Safeguarding critical infrastructure has emerged as a key security priority for European governments in recent years. Neo Tsotetsi discusses the threat landscape driving this reprioritisation, and evaluates the risk posed to commercial operators in these sectors across the coming year.
The rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, and governments’ ambitions to remain competitive in the field, are facing growing resistance through opposition to data-centre development. Richard Gardiner examines the growing prominence of the issue in North America and Europe, and assesses the commercial implications of a landscape in which major opportunities…
Violence as a Service (VaaS) networks have proliferated over the past year, in which kidnapping, extortion and assassinations, among other crimes, are commissioned, brokered and carried out transnationally. Shannon Lorimer argues that these fragmented chains complicate law enforcement detection, exposing private companies to new security and commercial…
Rapid digital advances and their strategic importance to security and the global economy are occurring amid heightened geopolitical vulnerability while creating major investment opportunities for technology and defence firms. Richard Gardiner assesses how this is reshaping national security policy and what it means for the private sector.
The last two years of France-Algeria relations have been characterised by recurring diplomatic tensions and reciprocal retaliations between the two. While both sides have made efforts to improve relations in recent weeks, underlying distrust and disagreements will continue to pose challenges for French and Algerian travellers and businesses in each…
The proliferation of social media, digital currencies and artificial intelligence (AI) has provided new avenues for threat actors to enhance kidnapping and extortion schemes. As continued technological advancements diversify victim profiles and complicate efforts to curb these crimes, the threat is likely to persist and continue to evolve in the coming…
2025 was a year filled with travel disruptions as a result of a shifting geopolitical landscape, regional conflict, and in some cases, domestic political dynamics. Tamsin Hunt examines some of the security trends that will continue to affect global travel over the coming year.
With member states pledging to increase defence spending, the recent NATO summit could, in many respects, be seen as a success. Yet beneath the surface, significant tensions and unresolved issues persist. Richard Gardiner examines the outcomes of the summit, and the key challenges the alliance is likely to face in the years ahead.
A recent spate of kidnappings targeting wealthy cryptocurrency businesspeople and social media influencers in France has raised concerns that this is less an isolated phenomenon, and more an emerging threat that faces the global crypto industry, writes Tamsin Hunt.
US President Donald Trump’s ‘America first’ policies and threats to withdraw from NATO have highlighted the urgency for European countries to decrease their reliance on US military support. However, significant challenges remain in realising security independence, write Neo Tsotetsi and Shannon Lorimer.
With significant changes in governments across several elections in 2024, and similar shifts likely in upcoming polls in 2025, voters have signalled a desire to hold governments accountable in addressing political and economic grievances. Neo Tsotetsi discusses the implications for political and commercial stability as new governments settle into their…
Travellers in Europe remain more commonly affected by opportunistic petty crimes like pickpocketing and theft, rather than violent crimes like extortion and kidnapping.