All news in category “Regulation and Policy Brief”

📄 Ten years after the GDPR came into force, data protection is far more established across Europe and beyond, raising consumer awareness and making privacy a competitive factor for businesses. Record fines against major tech firms underline enforcement seriousness, even as many penalties remain disputed. Companies increasingly view the regulation as burdensome and legally uncertain, complicating innovation, notably in AI development.

📰 The German court found Google liable for AI-generated search summaries, rejecting defenses that users should verify AI output themselves. This ruling highlights the historical distinction between carriers and publishers and argues that AI summaries act like editorial content. Past cases, like Air Canada’s chatbot ruling, reinforce that organizations are responsible for their AI agents. The decision could force companies to improve AI accuracy or curtail certain commercial uses.

🔒 CISA has issued guidance to help federal agencies transition from perimeter-based Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 2.0 to a more flexible TIC 3.0 using Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technology. The guidance explains how SASE can replace legacy Managed Trusted Internet Protocol Services (MTIPS) and combines networking and security functions such as SD-WAN, secure web gateways, CASBs, next-gen firewalls and ZTNA. It is vendor-agnostic and emphasizes architecture and visibility requirements rather than specific products.

🛡️ Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has criticised the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for a reactive approach to cybersecurity, leaving national galleries and museums exposed. The PAC highlighted incidents including a ransomware attack on the British Library and thefts from the British Museum as evidence of systemic failings. It calls on DCMS to set out concrete actions, share lessons across the sector, and address skills shortages and legacy technology.

🔒 The White House Executive Order signed June 22, 2026 mandates migration of federal systems to NIST‑approved post‑quantum cryptography, setting milestones for key establishment by 2030 and digital signatures by 2031. It extends urgency to critical infrastructure, federal contractors, and procurement, highlights "harvest now, decrypt later" risk, and calls for cryptographic bill of materials guidance to drive visibility and operational readiness.

🔒 The White House signed two executive orders to accelerate federal migration to post-quantum cryptography and expand investment in quantum technologies. The crypto order sets firm deadlines for replacing vulnerable algorithms, requires cryptographic inventories and a CBOM, and signals future procurement rules for contractors. The companion order creates a coordinated federal quantum initiative to drive research, commercialization, workforce development, and defenses for sensitive research.

🔒 On June 22, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order 14409, setting federal deadlines to adopt post-quantum cryptography: key establishment by December 31, 2030, and authentication by December 31, 2031, with contractors required to comply by 2030. Cloudflare supports the EO, noting federal procurement has historically driven industry adoption and highlighting that post-quantum encryption deployment is already widespread across its services while authentication work continues. The EO focuses on NIST-standardized PQC, excludes National Security Systems, and directs OMB and agencies to plan and report migration progress.

🔐 President Trump signed an executive order on June 22 directing federal agencies to migrate high-value assets to post-quantum cryptography with key establishment required by December 31, 2030 and digital signatures by December 31, 2031. The EO accelerates the federal timeline by four to five years and aligns agency schedules with NIST's 2024 FIPS for ML-KEM and ML-DSA/SLH-DSA. Agencies must name migration leads, inventory cryptographic assets, and submit plans; OMB, NIST, CISA and FAR will issue guidance to enforce timelines and contractor requirements.

🔐 The US has issued Executive Order 14409 requiring federal agencies to migrate to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) for key establishment by December 31, 2030 and for digital signatures by December 31, 2031. The EO mandates a Commerce-led PQC pilot to finish by December 31, 2027 and directs OMB and the National Cyber Director to accelerate a nationwide transition while coordinating with other agencies and international partners. It also tasks agencies to find cost efficiencies and ensures contractors meet federal cybersecurity standards by 2030.

🛡️ The Five Eyes cybersecurity agencies warned on June 22 that frontier AI is already reshaping offensive and defensive cyber capabilities and urged businesses to prioritize cyber resilience. They cautioned that AI accelerates attacks by lowering barriers and shrinking the window between discovery and exploitation, while also offering defensive benefits. The group recommended a whole-of-organization response focused on basics, secure-by-design, defence in depth, and integrating AI into security operations. Practical steps included reducing attack surfaces, accelerating patching, addressing legacy systems, strengthening access controls, and preparing incident response.

📰 The UK’s information commissioner, John Edwards, resigned on June 19 after an internal HR investigation concluded there was a case to answer for conduct that fell short of expected standards. Secretary of state Liz Kendall cited vulgar, sexualized language and thanked those who came forward. The ICO reiterated its commitment to a safe workplace and said it does not accept harassment, bullying or discrimination. Edwards acknowledged poor judgement, described his role as untenable and announced his resignation.

🛡️ The Estonian AI Council proposes government-backed digital identities for AI agents to define delegated powers and responsibilities. Prime Minister Kristen Michal emphasized that clear attribution, rights, and accountability are essential as AI increasingly acts on behalf of people and organizations. The ID could specify permissions such as data viewing, document editing, or making payments with defined limits. Estonia aims to leverage its digital ID leadership and become the first country to formalize agent identities.

🛡️ The Council of the EU approved Ukraine’s inclusion in the EU Cybersecurity Reserve on June 16, allowing the Ukrainian government to request emergency EU cyber support for large-scale incidents. Managed by ENISA, the reserve leverages 47 trusted private providers who passed an ownership control assessment. The initiative is funded under the Digital Europe Work Programme 2025–2027 and grounded in the EU Cyber Solidarity Act.

🔒 The UK will ban under-16s from social media and require age checks for new accounts, likely via ID upload or facial age scans, with regulations due before Christmas and rules effective spring 2027. Longstanding accounts are largely grandfathered, but new account creation will typically need verification. Experts warn checks are easy to circumvent, risk exposing ID/biometric data, and were pushed through with limited scrutiny. The government cites parental support and aims to restrict high-risk features and certain AI chatbot functions.

🛡️ The FCC has proposed a rule that would eliminate so-called burner phones by requiring telecom providers to collect and retain detailed personal information from virtually all phone customers. The rule would mandate submission of government-issued ID numbers, physical addresses, and additional data for business and foreign accounts, raising alarm among privacy and civil rights advocates. Supporters argue the changes target scammers and illicit activity, while critics warn of significant privacy, surveillance, and cybersecurity consequences if carriers must store this expanded dataset.

🛡️ Over 50 cybersecurity professionals have urged the US government to lift its export-control directive that suspended access to Anthropic’s Mythos 5 and Fable 5 LLMs. The directive, issued on June 12, led Anthropic to suspend access to both models while it complies with the government order, which cited national security concerns tied to alleged guardrail bypass research. The signees argue the ban removes valuable defensive capabilities and call for a transparent, scientific AI risk-assessment process.

🔍 Congress failed to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, creating a short pause in warrantless monitoring of foreign communications. The extension vote was rejected, leaving surveillance put on hold until the next possible vote on June 28, and creating uncertainty about immediate intelligence collection practices. CISOs should note potential impacts on cross-border communications and legal challenges ahead.

📝 The authors critique Senator Bernie Sanders’s proposal for a US sovereign wealth fund that would take large equity stakes in AI firms. They agree on the need for public influence and redistribution of AI-generated wealth but warn public ownership can entangle government incentives with corporate profit. Instead, they recommend taxation (e.g., datacenter or AI token taxes) and a public AI option like Switzerland’s Apertus to promote transparency, sustainability and democratic control.

🔒 CISA has issued Binding Operational Directive 26-04 requiring US federal agencies to shift from rigid, deadline-driven patching to a risk-based remediation model that prioritizes actively exploited threats. The directive ties remediation windows to risk — including a three-day forensic and patching requirement for the most critical flaws — and consolidates previous mandates into a single framework. It replaces CVSS-based prioritization with a four-factor risk assessment and gives agencies 180 days to meet the new timelines.

🔒 The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) fined e-commerce firm Coupang 624.6 billion won (~$409M) after a major data breach that exposed about 37.55 million people’s information. A subsidiary, Coupang Fulfillment Service, was also fined 248 million won for unlawful handling of personal and sensitive data. Investigators cited poor authentication key management, inadequate access controls, delayed breach disclosure, interference with the data protection officer’s independence, and obstruction of the probe.