For two decades IBM and the Ponemon Institute have tallied the financial fallout of data breaches, tracking everything from stolen laptops in the mid-2000s to ransomware’s pandemic-era surge. The 2025 edition of their Cost of a Data Breach Report marks a turning point. This year the spotlight isn’t on cloud misconfigurations or phishing emails alone, it’s on artificial intelligence.
The European Commission is sounding the alarm on compliance challenges at the EU’s borders, warning that customs checks are struggling to keep pace with the flood of goods entering through e-commerce channels. A new report released on August 29 highlights how non-compliant products, from unsafe electronics to environmentally hazardous items, continue slipping through, creating risks for both consumers and businesses that play by the rules.
On 28 August, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) reprimanded Deutsche Bank and imposed a $23.8 million fine after a series of investigations revealed regulatory breaches stretching back more than a decade. The problems ranged from sloppy fee processes to disclosure lapses that cut at the heart of market integrity.
Australia’s communications regulator has penalized Exetel nearly $472,505 (AUD 694,860) after uncovering serious breaches that left customers exposed to sophisticated mobile number fraud schemes.
TransUnion has disclosed that a cyber incident exposed personal data of U.S. consumers through a third-party application used in its customer support operations. While the company emphasized that no credit reports or core credit information were involved, the incident highlights a growing challenge for regulated businesses: securing the extended web of vendors and applications that support daily operations.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is taking a major step toward modernizing its oversight capabilities by deploying Nasdaq’s advanced market surveillance technology. The move upgrades the agency’s decades-old legacy system with cross-market monitoring and automated fraud detection tools designed to protect U.S. derivatives markets.
The European Commission has opened the floor to anyone with a stake in the digital economy (from startups to tech giants, academics to everyday consumers) to weigh in on how well the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is doing its job. The law, designed to keep the biggest platforms in check and give smaller players a fighting chance, is now under review. And this time, artificial intelligence is front and center.