SecurityBrief UK

Atos delivered digital and competition management services for the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games as part of its five-year partnership with Special Olympics. It provided competition management, data processing, sport entries, credentialing, timing and scoring integration, and results distribution during the event. Those services were supported by work on the Special Olympics Global Games System, along with infrastructure, security and support from on-site and remote teams.

Abacus has marked the 10-year anniversary of its London office, which has grown from one employee to 129 staff. The office serves as the company's EMEA headquarters and has been part of its global delivery model since opening in 2016. The milestone reflects broader growth across Europe, the Middle East and Africa as Abacus expands its managed IT and cybersecurity services for regulated industries.

SpeakUp has launched Sienna Insights, an analytics product for ethics and compliance teams that expands its Sienna AI suite. The tool lets compliance officers query live case data in plain language and receive answers in seconds, alongside shareable visualisations. It also helps users detect patterns across cases, regions and issue types, and review the full history of individual cases. The launch builds on a set of AI tools SpeakUp has introduced since 2024.

Nextcloud has launched a global partner programme for independent software vendors to expand the software available on its platform. The open-source collaboration software provider said the programme will connect software vendors with customers through the Nextcloud App Store, where developers can promote applications, offer subscriptions, and provide support and documentation.

Hamad International Airport, Qatar Airways and SITA have launched Fast Pass, a biometric travel system covering more than 700 passenger touchpoints at Doha airport. Passengers who choose to enrol can use facial recognition instead of a boarding pass or other travel documents at check-in, bag drop, security and boarding. The system links these stages into a single biometric journey and is available to passengers departing from Hamad International Airport.

EcoOnline has launched EcoOne, a product that brings safety and sustainability data into a single view. The software is already being used by Hitachi Rail and Menzies Aviation as they replace separate regional systems. EcoOne combines information from incidents, audits, chemical safety, permit-to-work processes, ESG reporting, training and crisis management. It also includes dashboard tools for key performance indicators and lets users query data in natural language.

Innovation City and Siada have launched a sovereign AI data centre in Ras Al Khaimah, which they describe as the first facility of its kind in the Middle East. The site operates within Innovation City, a UAE free zone focused on artificial intelligence and other technology sectors. Companies based there can access Nvidia B200 graphics processing units by the hour, reserve them for longer periods or deploy them in managed on-premises environments.

The Financial Conduct Authority has published a review of artificial intelligence in retail financial services, led by Executive Director Sheldon Mills. The study examines how AI could reshape consumer finance, firm operations, market dynamics and regulatory oversight by 2030 and beyond. It describes itself as the first review of its kind launched by a regulator and draws on views from across the financial services sector.

The Financial Conduct Authority has published its final rules for the UK's crypto sector, creating a dedicated regime for firms operating with cryptoassets in Britain. The framework covers trading venues, intermediaries, custodians, stablecoin issuers and firms that arrange staking. Any company that wants to serve UK customers must now obtain FCA authorisation.

There is a question every business handling sensitive information should be asking before it ships another AI feature: when we give this model access to our data, what stops that access from quietly becoming access to everything? In IBM's 2025 breach research, found that 63% of organisations had no AI governance policy in place, and that among those experiencing an AI-related security incident, 97% lacked proper AI access controls. That is the real story behind the current rush to adopt AI.