AUGUST 2026 – W.32
"2026 has been a year of unique change in a market defined by transformation. With the recent string of AI-led attacks on Bitcoin hardware wallets and payment rails, and as we await the Clarity Act, everyone from individual crypto holders to institutional platforms is under assault from AI-enabled schemes. While we focus on the technical protocols needed to counter this wave of attacks, assessing individual risk remains a critical yet often neglected part of effective risk mitigation."
- Jeremy Whitstone, Merrill Herzog Risk Analyst
ACTIONS
For Holders of Digital Assets:
(1) Review all personally identifiable information that could enable targeting, such as home addresses, work locations, phone numbers, and email contacts, and systematically remove or obfuscate it from data-broker sites and public records.
(2) Heighten privacy both online and offline around any cryptocurrency holdings to limit visibility of wealth or ownership details.
(3) Evaluate and upgrade physical and digital security at every level, including wallet protections, office and residential access controls, and travel practices.
Professional privacy and security firms can be retained to handle the full process.
WHY IT MATTERS
A multi-state kidnap-for-ransom scheme as a second-order strategy against the family of the culprit of the primary theft illustrates the appeal of crypto assets to criminal organizations.
Additional suspects have been charged in a botched Danbury kidnapping attempt that followed a $245 million Bitcoin heist aimed at ransoming the stolen Bitcoin from the original thief.
The Gold Coins Game
Andean South America
Digital Identity / Privacy
Travel Disruption
Operational & Logistics
Regulatory
Health Security
Border & Entry Risk
Civil Unrest / Security
Regional Escalation
To Bell a Cat
Albelardo ‘El Tigre’ De la Espriella faces opposition from incumbent Gustavo Petro and his supporters, from the criminal organizations he has vowed to hunt “like rats,” and from the ELN and dissident FARC factions.
WHY IT MATTERS
Expect demonstrations in Petro-friendly cities and counterviolence from groups on the receiving end of government crackdowns.
ACTION
Check local news social media, city accounts, and national police accounts for real-time protest alerts and street closures, and monitor media for regional impacts from new government actions.
Western & Northern Europe
Digital Identity / Privacy
Travel Disruption
Operational & Logistics
Regulatory
Health Security
Border & Entry Risk
Civil Unrest / Security
Regional Escalation
A Kick to the Kremlin
A drone discovered in an airport in Leipzig/Halle Airport near Ukrainian cargo aircraft was carrying explosives and a detonator is suspected to have ties to Russia.
WHY IT MATTERS
The incident displays the potential for Russian reach into NATO membership countries shortly after NATO declared the Russian Federation its “most significant and direct threat” on August 5th.
ACTION
Check travel advisories and review national security updates before traveling; compare information across multiple sources to limit disinformation and misinformation.
NORTHEAST ASIA & China
Digital Identity / Privacy
Travel Disruption
Operational & Logistics
Regulatory
Health Security
Border & Entry Risk
Civil Unrest / Security
Regional Escalation
Woe Betide
Typhoon Dolphin is approaching the southwest portion of Japan’s archipelago with high winds and the potential for flash flooding.
WHY IT MATTERS
Hundreds of thousands of residents have been ordered to evacuate while hundreds of flights have been cancelled.
ACTION
Plan for decremented, delayed, and cancelled travel throughout Japan during the storm and recovery.
Digital Identity / Privacy
Travel Disruption
Operational & Logistics
Regulatory
Health Security
Border & Entry Risk
Civil Unrest / Security
Regional Escalation
SPF 108
Several European nations are in a state of emergency while record heat persists into its third month.
WHY IT MATTERS
Unprecedented heat is causing damage to property and life, and is currently impacting Poland’s domestic power plant capacity.
ACTION
Plan for indoor activities in affected countries, locating cooling centers where possible, and monitor media for status of Polish national grid during low-solar evening hours while heat increases air conditioning demand.
Established in 2015 by former special operations and intelligence professionals. Merrill Herzog is the world's preeminent security risk advisory and crisis response firm.
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