Tech & AI Saturday, 7 November 2026 · AI-generated content, without human review

Cyberattack on the Brenner Base Tunnel construction site, systems isolated

The company BBT SE confirms a cyberattack on the infrastructure project, detected in mid-October: data accessible from the internet was compromised, but according to the company there are no consequences for the tunnel works.

Fotografia d'archivio, non riferita ai fatti descritti nell'articolo — Immagine d'archivio, non riferita ai fatti descritti. Foto di panumas nikhomkhai su Pexels

The company BBT SE, which manages the Brenner Base Tunnel project, has confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack. This is reported by the Austrian newspaper Tiroler Tageszeitung, according to which the infrastructure project had already been targeted in mid-October, and the news is also confirmed by the newspaper l’Adige.

According to BBT SE’s official statement, unauthorized parties gained access to data reachable via the internet. The company isolated the affected systems, activated internal security protocols and brought in external specialists to conduct forensic analyses of the incident. The relevant authorities have been informed and investigations are ongoing, while BBT SE has not provided details on the exact nature of the stolen data nor on the amount of information involved.

There is speculation about a possible link to the Russian-speaking cybercriminal group known as Everest, but this is for now an unconfirmed attribution: neither of the two sources consulted reports an official claim of responsibility or definitive evidence on the identity of the perpetrators. Caution in attribution remains a central element of the case, in a context where cross-border transport infrastructure is considered a sensitive target for this type of attack.

On the operational front, BBT SE states that, based on the information available at this stage, the attack has had no consequences on ongoing activities or on the tunnel construction works, one of the most significant railway projects in Europe. However, this is a statement from the company involved, not an independent verification: the ongoing forensic analyses will need to establish the actual extent of the breach and which categories of data were compromised, an element that has not yet been publicly clarified.

OpenAI sets AI hunting for flaws in critical systems: what changes with GPT-6 Cyber

The new OpenAI model identifies vulnerabilities in the code of connected infrastructure and has already combed through Linux. It is the first large-scale test of an AI designed for cyber defense, backed by a billion-dollar investment.

OpenAI has made available Gpt-6 Cyber, a model developed specifically to identify critical vulnerabilities in internet-connected corporate systems, according to ANSA. The model has already been used to analyze the source code of Linux, the operating system underlying most of the world’s servers and digital infrastructure, tracking down hundreds of potential issues.

The news is also confirmed by the Chinese portal Sina, which reports the same essential elements of the release, offering a second source independent of the first.

The launch does not come in isolation. In September OpenAI had announced a one-billion-dollar investment earmarked for critical infrastructure security: the new model fits into that strategy, shifting the application of artificial intelligence from generic text toward the systematic search for errors in the code that manages power grids, industrial plants and connected corporate systems.

Compared to the previous version, according to reports, the model has improved its ability to stay within the authorized perimeter during scans, avoiding interaction with external services not covered by the test. This is a far from minor technical detail: an automated system searching for security flaws on real networks must be able to operate without producing side effects on third-party infrastructure, a risk inherent to any large-scale scanning tool.

The question of control over the use of a tool of this kind remains open, and is not resolved by the available sources: a technology capable of uncovering vulnerabilities in critical systems is by definition dual-use, useful both to those who must defend and to those who might seek to exploit them. Neither of the two sources consulted provides details on who will have access to the model or on any restrictions on its use, a point that remains to be verified in future developments.

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Google DeepMind unveils Genie 4 and Gemini 4 Carbon

Google DeepMind announced Genie 4 on October 27, a system capable of generating explorable virtual worlds in real time and modifiable through text commands, for instance changing weather or characters. The following day the company presented Gemini 4 Carbon, described as its most advanced model for cybersecurity and long-duration tasks, just two weeks after the previous Gemini 4 Argon. The same week, Anthropic filed for an IPO and OpenAI launched GPT-6.1 Terra. This Week in AI.

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