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21 Aug 25. IFS, the leading provider of Industrial AI software, today released a global study revealing the accelerating scale of Industrial AI adoption across industries. The research identifies an ‘Invisible Revolution’: a rapid but under-recognised shift away from consumer productivity-led AI experimentation and toward embedded, operational AI across core business processes. But as with all revolutions, significant challenges are emerging. The IFS Invisible Revolution Study 2025*, which surveyed over 1,700 senior decision makers at industrial enterprises globally, found that while organisations are adopting AI today, they are not fully prepared for its full implementation. This has created what IFS has dubbed the ‘AI Execution Gap.’ This gap has been formed by companies moving faster into AI adoption than their staff are able to upskill. In the next 12 months, the number of companies still in early AI experimentation will collapse from 24% to just 7% moving up in the maturity curve, yet 52% of senior leaders say their management teams don’t fully understand AI, and 99% of global workforces will require major reskilling to harness the positive impacts of AI adoption on the industrial world.
“AI is a core driver of business performance, it’s time to plug the ‘AI Execution Gap’—bring people, process, and product together to deliver tangible outcomes,” said Kriti Sharma, CEO, IFS Nexus Black. “The pace of adoption is inspiring, but the next big unlock will come from scaling trust, strategy, and talent. Industrial AI is a powerful force for good, and we’re in a moment of opportunity: those who move fast will lead the next decade of industry.”
Growing AI value, but lagging readiness and trust issues
The research reveals a striking contrast at the heart of the AI surge. While the technology is already delivering impressive returns, most organisations remain unprepared to scale its impact. More than half of business leaders (53%) admit their organisation still lacks a clear AI strategy, yet the study clearly finds opportunities available to companies that embrace AI. 70% of businesses report better-than-expected ROI from their AI investments, and on average 88% say AI has already improved profitability, rising to 92% in the US and 94% in Germany. So how do enterprises adapt to ensure they stay competitive? Training and upskilling—supporting employees to thrive in an AI-First environment will be key to ensuring that industrial companies remain relevant. The study found that over half of the business leaders interviewed estimated that up to 60% of their employees will need new skills, with a third saying it could be as high as 100%. Despite growing confidence in AI’s potential to boost productivity and growth, trust remains a major hurdle. Only 29% of global leaders are comfortable allowing AI to make strategic decisions autonomously, while 68% say a human must still confirm or approve AI-generated outputs. Concerns about bias also persist—particularly in the US, where 63% of respondents cite it as a top concern, compared to just 40% in the Nordics. Encouragingly, 65% of global leaders support the creation of an independent, international AI regulatory body to help close the trust gap.
Industrial AI triggers a business model shift
While AI has captured attention for revolutionising productivity and creative tasks for predominantly white-collar workers, it’s Industrial AI that is fundamentally reshaping the way industrial enterprises run. It is being embedded deep within core operations, automating maintenance, predicting disruptions, optimising supply chains, and orchestrating intelligent decision-making across field service, asset management, and manufacturing. This isn’t a future ambition, it’s already happening. 54% of global organisations are using automation AI, while 45% are deploying predictive AI. Already, 35% are experimenting with Agentic AI, capable of autonomously executing decisions across workflows. Traditional business models are being influenced by AI with 77% of global leaders saying it is accelerating servitisation, the evolution from product sales to outcome-based services, where businesses deliver uptime, performance, and continuous value instead of just physical goods.
Kriti Sharma continued: “This is a bold new era where AI is redefining how industries create and deliver value. Industrial AI is moving into real-time, decision-grade intelligence embedded across the enterprise. It’s already securely automating the complex, predicting the unexpected, and powering new service-led business models. This is about shifting from tasks to transformation, and the organisations who embrace that shift will lead the next industrial chapter.”
The clock is ticking
The IFS research signals a new stage of enterprise AI, no longer confined to innovation labs, but powering frontline operations. The next 12 months will be decisive as those organisations that close the ‘AI Execution Gap’ now will shape the future of industrial leadership.
Kriti Sharma concluded: “We’re experiencing one of the most profound and underestimated shifts in global business. Industrial AI is here and already reshaping how entire industries run, compete, and grow. The time is now.”
IFS Nexus Black applies deep domain expertise and industrial-grade AI to build production-ready products proven to minimise risk, maximise return, and deliver results in weeks, not years.
21 Aug 25. Cyber A.I. Group, Inc. (“CyberAI” or the “Company”), an emerging growth Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence and IT services company engaged in the development of next-generation market disruptive AI-driven Cybersecurity technology, today announced it has entered into a strategic joint venture agreement with London-based Synergy Associates Ltd (“Synergy”), a leading global IT Managed Services Provider with operations in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Hong Kong and Dubai. The partnership will center on the Beta testing and pre-commercial deployment of CyberAI’s patent-pending CyberAI Sentinel 2.0 advanced AI-driven cybersecurity platform—which is designed to deliver autonomous threat detection, adaptive risk mitigation and intelligent system resilience to enterprise and cloud environments. The patent for CyberAI Sentinel 2.0 was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on July 11, 2025.
“This joint venture represents an important step as part of the development process for CyberAI Sentinel 2.0,” said A.J. Cervantes, Jr., Executive Chairman of CyberAI. “Once the Beta program begins, Synergy’s global footprint and deep customer relationships will allow us to test the platform in demanding, real-world conditions. We expect the resulting feedback to be pivotal in ensuring we deliver a transformative, market-ready AI-driven cybersecurity solution.”
With a 20-year track record serving some of the most security-sensitive sectors, Synergy is recognized for delivering high-availability IT support, advanced cloud services and rigorous cybersecurity measures to industries such as finance, creative services and professional services. The company’s trusted advisor status with its clients makes it uniquely positioned to integrate, evaluate and provide real-world operational insights into CyberAI Sentinel 2.0 before the product’s global market introduction. Alexander Caplan, CEO of Synergy, stated: “Our clients are increasingly looking for solutions that can anticipate and defuse threats before they cause damage. By partnering with CyberAI, we will soon be in a position to offer selected customers early access to a platform that learns, adapts and evolves in real time. This Beta test will give us—and them—a front-row seat to what we believe could redefine the future of cybersecurity.”
Under the agreement, Synergy will deploy CyberAI Sentinel 2.0 with a select group of clients drawn from its existing portfolio of enterprise customers. Over the course of an initial six-month Beta program, the joint venture will evaluate live-environment performance, gather structured customer feedback and execute iterative refinements to optimize platform capabilities ahead of a full-scale commercial launch. The Beta program is structured to ensure maximum operational insight without cost to participating customers during the testing phase.
About Synergy Associates Ltd
Synergy is an international IT Managed Services Provider specializing in delivering high-performance IT support and cybersecurity solutions to diversified industries, including creative and financial services. Headquartered in London and with local operations spanning New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Hong Kong and Dubai, Synergy combines local expertise with global reach, ensuring operational excellence, innovation and security for its international client base. For more information, please visit: synergy.tech
About Cyber A.I. Group
Cyber A.I. Group, Inc. (“CyberAI”) is a next-generation technology company pioneering the development of advanced, proprietary platforms at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity. With a mission to redefine how organizations protect, predict and respond to digital threats, CyberAI is positioning patent pending technologies that enable autonomous threat detection, adaptive risk mitigation and intelligent system resilience across enterprise and cloud environments. At the core of CyberAI’s innovation is a team of world-class technologists, data scientists and cybersecurity experts dedicated to creating breakthrough solutions that are scalable, secure and globally deployable. The company’s technologies are designed to address the most urgent and complex challenges facing today’s digital infrastructure—from AI-driven security orchestration to autonomous anomaly detection and predictive analytics for critical systems. CyberAI’s commitment to continuous innovation and deep IP development is positioning it at the critical merger between AI and the global cybersecurity landscape. By fusing artificial intelligence with real-world cyber defense expertise, the company aims to set new standards for intelligent infrastructure protection and digital trust. For more information, please visit: cyberaigroup.io
19 Aug 25. Global Skyware, part of the Global Invacom Group, has unveiled its XY antenna. Ideally suited for rapid response, mission critical applications, the XY offers users the highest degree of modularity, flexibility and simple assembly for on-the -move and on-the-pause connectivity. The XY antenna allows multi-orbit capability across Geostationary Earth Orbit Satellite (“GEO”), Low Earth Orbit (“LEO”), Medium Earth Orbit (“MEO”) and High Earth Orbit (“HEO”). It can be switched between the high frequency Ka- and Ku-bands and can also be operated using outdoor or indoor control systems, depending on user requirements. The antenna’s integrated system is unique on the market today, with no requirement for the transportation of multiple discrete feed elements and radio frequency (“RF”) units. This is all packaged into a transceiver that is attached to the back of the antenna reflector. The use of a transceiver brings huge advantages in terms of reduced size, weight, power and cost (“SWaPC”). It packs the equivalent of multiple Block Up Converters (“BUCs”), Low-Noise Block Down Converters (“LNBs”) and ports into one neat package. Highly suitable for government and defence applications, the antenna is exempted from restrictions under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) and is World Geodetic System (“WGS”) compliant. Hardened to enable it to function in the most extreme environments, it is also available with a Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (“DIFI”) interface or hosted software defined modems, supporting multi network capability and the virtualisation of satcoms ground infrastructure. The XY antenna is packaged such that it is also compliant with Internation Air Transport Association (“IATA”) requirement, as well as being easy to handle and transport on aircraft.
Robert Potter, Chief Technology Officer at Global Invacom said: “The XY antenna is our most innovative antenna to date: lighter, smaller and includes the use of a transceiver rather than discrete RF, which results in a significantly more compact system. During the development process, we have taken every step to ensure that this antenna delivers for the user. It’s incredibly flexible, easy to use and highly reliable enabling it to adapt to many different user profiles.”
The Global Invacom team will be at the Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition in London from 9th to 12th September 2025. To book a meeting, please visit: https://globalinvacom.com/blogs/news/dsei
19 Aug 25. South Korea: Malware operation highlights security, information-theft risks to diplomatic entities. On 18 August, the cyber security company Trellix reported that the ‘XenoRAT’ malware has been used in a suspected North Korean state-sponsored operation against foreign embassies in South Korea since March. At least 19 targeted spear phishing attacks have occurred against high-value targets where malicious actors pretend to be EU delegation officials to trick users into opening a malicious .LNK file disguised as a PDF. The spear phishing emails were written in several languages and contained themes related to real events to feign legitimacy, underscoring the pre-mediated nature of the campaign. The .LNK file would then deploy the XenoRAT malware on the infected device and establish persistence via scheduled tasks. XenoRAT can access the webcam and microphone, conduct remote shell operations, log keystrokes, perform file transfers and take screenshots. This highlights the campaign’s goal to steal sensitive information for cyber espionage purposes, elevating security and information-theft risks to diplomatic entities in South Korea. (Source: Sibylline)
18 Aug 25. Taiwan: Web infrastructure faces elevated espionage, information-theft risks from Chinese actor. On 15 August, the technology company Cisco Talos reported that the Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) group (‘UAT-7237’) has been targeting Taiwanese web infrastructure in a cyber espionage operation. The group exploits existing software vulnerabilities on internet-connected servers to obtain initial access. The group then uses remote desktop protocol (RDP) and SoftEther virtual private network (VPN) clients to establish persistent access. Subsequently, UAT-7237 establishes a backdoor connection while using open-source tools to steal credentials. The use of both open-source and custom tools points to the sophistication and defence evasion capabilities of both groups. Additionally, UAT-7237 used the privilege escalation tool ‘JuicyPotato’. This tool is used by various Chinese threat actors, indicating a potential connection between groups. This campaign appears to focus on gaining access to web providers’ VPN and cloud infrastructure. As such, we assess that the long-term infection and security risks to the sector remain persistent as Chinese actors continue to target global communications infrastructure in prolonged cyber espionage operations. (Source: Sibylline)
15 Aug 25. Cyber Update Key points.
- Compromised software packages underscore increased security risks facing South Korea-based developers (see Sibylline Cyber Daily Analytical Update – 11 August 2025).
- The growing exploitation of legitimate tools in cyber attacks underscores elevated security risks to global businesses (see Sibylline Cyber Daily Analytical Update – 12 August 2025 and our Technical analysis below).
- Europe-based critical national infrastructure (CNI) and government entities face sustained security and cyber espionage risks from the Russia-linked group ‘Curly COMrades’ (see Sibylline Cyber Daily Analytical Update – 13 August 2025 and our Technical analysis below).
- A new ransomware family (‘Charon’) will elevate long-term financial, operational and security risks to the aviation and public sectors in the Middle East (see Sibylline Cyber Daily Analytical Update – 14 August 2025).
- A cyber attack against a water dam in Norway underscores long-term security and operational risks from pro-Russia hacktivist groups (see Sibylline Cyber Daily Analytical Update – 15 August 2025).
Technical analysis of weekly stories
Threat actors are increasingly exploiting legitimate tools to infiltrate targeted systems. In a series of recent incidents, threat actors reportedly used social engineering attacks as an initial vector to steal user credentials and hijack Microsoft accounts. This enabled them to exploit the Microsoft file-sharing service OneDrive to send a legitimate-looking email notification and trick victims into clicking on an embedded link. Previous attacks typically spoofed external email addresses to send fake file-sharing notifications, highlighting the stealth of this new attack technique. The link was created using the note-taking application OneNote and redirected victims to an organisation’s genuine OneDrive environment to enhance legitimacy and evade traditional security mechanisms. This underscores the pervasive adoption of legitimate Microsoft tools during campaigns, as well as the actors’ stealth and detection evasion capabilities. Threat actors then displayed a fake login portal to coerce victims into disclosing their credentials and subsequently propagate the infection. The actors used website builders powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to create the phishing portals, also showcasing the continued incorporation of AI in cyber attacks. The tools created pages that were almost identical to their legitimate counterparts and contributed to the campaign’s high success rate, further highlighting the growing risks stemming from the development and availability of AI alongside legitimate tools. A Russia-linked group (Curly COMrades) has targeted government and critical national infrastructure (CNI) entities in a cyber espionage campaign since at least mid-2024. While the initial attack vector is unknown, the group deployed a new backdoor variant (‘MucorAgent’) onto compromised systems to maintain prolonged persistence, execute PowerShell scripts and exfiltrate data. Curly COMrades uses a Windows component (‘NGEN’) to covertly activate the malware at random times to remain obfuscated and enhance detection evasion. NGEN conducts optimisation tasks during system idle times to convert an application’s code into native machine code and to reduce startup times and memory usage. Curly COMrades exploits this mechanism to load MucorAgent at the same time as the optimisation tasks, highlighting the group’s stealth and sophistication. The group also installs several proxy tools and other payloads to maintain persistence, monitor compromised systems and exfiltrate sensitive data. The proxy tools include ‘CurlCat’, ‘Resocks’, ‘RuRat’ and ‘SOCS5 Binary’ to establish multiple persistent access points and covertly relay malicious traffic. Certain exfiltration techniques also comprise extracting hashes and authentication data from New Technology Director Service (NTDS) databases, as well as dumping Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) memory to obtain credentials. We assess that the combination of sophisticated and new techniques and tools throughout this operation underscores the continuous development of Russia-linked cyber tactics.
Non-exhaustive recommendations to mitigate against these threats include:
- Monitor devices and networks for suspicious activity.
- Add available Indicators-of-Compromise (IoCs) to your organisation’s security systems to detect potentially malicious samples on the network; configure firewalls to block outbound communications to malicious IP addresses associated with any known malware.
- Adopt behaviour-based end-point detection and response (EDR) solutions, prioritising the detection of the initial stages of a compromise.
- Conduct cyber hygiene awareness courses for users, enabling them to recognise and report phishing and other types of social engineering.
Our cyber word(s) of the week: New Technology Directory Service (NTDS) (Source: Sibylline)
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Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW) has a long history with its roots dating back to Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first flight in 1903, and Mr. Glenn Curtiss, the father of naval aviation. In 1929, the companies founded by these three great aviation pioneers, the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company and Wright Aeronautical Corporation, merged to form the largest aircraft company at the time, Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
We have continued on the path of innovation and advanced engineering, and have applied that expertise to a number of critical applications in high-performance markets. Our success has resulted in a world-renowned reputation for performance, long-standing customer relationships and significant growth and profitability in the markets in which we compete.
Today, we are a global, integrated provider of highly engineered, technologically advanced products and services. Our revenues are generated by providing our critical solutions through three segments: Aerospace & Industrial, Defense Electronics and Naval & Power, which support several of the largest, most vital industries in the world.
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