Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

The Seattle Community Network (SCN) is a volunteer-based, grassroots community nonprofit with a small operating budget (currently averaging $10-$50K in grants, donations, or in-kind contributions per year) that installs and provides internet access for homeless shelters. This post describes the software infrastructure we use to run our network and operations. The solutions detailed here will be most apt for other community networks that feature similar organizational styles and seek to minimize operating costs.

A broad coalition of philanthropic leaders announced Humanity AI, a $500 million five-year initiative dedicated to making sure people have a stake in the future of artificial intelligence (AI). As part of Humanity AI, ten of the nation’s most dynamic foundations supporting the arts, labor and work, democracy, education, and security will drive new investments toward establishing a people-driven future where AI delivers for humanity, strengthens communities, and enhances human creativity.

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed new landmark legislation to further strengthen the state’s protections for children online and create safeguards for new and emerging technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the October Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 28, 2025:

Network outages used to be contained problems—a cell tower lost power, customers in that area lost service, and technicians restored connectivity within hours. The digital environment has since changed dramatically, with failures now spreading quickly across interconnected systems that society depends on. The root cause lies in digital transformation itself. Organizations have gained tremendous capabilities through cloud services, managed providers, and interconnected networks, but they’ve also created new vulnerabilities.

President Trump's love of dealmaking is making it tough for China hawks in Congress to keep up their national security fervor around tech and AI. Republicans are in a tough spot as they try to defend their bills on chips, apps and AI without undermining the White House's approach to industrial policy. China hawks 

While close to 150 world leaders prepared to descend on Manhattan for the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S.

Telecommunications operators talk a lot about the need to build a network that’s resilient to both the expected and the unpredictable. But the meaning of resilience isn’t cut and dry, said Steve Song, senior director of infrastructure mapping and development at the non-profit Internet Society. Instead of trying to create “fail-safe network infrastructure, we’re looking for network infrastructure that’s safe when it fails,” said Song.

Congress has expressed a clear desire to reinvigorate the Universal Service Fund (USF) through legislation. The latter half of 2025 is a critical period for determining the future of the USF. There is a demonstrated need for additional cybersecurity investment in K-12 education, and there are several mechanisms policymakers could use to leverage universal service funds for this purpose. However, it will be up to Congress to decide whether security measures should be baked into broadband offerings or bolted on through other funding mechanisms after the fact.

Online scams and other internet crimes are skyrocketing, with a record $16.6 billion in losses reported to the FBI in 2024. The federal government, banks and companies are all sounding alarms.