices for flights.
The Skyscanner app in ChatGPT will allow users to plan travel trips using natural language with personalised recommendations.
The Skyscanner app in ChatGPT has launched in the UK and US giving travellers in those markets access to Skyscanner’s global flight options.
With 160 million users a month, Skyscanner is one of the top online travel firms in the world, providing users with price comparisons on flights and other travel options.
The firm is also looking at other ways it can use AI to enhance the traveller experience across other points of the traveller journey.
It is currently being used to power Skyscnner’s car hire and hotel chatbots on its own platform which give conversational experiences to deliver faster, higher quality decisions for travellers.
“We’ve been at the forefront of cutting-edge flight search, ensuring that travellers have all the right tools to reduce friction and give them more confidence to find the right flight for them. Travellers can now access the Skyscanner app in ChatGPT to search for the best options and flight prices for their trip.” said Piero Sierra, Skyscanner’s Chief AI officer, who is leading Skyscanner’s AI strategy for travel.
“We’ll scale natural language search with explainability, and expand agentic scenarios only where trust and economics work. Success in AI will be defined by better decisions and earned traveller trust.”
Join the Conversation at ITSX Summit
How is customer service and IT support evolving in the age of AI, automation, and digital transformation?
Join us at the ITSX Summit in Edinburgh on 5th March, to unpack the future of ITSM, ESM, Self Service, and User Experience.
The event will bring together senior leaders from IT, Service Management, and UX, providing an ideal forum for shared learning, collaboration, and high-level networking.
Register now to secure your free place at ITSX Summit.
Cybersecurity agencies including the National Cyber Security Centre are warning about the potential compromise of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, encouraging an immediate investigation into the globally-used network.
Malicious cyber threat actors are targeting Cisco Catalyst Software Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN) used by organisations globally.
These actors are compromising SD-WANs to add a malicious rogue peer and then conduct a range of follow-on actions to achieve root access and maintain persistent access to the SD-WAN.
This cluster of cyber threat activity has targeted organisations using Cisco Catalyst SD-WANs globally.
A Hunt Guide has been prepared based on observations from various investigations which details tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) leveraged by these malicious actors. The Hunt Guide aims to support network defenders to conduct detection and threat hunting activities and provides mitigation guidance to reduce the risk from the observed TTPs.
The Hunt Guide is being released and co-signed by a range of agencies, including those in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.
Cisco has released software updates for Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller.
Organisations employing Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN could be affected, and should follow the priority actions detailed below.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WANs that have management interfaces exposed to the internet are at most risk of compromise, the NCSC warns. These management interfaces must never be exposed to the internet.
Network defenders are urged to follow certain priority actions, including:
Threat hunting for evidence of compromise detailed in the Hunt Guide.
If you believe you have been compromised, collect artefacts from the device and, if you are in the UK, report it to the NCSC.
Actions could include securing network perimeter controls, reconfiguring SD-WAN manager access, using pairwise keying on data plane security, limiting session timeouts to the shortest possible periods, and using a remote syslog server for logging.
The NCSC has said that any of its proposed mitigation or eviction measures are subject to change as new information becomes available and ongoing coordinated operated dictate.
Network defenders should ensure any actions taken in response to the Hunt Guide are compliant with local laws and regulations within the jurisdictions within which they operate.
OpenAI is setting up a new research hub in London which will be the AI titan’s largest location outside of San Francisco.
The move cements the firm’s expanding footprint in the UK, with London staff already working on the development of OpenAI technology like GPT-5.2 and Codex.
OpenAI said that workers operating in the hub help drive the development of safer AI models as well as experimenting with applications. Staff will have the opportunity to “own key components” of their research into the firm’s frontier AI model.
“We are excited to establish London as a major research hub for OpenAI, building on the leading work our London team is already doing to support our latest breakthroughs,” Mark Chen, OpenAI’s chief research officer, said.
“The UK brings together world class talent and leading scientific institutions and universities, making it an ideal place to deliver the important research which will ensure our AI is safe, useful and benefits everyone.”
OpenAI’s London office was its first expansion outside of the US, which was established in 2023. The AI firm has continued to strengthen its position in the UK with an accelerator programme, as well as working with the UK government on multiple projects.
Tech secretary Liz Kendall described the news as a “huge vote of confidence” in the UK, giving it a “world-leading position at the cutting edge of AI research.”
She said: “It also reaffirms the UK’s global leadership as the place to pursue AI innovation that is both safe and transformative.
“AI is already offering us better ways to treat disease, tailored support in classrooms, and new ways of harnessing clean affordable energy.
“We are determined to make sure that the people and places that have previously been left behind benefit first and most as this technology develops, and that the AI revolution helps build a Britain that’s healthier, wealthier and fairer.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “London is a global hub for AI innovation and investment, and I am delighted that OpenAI is anchoring its major new research hub here, as we help shape the capital for the next technological wave.
“London is home to world-class talent and renowned institutions and I am committed to ensuring our capital benefits from the huge potential of AI, ensuring that no Londoners are left behind, and building a fairer, more prosperous city for everyone.”
Soaring memory costs are projected to drive worldwide PC shipments to decline 10.4% and smartphone shipments to drop by 8.4% in 2026, compared to 2025 levels, according to Gartner, Inc.
Gartner estimates a 130% surge in combined DRAM and solid-state drive (SSD) prices by the end of 2026, which will increase PC prices by 17% and smartphone prices by 13%, compared to 2025 levels. This situation will concentrate demand on premium devices.
“This is the lowest level of device shipments witnessed in over a decade. Higher prices will narrow the range of devices available, prompting buyers to hold on to devices for longer, fundamentally altering upgrade cycles,” said Ranjit Atwal, Sr Director Analyst at Gartner.
Because of rising costs, Gartner expects PC lifetime to increase by 15% for business buyers and 20% for consumers by the end of 2026. These delayed upgrades will further raise concerns over increased security vulnerabilities and challenges of managing older devices.
Entry-Level PCs Face Obsolescence
PC memory costs are expected to peak at 23% of the total bill-of-materials (BOM) up from 16% in 2025.
“This sharp increase removes vendors’ ability to absorb costs, making low-margin entry-level laptops nonviable,” said Atwal.
“Ultimately, we expect the sub-$500 entry-level PC segment will disappear by 2028. In addition, rising AI PC prices will delay the projected 50% market penetration of AI PCs until 2028.”
The memory-driven price surge will disproportionately affect entry-level smartphones, leading buyers to choose refurbished or second-hand models or keep their phones longer. Premium smartphones will be less affected because of their higher margins.
Gartner analysts expect basic smartphone buyers to exit the market five times faster than premium buyers in 2026.
Critical Pricing Windows Opens in the First Half of 2026
Soaring memory prices are expected to impact the PC market hardest, reshaping its financial dynamics. As a result, PC vendors should be prepared to accept a unit volume decline to sustain profitability, rather than eroding margins to chase price-sensitive buyers.
“Overall, device vendors and channels face a critical window in the first half of 2026 to optimise pricing and protect margins before component inflation compresses profitability from the second quarter onwards,” said Atwal.
Organisations across industries say the rapid pace of AI transformation is now their biggest security challenge, according to new research from Thales.
According to the firm’s latest threat report, 70% of organisations cite AI as their top data security risk, across markets such as automotive, energy, finance, and retail.
The concern is not only about malicious AI, but about the access it is being granted as it shifts from a tool to a trusted insider.
As enterprises embed AI into workflows, analytics, customer service, and development pipelines, these systems are being granted broad, automated access to enterprise data, often with fewer controls than those applied to human users in a corporate environment.
“Insider risk is no longer just about people. It is also about automated systems that have been trusted too quickly,” says Sebastien Cano, Senior Vice President, Cybersecurity Products at Thales. “When identity governance, access policies, or encryption are weak, AI can amplify those weaknesses across corporate environments far faster than any human ever could.”
Visibility Gaps Widen As AI Expands Data Reach
The report reveals a troubling disconnect between AI adoption and data control. Only 34% of organisations know where all their data resides, whatever the level of criticality, and just 39% can fully classify it. Meanwhile, nearly half (47%) of sensitive cloud data remains unencrypted.
As AI systems ingest and act on data across cloud and SaaS environments, limited visibility makes enforcing least-privilege access increasingly difficult, that is granting only the strictly necessary access rights. This increases the extent of exposure if credentials are compromised.
Identity infrastructure is now the primary attack surface. Credential theft remains the leading attack technique against cloud management infrastructure, cited by 67% of organisations experiencing cloud attacks.
At the same time, 50% rank secrets management among their top application security challenges, reflecting the growing complexity of governing machine identities, API (interfaces de programmation applicative) keys, and tokens at scale.
AI Powers More Convincing Attacks
While organisations race to adopt AI, attackers are doing the same. Nearly 60% of companies report experiencing deepfake-driven attacks, and 48% report reputational damage tied to AI-generated misinformation or impersonation campaigns.
As AI introduces new risks, it also increases existing ones. Human error already contributes to 28% of breaches, and with automation layered on top, small mistakes can scale faster and spread wider.
While organisations recognize the need to adapt, investment is not keeping pace with the rapid expansion of AI-driven access and automation. 30% now dedicate specific budgets to AI security, reflecting growing awareness.
However, the majority (53%) still depend on traditional security programs built primarily for human users and perimeter-based controls. As machines increasingly authenticate, access, and act autonomously, many security strategies have yet to adjust to this shift in operating models.
“As AI becomes deeply embedded into enterprise operations, continuous data visibility and protection are no longer optional,” said Eric Hanselman, Chief Analyst at S&P Global 451 Research.
“Organisations must treat data security strategy as foundational to innovation, not separate from it.”
Evolving Trust
AI is not replacing traditional threats; rather, it is intensifying them by increasing their speed, scale, and reach.
As automated systems gain broader access to enterprise data, organisations must rethink identity, encryption, and data visibility as core infrastructure. The organisations that embed strong governance into their AI strategies will be better positioned to innovate securely and avoid turning AI into their newest insider threat.
Digital connectivity is one of the key priorities to strengthen Scotland’s island communities as laid out in the Scottish government’s new National Islands Plan.
Along with improved transport, the plan lays out how technological infrastructure improvements are vital to attracting and retaining people to Scotland’s iconic island communities. While these areas are renowned for their natural beauty and other-worldly feel, they are often disconnected from the broader Scottish ecosystem due to poor connectivity.
This can make it more difficult for businesses to attract workers, and for communities to retain their youth as the online world is more difficult to access.
The National Islands plan details how improved digital connectivity as well as better transport links can increase access to services, markets, and jobs that would otherwise evade islanders.
With more public and government services online, digital exclusion is fast becoming a detriment to those without fast, reliable internet access.
Without a reliable signal, workers would be unable to apply for remote jobs, take online classes, sign up for online public services, or access wider opportunities online.
The Plan says that despite increased funding from both the UK and the devolved Scottish government, gaps in coverage persist, “underlining the need for continued effort to extend infrastructure and improve digital access further.”
Still, the Plan highlights major progress, with 84% of Orkney covered by fast broadband, and just shy of 100% of North Ayrshire with access. In contrast, Orkney, Shetland and Na h-Eileanan Siar had no coverage back in 2014.
Despite lauding progress of various government programmes such as the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband initiative and the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme, gaps persist, with Orkney and Shetland residents the least likely to express satisfaction in their internet connection.
To address continuous issues, the Plan proposes a ‘mapping exercise’ to track broadband delivery and apparent gaps in gigabit coverage to better inform UK government and industry plans.
Beyond connectivity in transport and digital, the National Islands Plan intends to improve housing availability, health and social care, economy and education, climate and energy, poverty and social justice, and community culture.
Join the Conversation at ITSX Summit
How is customer service and IT support evolving in the age of AI, automation, and digital transformation?
Join us at the ITSX Summit in Edinburgh on 5th March, to unpack the future of ITSM, ESM, Self Service, and User Experience.
The event will bring together senior leaders from IT, Service Management, and UX, providing an ideal forum for shared learning, collaboration, and high-level networking.
Register now to secure your free place at ITSX Summit.
Nvidia, the prolific chip maker winning the AI race, has reported a record annual reveue of £159.1bn ($215.9bn), beating out rising apprehension from investors concerning the mass funding AI has raised.
The firm’s record revenue surpassed forecasts from analysts, boosted by a 73% surge in sales over the last three months of the financial year compared to the previous 12 months.
Nvidia has seen its market value and revenue skyrocket since the fandamoniam around AI sparked by the launch of ChatGPT started about three years ago; the chip maker has successfully dominated the market with its AI chip designs, though competition remains high.
The AI race has seen Nvidia climb to be the world’s most valuable company in public trade; its stock market value hovers around £4.8 trillion.
“Computing demand is growing exponentially,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said. “Our customers are racing to invest in AI compute – the factories powering the AI industrial revolution and their future growth.”
But since the rise of AI, investment strategies have shifted dramatically. While OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic had seen their stocks climb thanks to investors hunger for AI software, funding is shifting its focus towards infrastructure.
Data centres, energy grid updates, and construction are now seeing their own investment frenzy as the physical reality of AI takes hold.
Nvidia, with its chip manufacturing success, was perhaps an early tell on investor mindset – AI is nothing without the compute power and energy required to sustain it.
Still, Nvidia’s marked success has yet to defy all scrutiny. The chip maker continues to make deals with various AI firms in what analysts are worried culminates in a “circular financing” swirl of interconnected investments. So far for Nvidia, however, the AI bubble has yet to burst.
Join the Conversation at ITSX Summit
How is customer service and IT support evolving in the age of AI, automation, and digital transformation?
Join us at the ITSX Summit in Edinburgh on 5th March, to unpack the future of ITSM, ESM, Self Service, and User Experience.
The event will bring together senior leaders from IT, Service Management, and UX, providing an ideal forum for shared learning, collaboration, and high-level networking.
Register now to secure your free place at ITSX Summit.
DIGIT’s ITSX Summit returns to Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh in just one week – register now!
Taking place on 5 March, the conference will contextualise the evolution of the service desk and the future of customer experience and IT support.
The programme will consider how the service function has advanced in the age of digital transformation, omni-channel engagement, and personalisation, while examining the increasing role of automation, analytics and AI, and the rise of Chatbots and self-service systems.
The conference will explore how tech leaders can maximise the business impact of their service function, with presentations looking at actionable ways to improve process, operations, observability, and customer experience.
Speakers at this year’s summit include:
Alex Cosma, Director: Enterprise Service Strategy, Square Enix
Kenny Anderson, CGI Business Consulting
Ann-Marie Gallacher, Chief Information Officer, NHS 24 Scotland
Karen Brusch, Head of Service Management and Design, Arqiva
Ian Chisholm, Exec Director: Security, Charles River Labs
Ali Law, CIO, The Exeter
Simon Townsend, SVP Marketing & The Office of CTO, ControlUp
Akshaya, Technical Evangelist, ManageEngine
Jan Skrabanek, GTM & Alliances Lead, ALVAO
Paul Bornhutter, Account Technology Strategist, Ivanti
Diane Rennie, Digital Director, Kingdom Housing Association
The UK government is enforcing its digital travel policy, meaning that non-visa nationals who enter the UK without an Electronic Travel Authorisiation (ETA) will be barred from entry, starting today (25 February).
Visitors to the UK will require digital permission to travel, in the form of tourist visas or ETAs that typically cost £16.
However, dual nationals of the UK are facing a problematic condundrum thanks to the new policy. The new policy means that travellers to the UK must show a UK or Irish passport, an eVisa, an ETA, or another digital document proving their right to travel to the UK, or be barred.
Dual nationals who do not have a UK passport, however, cannot apply for the ETA, which is open to 85 countries which includes most of Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA.
Instead, dual nationals who do not have a UK passport will be required to apply for a British passport or a certificate of entitlement, which costs £589. Each option takes several weeks to process. ETAs on the other hand can often be approved in minutes, though the Home Office recommends travellers leave a window of about three working days.
The changes will also require those with EU settled status to prove their immigration status upon arrival in the UK, with the government urging all residents and visa holders to keep their immigration papers up to date to avoid delays at passport control checks.
Dual nationals have expressed their dismay in the media at the changes, citing expensive passport requirements and long processing times barring their ability to travel to a country they have citizenship in.
Newer citizens have also lamented that the current citizenship process does not include informaiton on applying for a passport, and passport applications are not a part of the citizenship process.
When questioned on how the new rules would affect dual nationals who do not have a UK passport, Mike Tapp, minister for migration and citizenship, said that the government “allowed ample time between ETAs first being introduced in 2023 and the move to enforcement.” This however, does not necessarily apply to dual citizens who cannot apply for ETAs at all.
“The ETA scheme is a vital part of our work to strengthen the UK’s border security, helping to deliver a more efficient and modern service that works for both visitors and the British public,” Tapp said of the changes.
“I’d urge anyone wanting to travel to the UK to ensure they are travel ready and have the right permission, to make their journey much smoother.”
Cyber-criminals are exploiting basic security gaps at dramatically higher rates, now accelerated by AI tools that help attackers identify weakness faster than ever, the 2026 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index from IBM shows.
IBM X‑Force observed a 44% increase in attacks that began with the exploitation of public-facing applications, largely driven by missing authentication controls and AI-enabled vulnerability discovery.
Active ransomware and extortion groups surged (49%) year over year, marking ecosystem fragmentation, while publicly disclosed victim counts rose roughly 12%.
Large supply chain and third-party compromises nearly quadrupled since 2020, as attackers increasingly exploit environments where software is built and deployed or SaaS integrations.
Vulnerability exploitation became the leading cause of attacks, accounting for 40% of incidents observed by X-Force in 2025.
“Attackers aren’t reinventing playbooks, they’re speeding them up with AI,” said Mark Hughes, Global Managing Partner for Cybersecurity Services, IBM.
“The core issue is the same: businesses are overwhelmed by software vulnerabilities. The difference now is speed. With so many vulnerabilities requiring no credentials, attackers can bypass humans and move straight from scanning to impact.
“Security leaders need to shift to a more proactive approach, using agentic-powered threat detection and response to identify gaps and catch threats before they escalate.”
AI’s Mounting Identity Problem
Infostealer malware led to the exposure of over 300,000 ChatGPT credentials in 2025, signalling that AI platforms have reached the same credential risk as other core enterprise SaaS solutions.
Compromised chatbot credentials create AI-specific risks beyond simple account access. Attackers can manipulate outputs, exfiltrate sensitive data or inject malicious prompts. This underscores the need to assess enterprise-wide AI adoption and enforce strong authentication and conditional access controls.
AI, Leaked Tooling Lower Barriers to Ransomware Ecosystem
In 2025, X-Force observed a 49% increase in active ransomware groups compared to the prior year, as smaller, transient operators whose low volume campaigns complicate attribution.
This trend is accelerated by collapsing barriers to entry as threat actors reuse leaked tooling, rely on established playbooks and increasingly tap AI to automate operations.
As multimodal AI models mature, X-Force expects adversaries to automate complex tasks like reconnaissance and advanced ransomware attacks, driving faster-moving, more adaptive threats.
Pressure on Supply Chains Poised to Grow
X-Force identified a nearly 4X increase in large supply chain or third-party compromises since 2020, mainly driven‑ by attackers exploiting trust relationships and CI/CD automation across development workflows and SaaS integrations.
With AI-powered‑ coding tools accelerating software creation and occasionally introducing unvetted code, the pressure on pipelines and open‑source ecosystems is expected to grow in 2026.
This rise is also attributed to the blurring line between nation-state and financially motivated actors. As tactics and techniques spread across underground forums, and AI streamlines reconnaissance and exploitation, techniques once reserved for nation state actors are now being adopted by financially motivated groups.
The report also found that AI is accelerating the attacker lifecycle. Attackers are using AI to speed research, analyse large data sets and iterate on attack paths in real time.
For example, North Korean IT worker schemes are using AI to scale operations, including AI-driven image manipulation for synthetic identities and translation tools to interact across global marketplaces.
Still, security fundametals are still lacking, with X-Force Red penetration tests revealing persistent weaknesses in credential hygeine and software configuration, with misconfigured access controls as the most common entry point for these engagements.
For the fifth year, manufacuturing has topped the target list. The sector accounted for 27.7% of incidents observed by X-Force, wit data theft being the most common.
North America emerged as the most-attacked region, accounting for 29% of total cases observed by X-Force, and up from 24% in 2024, North America became the most attacked region for the first time in six years.
The British Business Bank has committed an additional £25 million to invest in the UK’s most promising and diverse angel syndicates. The platform is managed by Haatch, an existing partner of the Bank and follows an initial investment of £7 million into a cohort of five emerging syndicates last year.
The total of £32 million is being invested via a platform managed by Haatch, an early-stage venture capital firm and existing partner of the British Business Bank. The partnership enables the Bank to invest alongside recently established, high-performing angel syndicates.
More syndicates are to be onboarded in the coming months. The following are already backed through the British Business Bank and Haatch’s partnership:
HERmesa: a diverse community of over 270 women operators and entrepreneurs turned angel investors backing women-led, tech-enabled startups at pre/seed
CircleRock Capital: a sector-agnostic platform offering access to leading early-stage investments alongside top global venture capital firms, with a focus on Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds
The Games Angels: a collective of seasoned gaming industry professionals dedicated to investing in and supporting startups and companies shaping the future of gaming
Sie Ventures: early-stage investor backing diverse founding teams across the UK and Europe
2050 Capital: a deep tech and science investment firm investing in transformative and defensible innovation that impacts large fundamental sectors.
Since May 2025, 13 companies have received investment through this scheme, covering regions across the UK – from Cornwall to Cambridge, Bristol to Bingley, Cardiff to London.
As well as a broad spread of industries, the investment is also backing a diverse mix of founders, including a Savile Row-trained designer, a practising midwife, a Women in Innovation award-winner, and Forbes 30 Under 30 alumni.
“For the UK’s startup ecosystem to properly thrive, collaboration between investors is absolutely vital,” Fred Soneya, Co-founder and General Partner at Haatch, said.
“Funding must reach the best and most innovative businesses, and this partnership between the British Business Bank, Haatch and some brilliant angel syndicates is a really strong example of how we can deliver that. An exciting, diverse range of startups have already been backed, and by working with more syndicates from across the UK, we’re going to direct early-stage funding to the best and brightest startups in the country.”
Mark Barry, Senior Investment Director at British Business Bank, added: “Since its launch last May, this platform has already made more than a dozen investments into a diverse range of businesses to drive growth across a number of sectors.
“We are now looking to scale this platform by investing alongside more great syndicates across the country.”
ISC2– the nonprofit member organisation for cybersecurity professionals – has launched the Code of Professional Conduct (Code), a global framework dedicated to principled and ethical practices across the cybersecurity profession.
Building upon the ISC2 Code of Ethics, the Code establishes clear expectations for the responsibilities and obligations of cybersecurity leaders and practitioners around the world. It provides guidance for cybersecurity professionals to make sound decisions, foster trust and uphold the highest integrity of the cybersecurity workforce.
As the cybersecurity profession continues to navigate ethical challenges such as those posed by artificial intelligence (AI), disinformation and evolving digital threats, the Code will reinforce how professionals can navigate complex and other unprecedented situations with integrity and confidence.
The Code will be a living document that is amended and refined as the cybersecurity profession continues to evolve.
Developed with input from nearly 1,400 cybersecurity professionals, endorsed by the ISC2 Professional Conduct (Ethics) Committee and approved by the ISC2 Board of Directors, the Code serves as a standard for all cybersecurity practitioners, regardless of their location, experience or certification, to enable principled decision-making and promote professional accountability.
It is akin to codes of conduct across other professionalised disciplines, such as accounting, finance, healthcare and law.
“Cybersecurity professionals have a profound responsibility not only to protect and secure individuals, organisations and systems around the world but also to uphold the integrity, accountability and trust that the profession depends on,” said ISC2 Chief Executive Officer Scott Beale, CC.
“The Code provides a shared foundation for guiding ethical decision-making and professional conduct, especially as emerging technologies like AI reshape how organisations operate and how security decisions are made. Leveraging the collective input and decades of experience from more than 1,000 ISC2 volunteers, the Code provides comprehensive guidance for everyone working in the cybersecurity field.”
The Development of the Code
ISC2 facilitated the development of the Code through a dedicated task force of diverse volunteers from across the globe who met regularly to discuss the challenges cybersecurity practitioners face in the course of their professional duties and the opportunities that this Code could present.
“As emerging technologies, particularly AI, become more integrated into cybersecurity and organisational workflows, we created guidelines on ethical implementation and integration,” said ISC2 Member and Code Volunteer Panos Vlachos, CCSP. “Our goal with the global Code is to ensure that AI and other transformative innovations align with ethical best practices, fostering responsible adoption while mitigating potential risks.”
Key stages included gathering feedback from ISC2’s membership across the globe and additional sources in academia, industry and other guiding bodies. Input from volunteers and contributors ranged in varying levels of experience, from Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) holders to those with advanced credentials such as the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), to ensure and validate that the materials are suitable for all professionals in the industry.
The Code is organised around two guiding principles, including Ethics and Professional Conduct. Within the Ethics section, the Code discusses topics such as integrity, confidentiality, respect for laws and regulations and public safety and societal impact. Whereas, the Professional Conduct section outlines topics such as responsibility and accountability, collaboration and teamwork, competence and continuous improvement, as well as reporting issues and concerns. Together, these principles offer clearer guidance and support for cybersecurity professionals.
“I hope ISC2 members and cybersecurity professionals will use the Code of Professional Conduct as both a guide and a mirror to inform their daily decisions and also reflect on their paramount role in shaping a safer cyber world,” said ISC2 Member and Code Volunteer Srija Reddy Allam, CISSP, CCSP.
“In a field like cybersecurity, where not every situation has a clear rulebook, the Code can serve to navigate gray areas with integrity. I also hope it becomes a shared foundation across the profession, encouraging accountability, fostering trust and reinforcing that how we work is just as important as what we do.”
As AI reshapes enterprise priorities, global IT spending is set to reach $4.96 trillion in 2026, according to the HG Insights 2026 Global IT Spend Report. The forecast includes $4.5 trillion in enterprise investment and $460.5 billion in SMB spending – this is the first time HG has quantified SMB spend at this scale – signaling broad-based acceleration in technology investment.
This year’s report incorporates buyer intelligence from TrustRadius, acquired by HG Insights in June 2025. By integrating verified reviews and first-party intent data, the report connects spending forecasts with real-world buyer behavior, offering insight not only into where organisations are investing, but how they research, evaluate, and adopt technology solutions.
“GTM leaders are operating in one of the most volatile technology environments we’ve seen in decades,” said Rohini Kasturi, CEO of HG Insights. “AI is accelerating investment in some areas, while increasing scrutiny in others. The organisations that win will be those that understand precisely where budgets are shifting and why. Our 2026 IT Spend Report provides that clarity.”
According to the HG Insights 2026 Global IT Spend Report, worldwide IT investment is projected to reach $4.96 trillion over the next 12 months.
Market Size and Segmentation
Over 16 million organisations are projected to spend $4.96 trillion on IT hardware, software, services, and communications.
Enterprise organisations account for the majority of the spend, accumulating $4.5 trillion, while SMBs are expected to invest $460.6 billion.
Regionally, the Americas are projected to reach $1.98 trillion, with APAC forecasted at $1.42 trillion, and EMEA expected to total $1.1 trillion.
Software and IT services dominate, representing about three quarters (74%) of enterprise IT spending.
In enterprise software spend, $1.39 trillion is proected, while enterprise cloud services is the largest projected segement within IT services, forecast at $716.7 billion.
Communications, led by mobile and fixd data services, is projected to reach $295.5 billion.
What’s Happening with AI?
IT hardware investment is rising due to global AI infrastructure expansion.
Spending in this realm is concentrated in servers, components, and data centre infrastructure.
