Category: 3. Business

The potential consequences of failing to evolve security approaches are severe and multifaceted — inaction is not an option.

Risks now extend beyond traditional data breaches to the manipulation of autonomous systems that can interact with the physical world. An agent operating with broad permissions can be hijacked through subtle prompt manipulation, turning a helpful assistant into a malicious actor capable of exfiltrating data, executing unauthorized financial transactions or causing physical disruption.

Multiagent systems are also susceptible to chain reactions. A single compromised agent can misdirect other agents, leading to a domino effect of systemic failure, misinformation and unpredictable behavior. Compromised agents can enable malicious goals to rapidly spread across interconnected systems, breaching containment boundaries and amplifying harm.

Data poisoning and model theft present additional risks. Attackers may corrupt an agent’s training data to introduce biases or hidden vulnerabilities. Sophisticated adversaries can also reverse-engineer proprietary models through repeated queries, compromising intellectual property.

The autonomous nature of AI agents also makes traditional compliance frameworks insufficient. Without proper enterprise controls, agentic AI systems that process sensitive data may expose organizations to compliance and regulatory lapses. Violating regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can result in substantial fines, loss of certifications and reputational damage.

The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Top 10, a list of the most critical security risks for large language models — which serve as the reasoning engine of agentic AI underscores many of these emerging threats, including prompt injection, training data poisoning, and excessive agency. Given these risks, leaders face an urgent imperative to adopt a new security blueprint.

Fuel retailers are under pressure to cut their pump prices after oil prices fell below $60 (£45) a barrel for the first time in almost five years as political leaders inch towards a Russia-Ukraine peace deal.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude dropped by more than 1% to $59.20 on Tuesday, its lowest since February 2021.

Wholesale oil prices have fallen by more than 7% this month, but the average petrol pump price has edged down by only a fraction of a penny, from 137.5p a litre at the start of December to 137.3p on Monday.

Diesel prices have also remained stubbornly high, falling from 146.9p a litre at the start of the month to 146.6p a litre this week.

Luke Bosdet, the AA’s spokesperson on pump prices, said forecourts were “creating misery for drivers and businesses”, with some raising prices as recently as last weekend despite the steady fall in the oil market.

“Essentially, average pump prices for the first half of December have been stuck on a plateau when they could have fallen,” he added.

Oil prices began to slide last month as traders assessed a potential end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the possibility that sanctions against the Kremlin’s oil and gas exports may be eased and ultimately lifted.

The fall should have translated to a drop of 7p a litre by the end of last week, according to analysis by the AA, which would save a motorist filling the typical 55-litre tank more than £4.60 if passed on at the pump with VAT added.

Donald Trump said earlier this week that a deal to end the war in Ukraine was “closer now than we have ever been”, raising hopes among European leaders over an end to the conflict.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, has said proposals negotiated with US officials on a peace deal could be completed within days.

Martijn Rats, Morgan Stanley’s global commodities strategist, said a return to “historical trading patterns” would effectively release a fresh inventory of oil and gas supplies into the global market.

“Definitely tens of millions, maybe a few hundred million barrels could be made available because they are not locked up in these long routes any more,” he said.

Jorge Leon, the head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, said: “In the event of a ceasefire, US sanctions on Russian oil companies would likely be lifted relatively quickly, while European sanctions would probably be removed more gradually.

“At the same time, attacks on Russian oil infrastructure would come to an end. This would significantly reduce the risk of near-term Russian supply disruptions and allow a sizable volume of Russian oil currently stored on water, estimated at almost 170m barrels, to return to the market.”

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Oil prices fell by 2% early on Tuesday as hope of a peace deal in Ukraine increased, sending Brent crude below $60 per barrel to the lowest level since May.

As of 9:47 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the front-month Brent Crude futures prices traded down by 2.10% below the $60 per barrel threshold, at $59.29.

The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, slipped by 2.22% and traded at $55.56 per barrel by early morning ET.

The U.S. oil price has plunged by 22% year to date and is on track for the worst performance since 2018. Brent, for its part, has lost 20% so far in 2025, marking its worst yearly performance since the pandemic year 2020.

The ongoing talks about a potential peace deal in Ukraine weighed on oil prices after reports of positive discussions and progress made.

Rising optimism over a potential peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict added to downward pressure as U.S. officials proposed NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine in talks with Kyiv in Berlin.

U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that the negotiators are “closer now than we have been ever.”

A peace agreement could ease sanctions on Russia’s oil flows and raise supply on an already well-supplied global market.

“Oil markets will be watching developments closely, given the significant supply risk from sanctions on Russia. While Russian seaborne oil exports have held up well since the imposition of sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, this oil is still struggling to find buyers,” ING’s commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note on Tuesday.

“The result is a growing volume of Russian oil at sea. India, a key buyer of Russian oil since the Russia/Ukraine war began, will reportedly see imports of Russian crude fall to around 800k b/d this month, down from around 1.9m b/d in November,” the strategists added.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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