Tech Briefing – 28 February 2026

Top Stories

The U.S. government ordered federal agencies to cease using Anthropic’s AI technology, after a public dispute where the company refused to allow unrestricted military use, leading the Pentagon to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk. Federal News Network
OpenAI’s Codex AI coding assistant has seen a rapid increase in user adoption, with weekly active users tripling and overall usage increasing fivefold, signaling its growing impact on software development workflows. Fast Company
The future advancements in artificial intelligence are expected to be driven more by superior organization and understanding of knowledge (context) rather than merely increasing computational power or model size. TechRadar

AMD and Meta announced a multi-year agreement for the deployment of up to six gigawatts of Instinct GPUs, significantly expanding Meta’s AI computing infrastructure. TechRadar

The North Korean threat actor ScarCruft has deployed new tools, including a backdoor using Zoho WorkDrive for command-and-control and an implant leveraging removable media to breach air-gapped networks. The Hacker News
A new multi-stage malware campaign, deploying the previously unknown Dohdoor backdoor, has been actively targeting educational institutions and healthcare organizations across the United States since December 2025. Cyber Security News
Despite a surge in ransomware attacks, the proportion of organizations choosing to pay ransoms has dropped to a record low, indicating a shift in incident response strategies. TechRadar

Jack Dorsey’s fintech company, Block, announced layoffs of thousands of employees, with the CEO explicitly linking the workforce reduction to efficiency gains from the adoption of artificial intelligence tools. Fast Company

Concerns about AI deepfakes eroding the concept of photographic evidence were raised with Samsung executives, highlighting a growing societal debate over the integrity of AI-generated content. The Verge

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has appointed Nick Andersen as its new acting director, replacing Madhu Gottumukkala after less than a year, with Gottumukkala moving to a strategic implementation role at DHS. The Verge

Tech briefing automatically generated on 28 February 2026.