Apple Intelligence will be Google's Intelligence
This week: Apple chooses Google Gemini for Apple Siri. Browser extensions are an open door for attackers. And GDPR hasn't gone away, you know.
3 - Apple Intelligence will be built on Google’s Intelligence
“Apple announced that it would live happily ever after with Google - that [Google’s] Gemini AI models will underpin a more personalized version of Apple’s Siri, coming sometime in 2026.”
Source: The Verge
What?
Apple has chosen Google’s Gemini models to power the next generation of Siri and Apple Intelligence.
After evaluating OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, Apple has concluded that Google’s AI technology is the strongest foundation for its devices. The deal allows Apple to combine Google’s excellent Gemini AI with Apple’s privacy-focused “on‑device processing”, promising that user data will never go further than Apple’s private environment without the user’s consent.
So What?
OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude may dominate headlines, but Google has quietly built deep capabilities into its Gemini AI that Apple is now willing to rely upon.
When it comes to AI, GenAI, and LLMs, the dominant player today may not be the dominant player tomorrow.
2 - Browser Extensions are an open door for attackers
“Because [browser extensions] often […] have access to sensitive data, seemingly harmless extensions can become a lucrative attack vector,”
Source: The Hacker News
What?
Security researchers continue to find dozens of malicious Chrome browser extensions posing as useful tools.
In reality, these extensions can cause a range of problems - From hijacking affiliate links (so attackers get a commission for your online purchases), to diverting your web searches (so you are taken to a malicious website), to stealing your browser cookies (so they gain access to your online accounts).
These extensions are freely available through the official Chrome Web Store and frequently have hundreds of downloads.
So what?
We may think an internet browser is less important than other applications.
But the browser is the main thing that sits between the human and the internet.
If the browser is not secured and an employee can install any browser extension they like, this may be the doorway for an attacker to get into your organisation and for your data to get out.
1 - GDPR hasn’t gone away, you know.
“European supervisory authorities issued fines totalling approximately €1.2bn in 2025 [and] breach notifications rose by 22 percent, reaching 443 per day.”
Source: DLA Piper
What?
DLA Piper’s latest GDPR Fines and Data Breach Survey shows that data protection enforcement across Europe remains intense. Regulators issued around €1.2 billion in fines in 2025, matching 2024, and notifications of personal data breaches rose 22% to an average of 443 per day.
Ireland continued to dominate enforcement, imposing the largest fine of the year (€530 million) for TikTok’s unlawful international transfers. (As an aside, this still pales in comparison to the DPC’s €1.2bn fine imposed on Meta in 2023.)
So what?
For firms operating in Ireland, especially regulated financial services and their third-party service providers, compliance with GDPR is not a nice-to-have.
It requires disciplined information security governance to avoid complacency in an environment where both fines and breaches remain high.
And also because protecting personal data is the right thing to do.