🛰️ #OSINT Update for 22 December 2025 (CET) 🛰️ 🇺🇸 United States — AI Regulation • Cyber Defence • Financial Crime → Federal regulators moved into final review phase for AI audit and certification compliance ahead of Q1 enforcement; biometric and behavioural systems remain primary focus. → CISA circulated updated advisories on deepfake-enabled social-engineering campaigns targeting utilities, telecoms, and logistics operators during holiday staffing gaps. → FinCEN intensified supervisory scrutiny of high-risk MSBs and crypto kiosks, signalling imminent enforcement actions tied to due-diligence failures. 🇩🇪 Germany — Data Oversight • Surveillance Tech → Federal data-protection authorities advanced coordinated audits of large-scale analytics and data-fusion platforms used by law-enforcement pilots. → Parliamentary debate continued on tightening export controls for advanced encryption and lawful-intercept tooling. 🇬🇧 United Kingdom — Immigration • Domestic Security → Home Office expanded eVisa biometric stabilisation measures following technical backlog reports; additional verification pathways introduced. → Security services maintained elevated monitoring of encrypted procurement and logistics networks linked to extremist actors. 🇨🇦 Canada — Crypto Oversight • Border Biometrics → FINTRAC progressed enforcement reviews of crypto-service providers flagged for transaction-monitoring deficiencies. → CBSA biometric entry pilots reported increased throughput; internal assessment on permanent rollout underway. 🇦🇺 Australia — AI Ethics • Surveillance → Federal oversight bodies moved toward finalising audit requirements for AI-assisted body-camera analytics; interim moratoriums remain in some jurisdictions. → State transport authorities paused expansion of facial-recognition trials pending unified governance guidance. 🇪🇺 European Union & Member States — Digital Identity Wallets • AI Act • Chat Control → Member States accelerated conformity-assessment scheduling for EUDI Wallet providers ahead of early-2026 milestones. → AI Act coordination on high-risk and recruitment systems entered final guidance drafting phase. → Chat Control trilogue negotiations remained unresolved, with encryption safeguards and mandatory-scanning scope still contested. 🇷🇺 Russia — Strike Ops • De-dollarisation • Military Posture → Russian forces sustained long-range strike pressure on Ukrainian energy and logistics nodes; regional air-defence postures adjusted across neighbouring states. → Moscow reinforced ruble-settlement requirements in strategic procurement, tightening FX access for mixed-ownership entities. 🇺🇦 Ukraine — Drones • Long-Range Strike • Cyber Defence → Long-range UAV campaigns against Russian logistics and fuel infrastructure continued, with periodic disruptions reported. → CERT-UA and partners disrupted phishing and malware operations targeting municipal and energy-sector networks. 🇮🇱 Israel — Border Security • Intelligence • Cyber → AI-assisted screening and ANPR systems expanded at border crossings to detect dual-use materials and UAV components. → Cyber-defence units contained intrusion attempts against municipal utilities; vendor-chain forensics ongoing. 🇵🇸 Palestine — Humanitarian Aid → Humanitarian agencies warned of sustained medical and fuel shortages in Gaza, with acute pressure on hospital critical-care capacity. 🇨🇳 China — Digital ID • Surveillance • Censorship → National digital-ID integration advanced across welfare and public-service platforms, expanding biometric logging and access controls. → Encrypted-traffic inspection and content-labelling pilots broadened under new regulatory guidance. 🇯🇵 Japan — Encryption • Cyber Resilience → Inter-ministerial committees finalised encryption compliance roadmaps while preserving emergency-response carve-outs. → Defence and civilian agencies conducted GPS-interference resilience drills in maritime and port environments. 🇰🇵 North Korea — Military Posture → Satellite monitoring indicated continued expansion of coastal radar and missile-support infrastructure; no confirmed launch activity. ================================================ 🏦 ECB — Digital-Euro • CBDC Architecture → ECB sandbox testing advanced on offline-payment limits and pseudonymity controls; internal telemetry informing 2026 policy options. 🛰️ Intelligence Agencies — NSA • CISA • BND • MSS • Mossad → Joint Western agencies updated threat models for deepfake-driven social engineering against OT/ICS environments. → European services flagged renewed SIM-swap clusters targeting telecom, energy, and public-utility executives. → Chinese security services expanded smart-meter and urban-mobility analytics in additional pilot regions. 🔍 Cyberattack → Credential-stuffing and targeted phishing activity increased against academic, municipal, and energy networks during year-end period. → OT/ICS advisories urged accelerated patching of HVAC and building-management firmware vulnerabilities to prevent persistence. ================================================ 📌 Forward Triggers → NATO consultations or posture changes following escalation tied to Russia/Ukraine operations. → Publication of Member-State EUDI Wallet conformity-assessment outcomes and enforcement actions. → EU trilogue outcome on Chat Control, particularly encryption and scanning mandates. → Verified assessments on Russian fuel production/export impacts from continued Ukrainian strikes. → FinCEN enforcement actions or rule-finalisation affecting kiosks and high-risk MSBs. → ECB sandbox signals altering offline-CBDC or pseudonymity policy direction. → Israeli cyber-forensics findings prompting sector-wide emergency advisories. ================================================ 🛰️ End of report.