Age Assurance Technology Reaches Maturity

Recently, the NSW Government passed the Crimes Amendment (Intimate Image and Audio Material) Act 2025 (NSW) to strengthen protections against the non-consensual recording...

Welcome to Cross Examining Cyber, a podcast brought to you by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer. In this series, we speak with leading cyber practitioners, business leaders and policymakers about the issues shaping...

The Australian Government has released a consultation paper proposing national mandatory minimum standards for data centres (Consultation Paper), as part of its broader AI standards initiative.

Welcome to Cross Examining Cyber, a podcast brought to you by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer. In this podcast, we look to speak to individuals across the industry who are at the coalface of our cyber incident response.

After our brief hiatus, we are back with our Cross-Examining Cyber Director Series. In this series, we sit down with some of Australia's leading directors to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing boards in an increasingly complex cyber landscape.

From 20 October 2026, a new Fair Work Commission (FWC) Guidance Note will address the growing use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in proceedings. It comes as a self-represented litigant credits an ‘AI legal team’ with helping him secure a landmark FWC win.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has issued an open letter to all AFS licensees and market participants calling for urgent action to strengthen cyber resilience in response to the evolving threat posed by artificial intelligence models (the ASIC Letter).

APRA’s most recent accountability enforcement action against Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (BAB) for failures to address known cyber weaknesses within its group demonstrates how seriously it takes cyber risk management.

The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 (Cth) (the Bill) marks a significant step in bridging digital asset intermediaries within Australia’s financial services regime.

The Australian Prudential and Regulatory Authority has launched unprecedented civil penalty proceedings against Bendigo and Adelaide Bank following a 2023 cybersecurity breach that exposed critical weaknesses in the bank's risk management systems. This landmark case signals a fundamental shift in regulatory enforcement, extending accountability beyond corporate entities to individual directors and officers who fail to ensure adequate cybersecurity controls are functioning as intended.

On 30 September 2026, the SEC proposed rule amendments advancing Chairman Paul S. Atkins’ “responsible retailization” of private markets, expanding retail access to private-market strategies while adding key investor safeguards.

The EU has introduced its first major amendment to the AI Act through the AI Omnibus regulation, which delays certain compliance deadlines while maintaining others. Organizations must understand which obligations remain on schedule, including transparency requirements and general-purpose AI provisions, and which have been deferred, such as high-risk AI system requirements.

California is implementing a major tax policy shift that will subject software-as-a-service, remotely accessed software, and digital products to sales and use tax beginning January 1, 2027. The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration has proposed emergency regulations establishing sourcing rules, a $5 million threshold that shifts tax liability from retailers to purchasers, and key exemptions for custom software and certain service-based digital products.

Texas Senate Bill 140 (SB 140) took effect 1 September 2025, and applies to conduct occurring on or after that date. The bill amended Section 302 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code to extend registration and disclosure requirements to text messages by expanding the definition of “Telephone solicitation,” which previously applied only to a “telephone call,” to include certain transmissions of text or graphic messages and images. In addition, SB 140 added a definition of “Telephone call” that incorporates the definition found in Section 304, which includes certain text or graphic messages and images, but excludes certain agreed-to transmissions.

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a proposed enforcement policy statement targeting businesses that use consumer personal data to set individualized prices. While acknowledging it cannot prohibit all personalized pricing, the FTC warns that companies may violate federal law if they fail to clearly disclose their use of personal data in pricing decisions.

China's stock exchanges have implemented three major trading rule changes effective July 6, 2026, designed to enhance market quality and align practices with international standards. The reforms expand after-hours trading, modify public fund pricing mechanisms, and adjust price limits for risk-warning stocks. How will these structural changes impact institutional investors, ETF efficiency, and overall market participation in China's evolving capital markets?

The SEC and CFTC have issued coordinated regulatory relief measures that significantly advance crypto-based trading infrastructure in US markets, bypassing Congressional gridlock on the CLARITY Act. These orders establish new frameworks for tokenized securities venues and passive software providers, potentially reshaping how digital assets are traded and accessed in regulated markets.

Venezuela's post-Maduro reopening is creating unprecedented opportunities for foreign investors across energy, mining, telecommunications, and infrastructure sectors. With expanding OFAC sanctions relief, landmark legislative reforms, and major US companies nearing multibillion-dollar deals, the country presents investment prospects not seen in a generation—though success requires disciplined navigation of corruption, security, and regulatory risks.

Australia is moving closer to criminalising match-fixing and sports corruption through proposed federal legislation that would create seven new offences targeting manipulation of sporting events.

The European Commission has issued guidelines on transparency obligations under Article 50 of the EU AI Act, clarifying how providers and deployers must inform individuals when they interact with AI systems or are exposed to AI-generated content. These non-binding guidelines address a wide range of AI applications, from chatbots to deepfake technologies, and establish four main transparency scenarios with specific disclosure requirements that businesses must now prepare to implement.