cyber

The European Central Bank has requested banks to develop plans to address the growing cybersecurity threats posed by cutting-edge AI models such as Anthropic's Claude Mythos. In a letter to the chief executives of banks, the ECB's chief supervisory officer, Claudia Buch, asked lending institutions to submit action plans by the end of October.She urged banks to accelerate software patch updates, strengthen AI-driven cyber defenses, and enhance oversight of third-party vendors, while emphasizing that banks need to modernize their infrastructure in the long term. Buch stated, "The ECB calls on all significant institutions to immediately assess the impact of the evolving threat landscape and develop comprehensive action plans outlining specific measures to strengthen relevant controls." ECB President Christine Lagarde warned last month that artificial intelligence could lead to a financial crisis and stated that bank CEOs need to ensure they are prepared and recognize that countermeasures require substantial investment. The ECB has conducted cyber attack tests under severe scenarios on 109 banks, and most of the vulnerabilities identified have been addressed.

The Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission recently announced the progress of the first phase of the "Clear and Bright: Rectifying AI Application Chaos" special action. Since its launch in April 2026, this action has focused on issues such as large models not being registered as required, insufficient review and filtering capabilities, AI data poisoning, and inadequate implementation of content labeling. As of now, the first phase has dealt with over 14,000 AI products, including non-compliant websites, applications, and intelligent agents, cleaned up more than 6 million illegal and non-compliant pieces of information, handled over 26,000 non-compliant accounts, and removed over 1,300 non-compliant AI products and 9 non-compliant open-source datasets.During the special action, many local cyberspace departments have taken targeted measures such as establishing coordinated regulatory mechanisms and setting up reporting areas. Key platform companies such as Huawei, Alibaba, Zhiyu, and DeepSeek have also successively improved their registration review, content interception, and data anomaly detection mechanisms. The Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission stated that the next phase of governance will focus on cracking down on prominent issues such as the use of AI technology to create and disseminate false information, spread vulgar content, impersonate others, infringe on the rights of minors, and engage in internet water army activities, further increasing enforcement efforts and urging platforms to enhance their prevention and governance capabilities.

According to Jinshi reports, Quantum Cyber has been approved to acquire a portion of the shares of SpaceX (SPCX.O).

OpenAI announced a comprehensive expansion of its cybersecurity program Daybreak, aimed at leveraging artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery and automatic remediation of software vulnerabilities. The core of this expansion is the full version dedicated model GPT-5.5-Cyber launched for trusted defenders. It is reported that this model has set the highest score records in multiple cybersecurity benchmark tests, surpassing GPT-5.5's 81.8% and competitor Mythos 5's 83.8%, significantly improving the accuracy of vulnerability scanning and patch generation. At the same time, the synchronously updated Codex Security plugin has been deeply integrated into the developer workflow, supporting fully automated codebase scanning, threat modeling, and patch generation.In terms of ecosystem development, OpenAI has launched an exclusive partner program, allowing compliant security service providers to integrate GPT-5.5 with specific permissions into their commercial products; and has initiated the "Patch the Planet" program in collaboration with organizations like Trail of Bits to assist over 30 foundational open-source projects such as Python and Go in implementing vulnerability fixes. In addition, OpenAI revealed that it is currently engaged in deep cooperation with governments and institutions from multiple countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan, to jointly enhance the cybersecurity capabilities of global critical infrastructure.

The leaders of the G7 countries issued a statement at the G7 summit held in Évian-les-Bains, France, once again calling for a joint effort to combat North Korea's cryptocurrency theft and cybercrime. United Nations security researchers have linked North Korea's cryptocurrency theft to the funding of the country's weapons program.Previously, attacks suspected to be related to North Korean hackers included a $285 million attack on Drift Protocol in April and a $36 million breach of Humanity Protocol in June. According to Chainalysis data, North Korean hackers have stolen at least $2 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, bringing their total historical theft to at least $6.75 billion.

According to CryptoSlate, the U.S. Congress is pushing to rebuild the Department of Justice's cryptocurrency crime task force. Previously, the Department of Justice disbanded the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team in April 2025 and stopped its "law enforcement as regulation" strategy targeting the cryptocurrency industry. The new bill was proposed by Representatives Lance Gooden and Josh Gottheimer, aiming to establish a federal cryptocurrency theft task force within the Department of Justice, responsible for coordinating investigations and prosecutions of cases involving cryptocurrency theft, hacking, fraud, and more.The task force's responsibilities include developing best practices for evidence collection, digital evidence analysis, asset tracking, and victim outreach, providing technical assistance and training to state and local law enforcement agencies, and coordinating international cross-border case cooperation. The bill explicitly excludes the cryptocurrency market, financial institutions, and financial products from the task force's regulatory scope, without changing the existing regulatory framework and criminal law. An FBI report indicates that in 2025, there were 181,565 complaints involving cryptocurrency, with reported losses exceeding $11 billion. The bill has not yet clarified details regarding funding, staffing, and victim response mechanisms.

The "Anthropic" plan allows the EU's cybersecurity agency to use the powerful artificial intelligence tool "Mythos," which can discover and exploit vulnerabilities in computer systems.According to informed sources, Anthropic will allow the European Cybersecurity Agency to join the "Glass Wings" project. This project aims to let key institutions test the capabilities of "Mythos" before widespread deployment. A spokesperson for the European Commission stated that negotiations with Anthropic are progressing but declined to comment further.

AML / KYT provider Shard disclosed that the number of cyber attacks in the cryptocurrency industry doubled year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, exceeding 80 incidents, but total losses decreased by 69% year-on-year to $496 million, compared to $1.6 billion in the same period last year. Shard stated that the losses in the same period of 2025 were mainly impacted by a significant theft incident of approximately $1.4 billion involving Bybit; while the attacks in 2026 were more dispersed, targeting DeFi protocols, infrastructure services, and individual users.Looking at the months, there were a total of 29 attacks in January, with losses exceeding $392 million; 26 attacks in February, with losses exceeding $22 million; and 27 attacks in March, with losses exceeding $81 million.

According to informed sources, U.S. President Trump is expected to issue an executive order aimed at strengthening cybersecurity for artificial intelligence as early as Thursday and has invited leaders from the tech industry to attend the signing event. Media reports previously indicated that the order Trump is expected to sign will modify the existing cybersecurity information sharing program to include artificial intelligence companies, but it will not require federal approval for cutting-edge models.Instead, the order will call for voluntary testing of cutting-edge artificial intelligence systems by the government to identify and patch vulnerabilities in federal, state, and local networks as well as critical infrastructure in the U.S., without the need for extensive new regulations. Informed sources stated that invitations have been sent to several tech industry executives to attend the signing ceremony at the White House on Thursday, but it is currently unclear who will attend.

According to Decrypt, Admiral Samuel Paparo, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, stated during a hearing before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. government is currently running a Bitcoin node for cybersecurity-related testing, but is not engaged in mining.Paparo indicated that the U.S. military's interest in Bitcoin primarily focuses on its value as a computer science tool, including cryptography, blockchain, and reusable proof-of-work mechanisms, with the aim of using the Bitcoin protocol to strengthen cybersecurity and enhance military capabilities, which is still in the experimental stage. He also mentioned that maintaining the global dominance of the U.S. dollar aligns with U.S. military interests and gave a positive evaluation of the stablecoin legalization bill, the GENIUS Act, signed by Trump last summer, believing that the bill helps to solidify the global position of the dollar.

According to Cointelegraph, Admiral Samuel Paparo of the U.S. Navy stated at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that Bitcoin is a "valuable computer science tool," and its proof-of-work technology has significant applications in cybersecurity, increasing the cost of attacks for adversaries and can be used to protect data, information, and command signals, helping to support U.S. national security interests.Paparo noted, "Beyond the economic aspect, it has very important computer science application value in cybersecurity." Previously, Jason Lowery, a member of the U.S. Space Force, also made similar points in 2023.

According to Cointelegraph, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has urged banks to strengthen their cybersecurity defenses due to heightened regulatory concerns arising from the spread of the Mythos AI model under Anthropic in the Asia region.

Recently, the internet police in Taizhou, Zhejiang, China reported a fraud case disguised as "metaverse" and "virtual currency."The criminal gang promoted facial recognition payment devices, initially attracting users through a points system, then luring investors to purchase their self-issued "air coins." They continuously siphoned off funds through methods such as locking assets, manipulating prices, and "currency swapping," ultimately defrauding over 130 investors of approximately 35 million yuan. The court determined that the defendants committed fraud with the intent of illegal possession, with the amount being particularly large, sentencing them to 10 years in prison and a fine of 200,000 yuan.

The trading platform Grinex, linked to the Russian crypto market, suspended withdrawals and trading on Thursday, citing a "massive cyber attack." The exchange stated that over 1 billion rubles (approximately 13.1 million USD) were stolen, but blockchain analysis firm Elliptic's tracking shows the actual loss is about 15 million USDT.The stolen funds have been exchanged for TRX and ETH through the Tron and Ethereum networks to evade freezing. It is reported that Grinex is seen as the successor to the sanctioned Garantex trading platform, which was targeted by U.S. authorities last year for facilitating the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal funds.

The National Police of Ukraine and the Internal Security Department conducted a joint operation, arresting a suspect in the Transcarpathian region who is alleged to be involved in an international cybercrime gang. This gang is implicated in fraud and money laundering cases exceeding $100 million targeting the United States and Europe, and had previously been listed as an international wanted person by the FBI.The suspect was found in possession of forged identity documents and had even fabricated a death certificate to conceal their whereabouts. The gang deployed malware to steal personal and corporate data, subsequently extorting victims for ransom. Money laundering methods included purchasing real estate and using relatives' names to obscure the flow of funds. Authorities seized approximately $11 million in assets, including cash, real estate, vehicles, and about $3 million worth of cryptocurrency, and also apprehended two co-defendants. The suspect faces charges of document forgery and money laundering.

OpenAI announced the launch of the GPT-5.4-Cyber model, which is fine-tuned from GPT-5.4 for cybersecurity scenarios, reducing the refusal limits on security-related requests under specific conditions to support specialized operations such as binary reverse engineering.According to the introduction, the model is only available to vetted security vendors, corporate security teams, and researchers through the "Trusted Access for Cybersecurity" (TAC) program. OpenAI stated that the relevant layered mechanism will limit the scope of model usage and impose additional constraints on access in low visibility scenarios.

A 27-year-old German hacker, Noah Christopher, was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, facing up to 74 arrest warrants for cyber crimes in Europe.Investigations show that this individual is suspected of developing and operating a ransomware platform and a "cybercrime-as-a-service" (CaaS) system between 2021 and 2025, including providing distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack tools (such as Fluxstress and Neldowner), assisting global clients in launching cyber attacks and charging fees, with related ransom payments involving cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, constituting transnational cybercrime activities. His visa has been revoked, and he is currently detained awaiting extradition to Germany.

The Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection (OCCIP) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a new initiative today aimed at strengthening cybersecurity in the digital asset industry.This initiative will provide timely, actionable cybersecurity information to eligible U.S. digital asset companies and industry organizations, helping them better identify, prevent, and respond to cyber threats targeting their customers and networks. This action implements an important recommendation from the President's Working Group on Financial Markets in the report "Enhancing the U.S. Leadership in Digital Financial Technology."