data

Data Protection has imposed a fine

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In recent years, many large clubs have tried to modernize their relationship with members through digital tools. FC Barcelona took a further step by promoting a system that allowed it to verify the identity of its members using biometric data, such as voice or facial image, within its census update process. The initiative sought to strengthen identification and reduce possible impersonations. However, this project has ended up generating a regulatory conflict that has resulted in a fine of 500,000 euros imposed by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD). The file. The AEPD does not generically question the use of biometric tools, but rather a prerequisite that the regulator considers essential. According to El ConfidencialFC Barcelona did not carry out an impact assessment on data protection in accordance with what is established article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This type of analysis must be carried out before implementing treatments that may pose a high risk to the rights and freedoms of the affected people. Partner Digital Profile. In this process, the system processed certain biometric traits with the objective of authenticating each person within the club’s digital ecosystem. The documentation analyzed by the AEPD indicates that the mechanism allowed “biometric vectors to be generated from the member’s image and their voice for authentication.” These vectors were used as a reference to validate the identity of the member in different procedures linked to the club. Campaign organized in several phases. The verification phase began on March 21, 2023 using digital identification tools. In this way, partners could complete the update process both remotely and in person. The system also included an alternative route for those who did not want to use biometrics, who could continue to identify themselves through traditional mechanisms. The scale factor. One of the elements that the regulator took into account was the number of people affected by the system. The FC Barcelona census has around 143,000 members, which places the project in a particularly sensitive dimension from the point of view of data protection. This volume, in the opinion of the AEPD, raised the level of potential risk for the rights and freedoms of those affected. Prior evaluation process. The GDPR requires a data protection impact assessment to be carried out when processing may pose a high risk to people’s rights and freedoms. During the investigation, the aforementioned media reports, FC Barcelona presented reports on the biometric systems used in the project. The AEPD concluded that these documents could not be considered a complete impact assessment in the terms required by article 35 of the Regulation. Avoiding a violation. Article 9 of the GDPR regulates, among other aspects, the processing of biometric data when it is used to uniquely identify a person, within the so-called special categories of data. According to the resolution, the AEPD finally decided to archive this possible infringement as the necessary elements to apply that provision were not proven. The answer. FC Barcelona has decided to appeal the sanction imposed by the AEPD and defends its actions in the process of updating the census. Barça’s legal services also highlight that the sanction initially proposed was much greater than the one finally set by the regulator. In the club’s words, a penalty of almost 6 million euros was proposed, but they managed to reduce it to 500,000 euros. Images | Fikri Rasyid In Xataka | OpenAI promised them very happy as the army’s new AI. Until thousands of users started uninstalling ChatGPT

Amazon increases its investment in Spain to 33.7 billion euros. All, of course, for data centers

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amazon has announced that will expand your investment in data centers in Spain, and this amount will now reach 33.7 billion euros in total. Today’s announcement adds 18 billion euros to the 15.7 billion euros of investment announced by 2024. Amazon is going more in Spain. The company has taken advantage of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona for an announcement that significantly reinforces its strategy in our country. The announcement highlights that there are plans to build facilities for manufacturing, storage and something interesting: server recycling in Spain. The promise of employment. Amazon’s forecast is that this Amazon Web Services (AWS) region, which reinforces its location in Aragónwill contribute 31.7 billion euros to Spain’s total GDP until 2035. They estimate that it will contribute “the equivalent of 29,900 full time jobs on average annually in local companies.” Of that figure, there will be 6,700 full-time jobs derived from Amazon’s direct investment in various areas such as data center operationsemployees of AWS providers, or workers who build the facilities. Supply chain. This investment includes an important part of the business consisting of facilities dedicated to the supply chain. These facilities, according to Amazon, will theoretically generate 1,800 jobs in Aragon. Thus, there will be a factory dedicated to the assembly and final testing of the servers, a logistics warehouse and a facility for the manufacturing and repair of AI servers. Let’s talk about energy… Amazon has not given too many details about what the energy and water needs that these data centers will have. However, it does indicate that they have committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2040. To do this they are investing in 100 solar and wind projects across Spain, including seven new solar farms. According to their data, AWS data centers in Aragon have offset their electricity consumption with 100% renewable energy since opening in 2022. It remains to be seen if that is enough to prevent the Spanish electrical infrastructure, already saturated, from bursting. …and water. There is also talk about how AWS is going to face the water consumption of these centers: “AWS is also committed to returning more water to communities than it uses in its direct operations by 2030. By 2024, AWS had reached 53% of that goal. In Aragon, AWS supports five water projects with an investment of 17.2 million euros.” A pinch of capex. That investment is certainly part of the planned capex that Amazon has estimated for 2026. The total figure is 200,000 million dollarsa notable increase from the 131.8 billion dollars of capex in 2025. Thus, those 18 billion euros ($21.11 billion) at the current exchange rate represent just over 10% of that capex. AWS is doing (very well). Amazon may not be standing out for having its own AI model, but it certainly has value in its cloud infrastructure. In it fourth quarter of 2025 AWS’s revenue was $35.6 billion, achieving the most notable year-over-year growth (24%) in the last three years. It is evident that investment in infrastructure at a global level is working right now, and Spain has benefited from that momentum. In Xataka | Amazon is negotiating to invest 50 billion in OpenAI. The money would go in through the door and out through the window.

Is it a good time to buy a Pixel 10 or will the price drop soon? This is what the data tells us

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Given the evolution of the prices of Google Pixel 10we present our assessment on whether or not your purchase is currently appropriate. 🟢 BUY WITHOUT LOOKING BACK google pixel 10 Verdict Excellent moment. It’s only been on the market for six months, but it has been gradually dropping until it reaches its lowest price now. official RRP €899 (Google Store) Target price “on the street” Do not pay more than €649 (amazon) Next release Google Pixel 11 (expected for August 2026) Our recommendation Now is a good time to buy it. On Amazon it is at a very good price (649 euros), but even at PcComponentes you can get it cheaper (619 euros) Regret cost Low. Although when the new Pixel 11 comes out the 10 model will drop in price, it may is not at a price as competitive as the one now offered by PcComponentes. At most you could lose 20 euros, since the Google Pixel 10 is not expected to drop below 600 euros. Why is the traffic light green? They have just passed six months since it was launched the Google Pixel 10 (August 2025) and there is exactly the same time left for Google to launch the new generation. This is a good time for those undecided who are hesitating between waiting for the new Google Pixel 11 or buying the one currently sold. For those who don’t want to wait, the Google Pixel 10 is one of the phones that has received the most offers in recent months (as we have covered in Xataka Selección). Now, with a price of 619 eurosit is one of the best prices at which the current one has been able to obtain Google flagship. Expert Buyer’s Advice: Once a few months have passed, do not buy the Pixel in the official Google store, because the price remains at the price the smartphone had at its launch. Better go to other stores that continually launch offers to get it. Price history and change prediction This graph shows a comparison between the price evolution of the previous model, the Google Pixel 9, superimposed with the trend of the current Google Pixel 10. These are our observations: The Google Pixel 10 has experienced a more aggressive price evolution if we compare it with the Pixel 9. The previous model went on sale for 900 euros and until the fourth month it maintained resistance in price. On the other hand, the Pixel 10 has experienced a price drop of 28% in just one semester, going from costing 900 euros to 649 euros. After a stable start, between the second and third month, the Google Pixel 10 dropped 150 euros and is now stabilized at 650 euros. This figure equals the all-time low that the Pixel 9 took almost a year to achieve. It can be said that the price that the Pixel 10 has now achieved is very competitivesince it has experienced a very rapid price drop and is expected to no longer drop further. Maybe it will reach 600 euros, but when the new generation Pixel is going to be released on the market. The best Google Pixel 10 deals now: For those looking for the Google Pixel 10 without waiting any longer, these are the best current options. Do not forget that, after our publication, the offers may expire or the stock may run out. Currently, the terminal is at very competitive pricesplacing it significantly below the 899 euros marked by its official rate in the Google store. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links When is the Google Pixel 11 released? Time flies and, therefore, it is essential to know the details about what will be the successor to the current Google Pixel 10: Rumors about the Google Pixel 11: There are already leaks about the new Google terminal. It is expected to release a chip manufactured by hands other than the current ones: TSMC. Expected release date: If Google’s trend continues (consolidated with the Pixel 9 and 10), everything indicates that the official presentation of the Google Pixel 11 will occur in mid-August 2026, arriving in stores at the end of that same month. When will the Pixel 10 become “obsolete”?: Despite being one of the most supported phones on the market thanks to its seven-year life cycle, it is true that the launch of the Pixel 11 will introduce the new Google Tensor G6. This processor will be more powerful than the current one, making the Pixel 10’s hardware take a backseat. However, if you decide to buy the Pixel 10 now, you will not be purchasing an “old” model, since its performance will continue to be excellent even after the release of the new version. Is the Google Pixel 10 for you now? If you are considering buying the Google Pixel 10 right now, we want to make it easier for you by helping you a little. ✅ BUY IT TODAY IF: You need a high-end mobile at a good price: You can currently get it with a discount of close to 30% compared to the official RRP in the Google store. You find an offer in which the mobile costs you 649 euros or less: If you find this price, it is the ideal time to buy it. You come from a Previous pixel and you are looking for the latest model: a perfect option if you feel that yours has become outdated. ⛔ I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT IF: Do you wantalways have the latest: There are barely six months until the new Google Pixel 11 is launched; If you are looking for novelty, it will be worth the wait. You can andwait a few months: it is very likely that, in a short time, the price will approach the 600 euro barrier (although 619 euros current PcComponentes are already a very good opportunity). You’re going to pay the price it has in the official store (899 euros): something not … Read more

An 86-year-old farmer was offered $15 million to build a data center. He said no

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Get in the situation. You are an 86-year-old farmer who enjoys doing what he does, but from time to time you get the idea that maybe it’s time to retire. One fine day they knock on your door and offer you 15 million dollars which, hey, gives you to plug holes and pay for your hospital in the United States in case of misfortunebut you decide to reject it because accepting would imply the destruction of those lands to which you have dedicated 60 years of your life. Well, that’s what has happened to Mervin Raudabaugh: a farmer who has become a symbol of resistance to AI and data centers. An offer you can refuse. Raudabaugh is a farmer who owns land in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He has spent his entire life cultivating the 100 hectares of his property, land that his family has been exploiting for generations, and has recently come to the fore after rejecting a proposal which, some, considered irrefutable. 60,000 dollars for every 4,000 m2 of their land, around 15 million dollars in total. The offer came from some developers interested in building a data center for artificial intelligence computing on the farm, but Mervin simply refused. Not on my farm. Mervin doesn’t seem like a guy who is against AI specifically or what it means for the planet. He simply has a much more romantic motive: he doesn’t want to see his land turned into a layer of concrete with huge ships on top. In some interviews, he assured that money does not matter to him and that what he wants is precisely that: for agricultural land to remain agricultural. He has expressed his worry for the future of family farming in a country where, if the soil is not protected, “every square centimeter runs the risk of being urbanized”, with what this implies for the land, the fauna and the rural communities themselves. But it has sold. However, Mervin is not going to retire with empty pockets because he did not accept the 15 million from the builders of data centersbut yes some million of Lancaster Farmland Trust. There is talk of a operation of around two million euros to sell the right to develop their lands to this entity that is dedicated to the conversation of agricultural lands. What Marvin has done is secure the land that he loves so much, since the operation implies that his land will be permanently protected for agricultural use, legally preventing the change of land use. And it doesn’t matter if his heirs wanted to sell or not in the future: now the lands are protected. a symbol. As is normal, Marvin’s rejection has been covered in many national media as a case of rebellion regarding data centers, the resounding “no” to Big Tech already something that is consuming all the conversation in technological news. It is an example by guaranteeing the protection of the soil against the specific compensation in the form of money that these Big Tech companies offer to ensure long-term deterioration of the agricultural fabric and the landscape. And although Marvin’s case is striking both for the amount and for the subsequent movement protecting his farm, is not the only one. In other parts of the world the debate has been ignited about Whether it is worth hosting data centersbut in the United States specifically, a country that is betting enormous amounts of money on the development of AI, we are seeing more and more examples of that resistance against data centers. And in an increasingly warlike environment, curiously it is something that is putting according to both Democrats and Republicans. Images | BlueChipFarmsGoal In Xatka | It’s not that AI makes us stupid: it’s that we are surrendering to it

Spain had a completely saturated electrical grid. And then data centers arrived to blow it up even more

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Imagine a highway on which not a single vehicle can fit anymore. But the problem is not that there is a lack of asphalt, but that the cars do not know how to drive efficiently and keep kilometer-long safety distances. The Spanish electrical grid was exactly that. It had been operating for years at the limit of its administrative capacity, and suddenly, a convoy of trucks of industrial tonnage and voracious appetite has arrived at the access ramp: data centers. These megainfrastructures, pillars of artificial intelligence and the cloud, promise to water the economy of millions, but their brutal need for supply threatened to burst the seams of an already saturated electrical system. To avoid collapse and not let the reindustrialization train escape, the Government has had to react and radically change the technical rules of the game. Cascading capacity collapse. To understand the collapse we have to look at how our way of consuming energy has changed. The energy transition is profoundly reconfiguring the model throughout the national territory. Requests to connect to transportation and distribution networks have skyrocketed. In addition to the electrification of industry and renewable hydrogen, there is now massive consumption associated with data centers for artificial intelligence. The problem broke out when the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) established a “dynamic criterion” to calculate how much access capacity was available in the areas shared by several network nodes. As detailed by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) in his press releaseapplying this criterion means that a single access requested at a node can cause a “cascading effect that drains capacity in the rest of the nodes that share the area”, blocking requests from dozens of kilometers away. Basically, a large data center asks for passage and, automatically, the system administratively blocks neighboring nodes as a precaution, even if physically the cables have plenty of space. Investments in the air and the ghost of the blackout. The consequences of this traffic jam directly affect the real economy and national security. Real estate and industrial paralysis. The situation is so critical that, as we already mentioned in our previous coverage citing the Asprima employers’ associationlast year only 12% of connection requests for new urban developments were granted. There are 350,000 homes at risk simply due to lack of electrical power. The risk of an electrical “zero”. The Official State Gazette warns that the increase in installations that are not able to withstand “tension gaps” poses a very high risk. If there is a disturbance and these generators are massively disconnected, exchange flows are produced that are incompatible with Spain’s limited interconnections with Europe. As the diary recalls The Countrythe objective is to avoid at all costs a repeat of massive blackouts like the one suffered by the Iberian Peninsula on April 28, 2025. It is not enough to put more cables. In areas limited by this dynamic criterion, it is no longer possible to enable new capacity simply by investing money in reinforcing the network with “more copper.” The expert in the sector Joaquín Coronado sums it up perfectly: the demand must be 100% active; It must provide flexibility and commit to the stability of the system. The Government’s emergency surgery. To unclog this Gordian knot, the Government and regulators have launched a three-way shock plan: The new Royal Decree of MITECO. The Ministry has been brought to public hearing (until March 16) a standard that updates the technical requirements to connect to the network. The master key is that now it is required that the demands “withstand voltage gaps”, do not introduce adverse oscillations and maintain the quality of the wave. By forcing installations not to disconnect in the event of small disturbances, the number of nodes affected in shared areas is reduced. This simple technical measure could bring out 50% more capacity in about 900 knots of connection to the high-voltage network. The “flexible permits” of the CNMC. To put an end to the binary model (either I give you all the capacity or I deny it), the CNMC has proposed four new types of permits, as we already broke down in Xataka. These range from allowing consumption only in certain time slots, to “dynamic” permissions where the operator can remotely disconnect a data center if there is an emergency on the network. The “technical amnesty” for data giants. In parallel, the Ministry of Industry has been urgently removed the “off-peak” requirement. Previously, to receive aid, you had to consume at night, an absurdity for a data center (which operates 24/7) and for today’s Spain, where solar energy has brought down prices at midday. The citizen cost and the fine print. The Government’s maneuver not only responds to a national emergency, but also places Spain as a pioneer on the continent. The country is anticipating the update of the European network codes, deploying a battery of technical specifications simultaneously that is already considered a milestone worldwide, as detailed The Country. In this deployment, the new regulations also settle a historical debt with energy storage: batteries will finally have their own specific regulatory framework, no longer being administratively treated as simple “generation by analogy” facilities. However, this deep digitalization so that the network supports such a complex mode of operation will not come for free, and the bill for modernization will end up looming in the consumer’s pocket. Forecasts for 2026 They already estimate direct increases in citizen receipts, with a 4% increase in tolls and a not inconsiderable 10.5% in electricity system charges. And while citizens assume the technical cost, the data giants – recipients of this regulatory red carpet – prefer to remain cautious in the face of the eternal Spanish bureaucratic obstacle. The technology sector warns that a key piece of the puzzle is missing: If the Government does not expressly include the National Code of Economic Activity (CNAE) corresponding to “Data Processing” in the official list of sectors entitled to receive the million-dollar electro-intensive aid, all … Read more

Data centers in space promise to save the planet. And also ruin the earth’s orbit

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Wikipedia should update its page dedicated to the word “ambition” to include Elon Musk’s photo. The tycoon has announced a megaproject according to which his two companies SpaceX and xAI will work together to launch a constellation of one million satellites that will function as data centers in orbit. The problem is that although the idea It has its advantages, it also has an impact potentially terrible for the future of our planet. Energy efficiency. That is the great advantage of the space data centers that Musk proposes. In space, solar panels can perform optimally without the obstacles posed by Earth’s atmosphere and climate. According to SpaceX, the reduction in the cost of launching its rockets makes space a perfect alternative for AI data centers. The plan. He project that has been presented to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) consists of placing these satellites in sun-synchronous orbits between 500 and 2,000 km high. That would allow the satellites to act as interconnected nodes among themselves and also with the satellites of the Starlink network through optical laser links. The plan, of course, will have to overcome important challenges like refrigeration. Dissipating the heat generated by millions of chips in the vacuum of space is complex, since satellites act as “natural thermoses.” And radiation, what? The problem of cosmic radiation will also have to be solved. Advanced chips are very vulnerable to processing errors caused by energetic particles. It seems that AI processors are surprisingly resistant to this type of problembut the deployment of such chips on a massive scale in space could introduce new conflicts. On-site repair, nothing. In today’s data centers, if a problem arises, a technician can physically travel if necessary to solve it. In space, physical repair is not feasible, which would force a strategy of assuming that those chips that become functionally damaged will be completely lost. SpaceX would have to continuously launch substitutes to compensate for this “mortality” of components, which complicates logistics and costs. There are optimistic perspectives in this regard, and for some the bills do work out. Kessler syndrome. But above all there is a latent concern in the field of space security. Launching a million new satellites into already congested orbits multiplies the probability of chain collisions, validating the theory proposal in Kessler syndrome. A single major collision could generate a cloud of debris that would take decades to clear, further threatening climate monitoring missions or even global communications. There are already ideas to “regulate orbital traffic” by coordinating it, and SpaceX has its own “situational awareness” system, Stargazeto avoid problems, but of course, no system is completely perfect. air pollution. Without forgetting that the atmospheric impact is equally worrying. Some are estimated 25,000 Starship flightsand the re-entry of satellites that end their life cycle or die prematurely would cause metals and particles to be released into the upper atmosphere. According to experts, these chemical residues could damage the ozone layer and cause uncertain climate consequences. You can’t see anything. The astronomers, who They had already protested about Starlinkthey will have an even bigger problem with this new idea. The threat to astronomy is clear, because given the altitude and size of these satellites, it is likely that they form a bright band visible even to the naked eye, making scientific observation difficult and even changing the way we see the sunset. Orbital computing may have advantages, but before launching it we should remember that space—especially the space we see—is a shared and finite resource. In Xataka | Starlink’s dominance in space begins to move: another company already has permission for a constellation of 4,000 satellites

Microsoft has just taken a key step in its technology to preserve data for millennia

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Saving data “forever” is one of those ideas that sounds simple until you look closely at the media we use every day. A file can be perfect today and become unreadable in a few years, or decades, due to degradation of the material or, directly, because the support ends up failing over time. Therefore, when we talk about preserving information for centuries, CDs, DVDs, hard drives or tapes are not a definitive answer. And it is precisely in that gap, that of a support capable of resisting without permanent care, where projects like Microsoft’s try to open a different path. Project Silica. This is where this Microsoft Research project comes into play, aimed at rethinking what it means to archive information in the very long term. Instead of relying on conventional magnetic or optical technologies, the system uses ultrafast lasers to modify internal properties of the glass and store data in the form of three-dimensional voxels, which can then be read using optical techniques assisted by machine learning, as detailed by Microsoft in a study recently published in the journal Nature. It does not seek to compete with SSDs or hard drives in speed, but rather to offer a material base specifically designed for long-lasting conservation. looking back. The Redmond giant has been working on this line for years, and one of its best-known demonstrations came in 2019, when he managed to save the movie ‘Superman’ complete on a glass shard about the size of a coaster. That test confirmed that three-dimensional storage within the material was not just theoretical and that, in addition, the support could withstand heat and water, and even demagnetization tests. What changes now is not the fundamental idea, but the degree of technological development that could bring it closer to real preservation uses. From the laboratory to common glass. The central novelty of the 2026 announcement is not only in the estimated longevity, but in the material used to achieve it. Previous research relied on high-purity fused silica, which was limited in cost and production, while the new study demonstrates the possibility of encoding information in borosilicate glass, a widely available and much cheaper material. According to Microsoft, this advancement directly addresses marketing hurdles related to the storage medium. Now, this does not mean that the technology is ready to be deployed, but it does reduce the distance between scientific experiment and real application. Simpler and faster writing. The work released this week introduces relevant changes in the way data is written and read. The team has introduced so-called phase voxels, which can be formed with a single pulse, and has refined the writing of the birefringent voxels to reduce pulses and speed up the process, including a “pseudo-single-pulse writing” approach. Added to this are parallel writing techniques to record multiple data points simultaneously and a simplified reader that now requires a single camera, with machine learning support for classification and interference mitigation. Detail of writing equipment during data coding with high speed multibeam laser pulses The figures. Technically, the system can reach densities of up to 1.59 gigabits per cubic millimeter, which translates to about 4.84 terabytes in around 300 layers inside a glass chip that is 12 square centimeters square and 2 millimeters thick. That capacity is roughly equivalent to millions of printed books or thousands of 4K movies. Of course, this is a capacity that does not go unnoticed. As we can see, rather than competing in speed, the interest is in how much can be preserved in a small space for extremely long periods. 10,000 years. The estimates come from accelerated aging tests in which etched glass plates are subjected to high temperatures to simulate the passage of time, a common methodology in materials science. The results of tests carried out by the research team suggest that information could remain readable for periods of more than 10,000 years under normal storage conditions, a longevity tremendously greater than that of current electronic media. Even so, these are projections based on experimental models, not direct verification on a historical scale. What’s next. We are facing a surprising technical advance, but the technology continues to depend on expensive equipment and writing speeds well below current commercial solutions, factors that determine its viability outside the laboratory. Added to this are challenges of large-scale production, future compatibility and adoption models in institutions that really need to preserve data for centuries. For now, Microsoft places Project Silica in the field of shared research, open to other actors developing specific applications. Images | Microsoft In Xataka | The first hard drives in history were gigantic. Then a miracle happened: miniaturization

Ransomware has exploded in Spain and the data confirms it

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He ransomware It is one of those attacks that no one wants to suffer. Companies fear it because, if they do not manage to contain it in time, they can be paralyzed for days, weeks or even months, with million-dollar losses as a consequence. It is not foreign to private users either: we will not always be willing, nor able, to pay a ransom, which in many cases means losing our files. However, this threat continues to advance, gaining presence in our environment and forcing us to remain more alert than ever. Spain, among the most affected countries. The team of Thales Cyber ​​Threat Intelligenceone of the largest European defense and cybersecurity groups, places Spain as one of the most attractive targets for actors operating with ransomware. According to their report shared via email, the country recorded 164 attacks in 2025, with 79 in the first half of the year and 85 in the second. The most relevant data comes when putting these figures in context: Spain ranked sixth in the world in the number of attacks during the second half of the year. A trend that points upward. Thales experts also point out that ransomware attacks in Spain grew by 7.6%, an increase that is part of a general increase in cyber activity. Behind them are factors such as geopolitical tensions, the evolution of ransomware tools, the increasingly rapid exploitation of vulnerabilities and the interconnection of threats between critical sectors. All of this creates a scenario with more mature, organized and difficult to contain actors. The global context changes the scale. Although the situation in Spain invites vigilance, the panorama is transformed when it is expanded to an international level. The United States was the most affected country in the second half of 2025, with 3,946 attacks. They were followed by Canada, with 411, and Germany, with 296. The weight of the United States is especially striking: it accounted for 51.23% of the attacks recorded in that period, which shows a very unequal distribution of this criminal activity. A particularly exposed sector. On a global scale, and always according to Thales, the financial sector continues to be among the main objectives. Banks, payment institutions and fintech companies face not only ransomware campaigns, but also persistent threats from advanced cybercriminals, state-sponsored actors and hacktivist groups. In 2025, this sector accumulated 533 ransomware attacks, the highest number among the industries analyzed. The report also identifies the most active groups. Qilin led the activity with 60 attacks, followed by Akirawith 29, and Inc Ransom, with 17. To them were added two operations that emerged in the second half of the year, The Gentlemen, with 13 attacks, and Sinobi, with 10, which managed to place themselves among the five most active groups against the financial sector. Consequences that go beyond the numbers. When a ransomware attack manages to overcome an organization’s defenses, the impact stops being statistical and becomes tangible. At the international level, Jaguar Land Rover was forced to paralyze its factories for more than a month after an incident of this type. In Spain, several town councils have also suffered similar attacks, with service interruptions and operational problems that show to what extent these threats have ceased to be a theoretical risk and have become a very real challenge. Images | Xataka with Gemini | Thales In Xataka | How often should we change ALL our passwords according to three cybersecurity experts

Aragón produces so much energy that it no longer knows what to do with it. And that’s great news for data centers

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Aragon has always served as a great battery for the rest of the country, sending gigawatts to the industrial centers of Catalonia or the Basque Country, but now the script has changed. The community now has a “problem” that many would envy: it produces so much energy that it has attracted those who need it most. As if it were a magnet, the technological giants have landed in the Ebro valley to convert the region in what The Country already calls “Spanish Virginia”, in reference to the North American state with the highest concentration of data centers in the world. The x-ray of a bittersweet record. To understand the magnitude of the change, you have to look at the counter. According to the data collected by The Aragon Newspaperthe community once again broke its historical record for electricity production in 2025, reaching 22,365 gigawatt hours (GWh), 2.1% more than the previous year. However, this milestone hides an important small print: the record was not achieved thanks to the wind or the sun, since these fell by 4.8% due to the drought (which sank the hydraulics by 19.1%) and a less windy year. Here comes the bittersweet part, to compensate for the green decline and cover the gap left after the great blackout in April, the gas combined cycles increased their activity by 112.2%. But the data that really confirms the change of era is not how much is produced, but how much is spent. While electricity demand in Spain grew by a modest 2.7%, in Aragon internal consumption shot up by 7.1%, a figure that the provincial media describes as “true structural change” and that it attributes directly to the takeoff of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) complexes in Villanueva de Gállego, El Burgo and Huesca. The rain of millions (and megawatts) This energetic appetite is no coincidence; It is the fuel for an unprecedented investment. As we have explained in Xatakathe autonomous government has given the green light to the expansion of AWS, which contemplates an investment of 15.7 billion euros in a ten-year plan. It is not about building isolated ships, but about creating an “AWS Region” (Europe Spain), a system of eight campuses interconnected by fiber optics that function as a single operational unit protected against failures. But it’s not all servers and algorithms in the cloud. From the Herald have detailed that Amazon will not only save data, but will also build a server recycling factory in Aragon. With an additional investment of 200 million euros, this circular economy plant promises to create up to 1,100 direct jobs, a balloon of labor oxygen that goes beyond highly qualified technical profiles. Jam in the network and flight to Teruel. The Aragonese paradox is that, although there is plenty of energy, there are no “roads” to transport it. The electrical distribution network in the community is at its limit, with an occupancy of 94.3%well above the national average. There is electricity, but there are no free outlets for so much industry. This saturation in the Zaragoza logistics hub has caused an unexpected movement towards “emptied Spain.” As my colleague in XatakaGiven the impossibility of connecting in the capital, AWS has decided to take one of its new centers to La Puebla de Híjar, a town in Teruel with barely 900 inhabitants. The choice is strategic: the N-232 highway acts as the backbone and, there, the electrical grid has the capacity (100 MW guaranteed) to feed the beast. Side B: water and territory. Every revolution has a cost, and in this case it is measured in natural resources. Digital euphoria collides with the physical reality of a dry land. The alarms went off, as reported The Countrywhen Amazon requested to expand its water concession by 48% to cool its servers. The conflict is palpable on the ground, the Gaén irrigation community in Teruel keeps negotiations blockedrefusing to give up water from the Ebro if that compromises the agricultural future of the area. The most critical view brings it Ecologists in Action. Its renewable viewer warns that the deployment is not harmless: there are more than 12,000 hectares of authorized solar plants and thousands of wind turbines in the pipeline. The organization warns that, if all the data center projects in the portfolio are approved, their electrical consumption could reach five times the current demand of the entire community, turning the Aragonese landscape into a continuous industrial estate and drying up its water resources. The new balance. Aragón closed the year 2025 at a fascinating crossroads. How to conclude The Aragon Newspaperthe community continues to be surplus, but less and less. Electricity exports have fallen from 56% to 52% in just one year. The region has achieved what seemed impossible: from being a mere service station to becoming the engine of the digital economy. But the question that remains in the air, between million-dollar investment figures and environmental warnings, is whether the electricity grid and water resources will withstand the weight of being Europe’s hard drive. Image | freepik Xataka | Aragón is not afraid of AI: it has just approved three more new mega data centers in full commitment to renewables

The Government of Mexico says that the measles crisis is a “global problem.” The data says it is a self-inflicted crisis

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Mexico is going through a very critical moment as far as measles is concerned, since infections they don’t stop increasing in different parts of the country and even with several dozen dead for the infection. And here the question we can ask ourselves is quite obvious: How is it possible that this has happened with a disease that was practically under control? The statements. In the offices of the Ministry of Health of Mexico they have found a rhetorical umbrella for the storm that is falling on them, pointing to the “global context”. According to the official narrative, the rebound in measles that the country is experiencing is simply the local echo of a trend that also you are living in other countriesso it may serve as political consolation not to be the only country to go through this crisis. The problem with this defense is that, when one stops looking at the world map and zooms in on the national data for each country, the excuse falls apart. All this because Mexico is not suffering from measles “like everyone else” but is suffering it with an intensity and lethality that shows structural cracks in its own public health system. Measles is here. To understand the defense of the Mexican Government, we must first grant them the part they are right. Measles, a disease from which many they had forgotten due to their high controlhas had a revival unpleasant in recent years. To give us an idea, the WHO itself registered more than 552,000 cases suspected in 179 countries during 2025, which was accompanied by vaccination coverage that was declining globally while the world looked almost exclusively at COVID-19. In this way, it is a fact that the virus is circulating and, in American countries, the Pan American Health Organization has already warned of a large increase in measles cases between 2024 and 2025 in different regions. The Mexican exception. However, hiding behind the global trend to explain what is happening on Mexican soil is cheating the solitary. The key in this case is in the figures for the month of February, which paint a quite disproportionate scenario compared to its neighbors. To give us an idea, Mexico accumulates more than 9,400 cases confirmed from the end of 2025 to mid-2026. And to put it in context, in all of 2025 America added 14,891 cases, so Mexico is not just another statistic, but is the epicenter of the problem in the hemisphere, concentrating a large part of the infections in North America. His mortality. While in other countries the different outbreaks are being contained, in Mexico the number of deaths is counted in the dozens. Right now in Mexico there are 29 deaths in seven states, and the most worrying data comes from Chihuahua, which accumulates 21 of these deaths, followed by a worrying situation in Mexico City with two deaths and Jalisco, which accounts for 60% of the cases in 2026. The extra problem is that they are not isolated outbreaks, but rather there is active transmission in 32 states and 335 municipalities, so the virus moves with a freedom that suggests that the epidemiological firewalls have failed. The reasons. If the virus is the same for everyone, why does Mexico take the brunt of it? The answer is not abroad, but in the internal management of recent years. The local press here points to a dismantling of the surveillance systems and also to a collapse in the routine vaccination system that has affected children from 1 to 4 years old. Right now the health authorities boast of having administered millions of doses of vaccine against measles, rubella or mumps, but the reality on the street is different. In this case, coverage in rural areas has fallen well below the 95% necessary for herd immunity and high population mobility, anti-vaccine misinformation and a late response that prioritized the political narrative over health containment also play a role. Images | Jezael Melgoza In Xataka | The myth of 37º: it is increasingly clear to us that there is no “normal” body temperature

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