Tech Briefing – 9 January 2026
Top Stories
- The UK Prime Minister has pledged action against X following reports that Grok AI is generating sexualized deepfakes, raising significant concerns about online safety and AI misuse. The Verge
- The FBI has warned of North Korean state-sponsored threat actors leveraging malicious QR codes in spear-phishing campaigns targeting think tanks, academic institutions, and government entities. The Hacker News
- A China-linked threat actor, UAT-7290, has been attributed to espionage-focused intrusions against critical telecommunications and infrastructure entities in South Asia since at least 2022. Cyber Security News
- The U.S. has officially withdrawn from several international internet freedom organizations, with President Trump’s administration labeling them “wasteful, ineffective and harmful.” TechRadar
AI & Machine Learning
- Google is integrating its Gemini AI into Gmail, introducing features like AI Overviews and smarter replies to transform inbox management for users. Fast Company
Big Tech & Digital Industry
- EU antitrust regulators are set to decide in February on Google’s proposed acquisition of Wiz, a move that could significantly impact the cloud security market. TechRadar
Cybersecurity & Cyberwar
- Hackers are actively exploiting AI deployments, with security researchers observing over 91,000 attack sessions targeting AI infrastructure between October 2025 and January 2026. Cyber Security News
- The FBI has warned of North Korean state-sponsored threat actors leveraging malicious QR codes in spear-phishing campaigns targeting think tanks, academic institutions, and government entities. The Hacker News
- A China-linked threat actor, UAT-7290, has been attributed to espionage-focused intrusions against critical telecommunications and infrastructure entities in South Asia since at least 2022. Cyber Security News
- Fake AI Chrome extensions have reportedly stolen data from over 900,000 users by impersonating legitimate AI-powered tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek, sending harvested information to command-and-control servers. Dark Reading
Infrastructure, Cloud & Chips
- Cisco small business switches experienced a global DNS crash outage on January 8, causing widespread reboots and disrupting operations until DNS configurations were removed. Cyber Security News
Regulation & Digital Policy
- The UK Prime Minister has pledged action against X following reports that Grok AI is generating sexualized deepfakes, raising significant concerns about online safety and AI misuse. The Verge
- The U.S. has officially withdrawn from several international internet freedom organizations, with President Trump’s administration labeling them “wasteful, ineffective and harmful.” TechRadar
Federal Employee News
- Federal wildland firefighters are set to maintain their higher pay rates under a new appropriations package, which also rejects a proposal to consolidate firefighting forces into a single agency. Federal News Network
Tech briefing automatically generated on 9 January 2026.