NEWS & EVENTS
The Neglected Security Gaps in the Global Race for Sovereign AI
| Written By Seungmin (Helen) Lee for World Politics Review |
In recent years, artificial intelligence has emerged as the most significant driver of global data center demand. Four tech giants—Amazon Web Services, Google, Meta and Microsoft—currently control 42 percent of U.S. data center capacity, and these companies spent $155 billion on AI infrastructure in the first half of 2025.
Next Peak Launches “Intelligent Cyber Research”
For the last decade, Next Peak co-founder Greg Rattray has been developing an idea around his passion for the intersection of geopolitics and cyber. Today, as geopolitical risks are increasing from emerging wars, domestic extremism, and erosion of global institutions, Next Peak officially launches a new branch: Intelligent Cyber Research (ICR)—finally bringing Greg’s idea into fruition.
Securing the Backbone of Artificial Intelligence: Protecting Data Centers
| By Seungmin (Helen) Lee | With the explosion in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers to support the exponential integration of AI into businesses, operations, governments, and daily lives, the cybersecurity of AI data centers is becoming increasingly important. Given that AI data centers host AI models, weights, and training data, these centers face an expanded set of threats—particularly related to hardware, model, and geopolitical security. This report recommends a new framework to develop more cyber-secure AI data centers.
Korea’s Evolving AI Regulations
| By Seungmin (Helen) Lee | As AI innovation and development took off in South Korea, so did unethical and unreliable use of the technology. The country’s AI legal framework that passed in December 2024 was designed to place guardrails around the future of AI. However, its impact is yet to be determined.
Common Good Cyber Interviews CDAC Team
We interviewed Ian Pelekis and Seungmin (Helen) Lee from Next Peak, part of the Cyber Defense Assistance Collaborative (CDAC). CDAC is a group of leading cybersecurity companies, former U.S. government officials, and top U.S. cyber defense leaders who came together to provide operational cyber defense assistance to Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion. Currently, CDAC works in collaboration with participating private sector cybersecurity organizations to meet cyber defense aid requests from Ukrainian government ministries and state-owned organizations.
Cyber Defense Assistance And Ukraine: Lessons And Moving Forward
| By Gregory Rattray and Seungmin (Helen) Lee | In an era of international instability, the safety and resiliency of our digital existence faces deep challenges. Such instability has undermined the ability of governments to counter aggression in cyberspace. In this growing vacuum, the conduct of cyber defense assistance by the private sector will both change and grow in increasing importance.
BLOG & PUBLICATIONS
The Opportunity for South Korea-US Cooperation in AI Hardware and Energy Needs
| Written By Seungmin (Helen) Lee and Michelle J. Lee | Nations fueled by artificial intelligence (AI) nationalism – the sentiment that a nation must develop its own technology to serve its interests – are racing to achieve AI supremacy. Undoubtedly, the United States and China are at the forefront, adding yet another battleground to their increasingly tense relationship.
AI and Elections: Lessons From South Korea
| Written By Seungmin (Helen) Lee | The country was able to limit the impact of AI-generated deepfakes during its recent National Assembly elections. What can other countries learn from its experience? On April 10, South Korea held its 22nd National Assembly elections, which resulted in the Democratic Party (DP) winning 175 out of 300 seats and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) winning 108. The voter turnout of 67 percent was the highest in 32 years.
Revisiting the 2014 Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Hack: Lessons Learned for South Korean Cybersecurity
| Written By Seungmin (Helen) Lee | In December 2014, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) cyber group Kimsuky conducted an attack on the Republic of Korea’s (ROK or South Korea) Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), leaking personal information of 10,000 employees, reactor blueprints, manuals, electricity charts, radiation methods and more.
US-Japan Cyber Cooperation: Meeting Challenges & Operationalizing Opportunities
| Written By Gregory Rattray and Seungmin (Helen) Lee | With the issuance of its 2022 National Security Strategy (NSS), Japan recognized cybersecurity as an area of priority concern. The process of implementing the NSS activities provides a unique opportunity for increased US-Japan cyber cooperation. Historically, positive diplomatic declarations of collaboration have occurred along with technical coordination within the computer emergency and response team (CERT) community. Yet, limitations exist in operationalizing the partnership at the national security level.
Stress Testing in a World of Compound Risks and Polycrises
Stress testing has become a tool of choice in banking for risk managers and regulators alike, and it is used more widely as a way to assess resilience to severely adverse events. Yet even the most creative risk manager would have been challenged to design a scenario that would have adequately captured the plethora of shocks that manifested from early 2020 to the present (April 2023). We make use of the polycrisis concept to motivate a rethinking of stress test design.
The Cyber Defense Assistance: Imperative Lessons from Ukraine
| Written By Gregory Rattray, Geoff Brown, and Robert Taj Moore | Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was a watershed moment. Governments, citizens, and companies faced a choice—they could support Ukraine in its fight to defend its independence or they could sit back while Russia destroyed the post-war order that has stood since 1945. On an unprecedented scale, a major nation-state had engaged in coordinated, convergent digital and physical attacks in an effort to conquer a neighboring country.
BLOG & PUBLICATIONS
The Opportunity for South Korea-US Cooperation in AI Hardware and Energy Needs
| Written By Seungmin (Helen) Lee and Michelle J. Lee | Nations fueled by artificial intelligence (AI) nationalism – the sentiment that a nation must develop its own technology to serve its interests – are racing to achieve AI supremacy. Undoubtedly, the United States and China are at the forefront, adding yet another battleground to their increasingly tense relationship.
AI and Elections: Lessons From South Korea
| Written By Seungmin (Helen) Lee | The country was able to limit the impact of AI-generated deepfakes during its recent National Assembly elections. What can other countries learn from its experience? On April 10, South Korea held its 22nd National Assembly elections, which resulted in the Democratic Party (DP) winning 175 out of 300 seats and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) winning 108. The voter turnout of 67 percent was the highest in 32 years.
Revisiting the 2014 Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Hack: Lessons Learned for South Korean Cybersecurity
| Written By Seungmin (Helen) Lee | In December 2014, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) cyber group Kimsuky conducted an attack on the Republic of Korea’s (ROK or South Korea) Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), leaking personal information of 10,000 employees, reactor blueprints, manuals, electricity charts, radiation methods and more.
US-Japan Cyber Cooperation: Meeting Challenges & Operationalizing Opportunities
| Written By Gregory Rattray and Seungmin (Helen) Lee | With the issuance of its 2022 National Security Strategy (NSS), Japan recognized cybersecurity as an area of priority concern. The process of implementing the NSS activities provides a unique opportunity for increased US-Japan cyber cooperation. Historically, positive diplomatic declarations of collaboration have occurred along with technical coordination within the computer emergency and response team (CERT) community. Yet, limitations exist in operationalizing the partnership at the national security level.
Stress Testing in a World of Compound Risks and Polycrises
Stress testing has become a tool of choice in banking for risk managers and regulators alike, and it is used more widely as a way to assess resilience to severely adverse events. Yet even the most creative risk manager would have been challenged to design a scenario that would have adequately captured the plethora of shocks that manifested from early 2020 to the present (April 2023). We make use of the polycrisis concept to motivate a rethinking of stress test design.
The Cyber Defense Assistance: Imperative Lessons from Ukraine
| Written By Gregory Rattray, Geoff Brown, and Robert Taj Moore | Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was a watershed moment. Governments, citizens, and companies faced a choice—they could support Ukraine in its fight to defend its independence or they could sit back while Russia destroyed the post-war order that has stood since 1945. On an unprecedented scale, a major nation-state had engaged in coordinated, convergent digital and physical attacks in an effort to conquer a neighboring country.
