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Screenshots and PDFs have long served as the fallback tools of digital recordkeeping. They're easy to create, straightforward to file, and for a long time, they seemed “good enough.” But in today’s regulatory environment, where agencies like the SEC and FINRA are demanding complete, contextual, and verifiable records, “good enough” is quickly becoming a liability.

As communications become more dynamic and digital interactions more complex, static captures are increasingly out of step with the needs of modern compliance, and the expectations of U.S. regulators. Recent guidance and enforcement trends make it clear: partial records or flattened archives are no longer sufficient.

Compliance professionals have always adapted to new requirements and risk environments. It’s time to ask whether our current tools still meet the moment. For many firms, that answer is starting to shift.

Not long ago, archiving a digital interaction was relatively straightforward. You saved an email. You took a screenshot of a webpage. It was static, predictable, and mostly text-based.

That’s no longer the case. Communications happen across platforms that are constantly updating - live chat software, dynamic websites, embedded widgets, interactive forms, and more. A webpage might display differently depending on who views it, or when. A chat thread might be edited minutes later, or disappear altogether.

In other words, what you're trying to capture isn’t standing still. It’s changing in real-time, sometimes invisibly, and when it comes to compliance, those changes matter a lot. Trying to preserve that complexity with a flat image or PDF is like trying to understand body language by looking at a photograph. You get part of the picture, but not the full story.

1. They Strip Away Context: Static captures freeze a single moment. They don’t show what came before or after, or how a page or chat evolved. That’s fine - until someone asks how a user experienced a disclosure, or when a message was edited, or whether a page displayed something different two hours later. In those moments, a flat PDF cannot elaborate.

2. They Lack Authenticity: A screenshot looks official, but lacks credibility. It’s difficult to verify when it was taken, whether it shows the whole interaction, or if it’s been altered. In a legal or regulatory setting, that opens the door to doubt and risk.

3. They Don’t Scale: Modern communications move fast and in high volume. Manually capturing and filing screenshots or PDFs is time-consuming, error-prone, and unsustainable. And if you’ve ever tried to search across a thousand PDFs for a single keyword, you know it’s far from ideal.

4. They’re Out of Step with Regulator Expectations: Agencies like the SEC and FINRA are no longer content with partial records. They want full, accurate reconstructions of conversations - especially those that touch customers and investors, or include compliance-sensitive content. They’ve made that clear in recent enforcement actions focused on off-channel communications and poor recordkeeping.

5. They Don’t Capture the Brand Experience: Even outside of compliance, faithfully preserving what happened still matters. Static archives miss how users interacted with a brand, how journeys unfolded, or how dynamic elements behaved. For marketing, product, support, or legal teams, that’s a real gap. Replay delivers full, authentic re-creations of digital experiences, helping brands understand and protect the moments that matter.

A growing number of compliance teams are moving toward replay-capable archiving systems, which not only save a file or a message, but allow you to recreate the experience as it happened.

With replay, you're not capturing a still image. You're preserving a moment in time that you can revisit, navigate, and verify.

Users can...

1. Revisit a webpage exactly as a user saw it - scrollable, clickable, and live with the same styling and interactive elements.

2. Watch how a digital disclosure evolved over time, with version histories intact.

3. Overlay and compare two captures of the same site or chat to quickly spot differences, updates, or unauthorized changes.

4. Provide regulators or auditors with a full, interactive view, backed by metadata and time-stamped proof.

Replay doesn’t just meet the letter of compliance, it helps meet the spirit of transparency, accuracy, and accountability.

Replayable archives offer a number of meaningful advantages for modern compliance. They provide a more accurate record, capturing conversational nuance rather than just a snapshot of what someone happened to say at a single point in time. These records are also auditable by design: time-stamped, tamper-resistant, and rich with metadata that supports their authenticity.

Beyond that, they’re easier to work with. Unlike static files buried in folders, replayable records can be indexed and searched dynamically across platforms, reducing the time and effort it takes to locate specific communications.

Perhaps most importantly, they improve the defensibility of your compliance posture. Regulators and legal teams don’t just receive an image, they can interact with a faithful reconstruction of the communication as it originally appeared and functioned. It’s a shift from passive recordkeeping to active, immersive documentation, a much stronger foundation for meeting both regulatory expectations and internal accountability standards.

Screenshots and PDFs were once enough. They were functional, and often the best available option. But the tools that served us well in a simpler digital world aren’t necessarily correct for today’s dynamic landscape.

Replay archiving isn’t just a technical upgrade, it’s a strategic one. It allows compliance teams to respond with confidence, investigate with precision, and align more closely with regulatory scrutiny, without adding unnecessary complexity.

In today’s regulatory environment, context and clarity aren't luxuries, but necessities. While static records might offer a snapshot, modern compliance often requires the ability to press play and experience the linear journey, first-hand.

The good news? The technology exists. And the case for using it is only getting stronger.

When it comes to compliance, seeing what happened should include seeing how it happened, and when. And for that, the PDF and screenshot era belongs in the scrapbook.

We list the best PDF merger tools.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Every organization claims security is a priority, yet 91 percent of Security and IT leaders admit they’re making compromises in their security strategies. In today’s environment, compromise has shifted from a failure point to a functional reality of modern enterprise.

Pressed to deliver agility, reduce cost, and keep up with the exponential demands of AI, security teams are being forced to make trade-offs they once would have rejected outright. Visibility is sacrificed for speed. Data quality is sidelined in the rush to deploy. Tools are added faster than they can be integrated. And all of it unfolds under the guise of “acceptable risk,” a term that now shifts depending on the urgency of the business goal at hand.

This is not a story of negligence; it’s one of systemic strain and of an urgent need to reset. As hybrid cloud environments grow more complex and threat actors grow more sophisticated, enterprises must confront an uncomfortable truth: the more compromise becomes routine, the harder it becomes to manage what comes next.

This article explores the consequences of this normalization, the fractures it is creating across the security landscape, and why visibility must be the foundation for regaining control in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

Security leaders are not compromising out of carelessness. They are making calculated decisions under pressure. With cloud computing environments expanding, AI deployments accelerating, and infrastructure growing more fragmented, the operational burden on security teams is exceeding what existing tools and architectures were built to handle.

When asked where they are making trade-offs, the answers are telling. Nearly half of respondents to our 2025 Hybrid Cloud Security Survey say they lack clean, high-quality data to support secure AI workload deployment. The same proportion report insufficient visibility across their hybrid environments, particularly in lateral traffic, which remains one of the most critical yet overlooked areas for threat detection. Another 47 percent point to tool integration as a key area of compromise, highlighting the strain of managing sprawling tech stacks that fail to deliver cohesive insight.

These issues strike at the foundation of any viable security strategy. Without comprehensive visibility, detection becomes reactive. Without reliable data, AI initiatives carry unquantified risk. Without integrated tools, signal fragmentation makes it difficult to prioritize threats, let alone respond effectively.

The perception of risk is also changing. Seventy percent of Security and IT leaders now consider the public cloud to be their most vulnerable environment, citing concerns over governance, blind spots, and the difficulty of maintaining control across distributed architectures. This represents a departure from the early optimism that once accompanied widespread cloud adoption.

In this climate, compromise has become operationalized. What was once a contingency is now a constant, and the consequences extend far beyond tactical inconvenience. Each trade-off introduces ambiguity into risk calculations, increasing the likelihood that a blind spot becomes a breach. The underlying challenge is not just about resources or tooling. It is about the quiet erosion of standards that were once considered non-negotiable.

The consequences of compromise are materializing across every layer of the organization. This year, the percentage of organizations reporting a breach rose to 55 percent, a 17 percent increase from last year. Just as concerning, nearly half of security leaders say their current tools are falling short in detecting those intrusions. These failures are not due to a lack of investment. They are the result of environments that have outgrown traditional controls, where more data, more alerts, and more tools do not necessarily translate into better protection.

Tool sprawl is a prime example. Organizations are managing an average of 15 security tools across hybrid environments, yet 55 percent admit those tools are not as effective as they should be. Rather than delivering clarity, this growing stack often introduces friction and gaps. Overlapping capabilities generate noise without insight. And all the while, attackers are adapting faster than defenders can consolidate.

AI tools are compounding the issue. One in three organizations say their network data volumes have more than doubled over the past two years, driven largely by AI workloads. This surge is overwhelming existing monitoring tools and giving threat actors more opportunities to hide in plain sight. Nearly half of respondents report a rise in attacks targeting large language models (LLMs), while 58 percent say AI-powered threats are now a top security concern.

These developments reveal the hard truth that compromises made upstream—in visibility, data quality, and tool integration—are now surfacing downstream in the form of missed threats, delayed response times, and a growing sense that risk is outpacing control.

But at its core, the issue is not how much data flows through an environment, but how little of it can be fully understood or trusted. Without clear insight into where data travels and how it behaves, risk remains obscured. Eighty eight percent of Security and IT leaders say access to network-derived telemetry is essential for securing AI deployments, which speaks to a broader shift.

As systems become more distributed and threats more subtle, traditional log-based telemetry is no longer enough. What organizations need is complete visibility into all data in motion, across all environments, at all times.

For CISOs, the implications go beyond threat detection. Without complete visibility, risk management becomes reactive. Security teams operate in the dark, relying on fragmented signals and assumptions rather than intelligence. And when accountability is high, but authority is limited, the gap between what leaders are responsible for and what they can control becomes a vulnerability.

Fusing network-derived telemetry with log data is the only way to close the space between what organizations believe is secure and what is actually at risk. This deep observability is what transforms fragmented environments into something defensible, and what gives teams the situational clarity to not just respond to threats, but to contain them before they escalate.

Just because compromise has become the norm does not mean it has to remain the standard. Risk can be recalibrated, but only if visibility is treated as the foundation for a more resilient, forward-looking security strategy.

We list the best online cybersecurity course.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• Nvidia's GH200 chips are at the core of Britain's Isambard-AI supercomputer
• It's the 11th fastest in the world, and 10x faster than Britain's second-fastest
• The UK government hopes it'll aid in drug discovery and more

The UK's most powerful AI supercomputer, Isambard-AI, is now fully operational at the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS), with some serious Nvidia power at its core.

With 21 exaFlops of AI performance backed by 5,448 Nvidia GH200 Grace Hopper superchips, Isambard-AI now ranks 11th on the Top 500 list of fastest supercomputers, making it one of the global leaders.

Nvidia declared the British supercomputer is now 10x faster than the next UK supercomputer, and more powerful than all the others in the UK combined.

Besides being the 11th fastest supercomputer globally, Isambard-AI also ranks fourth globally on the Green500 list for energy efficiency, demonstrating the progress being made to reduce the environmental impact of AI machines and data centers.

Its eco-credentials are endless, including carbon-free power, waste heat recycling and a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of below 1.1 – among the best in the world.

Build in collaboration with Nvidia, HPE and the University of Bristol, Isambard-AI received £225 million in government funding in the hope that the supercomputer would go on to aid across important humanitarian issues like drug discovery and climate modeling.

"And as we press this switch to activate the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, we are embarking on Britain’s super future where AI contributes towards the delivery of better public services, greater public prosperity, deeper scientific discovery and stronger national security," UK Secretary of State Peter Kyle commented.

Among its first projects are Nightingale AI, trained on NHS data to support earlier diagnoses and personalized care, BritLLM, designed to promote inclusivity and better public service delivery in the UK's languages, including Welsh; and UCL Cancer Screening AI for prostate cancer detection.

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• Battlefield content creators are reportedly receiving packages from EA
• Said packages seemingly confirm the name of the series' next game
• Battlefield 6 will allegedly be revealed officially on July 29, 2025

The title of the next Battlefield game seems to have been revealed, as content creators familiar with the series have reportedly been receiving special packages from EA.

As reported by Eurogamer, Battlefield content creator Rivalxfactor posted to X / Twitter, following a since-deleted post featuring a physical box emblazoned with the Battlefield 6 title.

"Content creators are receiving packages from EA," writes Rivalxfactor, who also states that: "Battlefield 6 will be the title name and the preview to the world will probably be by the end of the month."

In a follow-up post, Rivalxfactor claims that Battlefield 6 is to be officially announced on July 29, spanning a three-day event that will encompass not only the reveal of the game, but also interviews with the developers. Rivalxfactor also says an open beta will take place "shortly after" this event, though no specific date is given here.

I have confirmed with another person that there is indeed a 3 day EA event starting on July 29th. This is where Battlefield 6 will be revealed, devs will be interviewed in a somewhat fixed format, and the game will be featured with content creators.The open beta will launch… https://t.co/OmLRH3Gg3ZJuly 19, 2025

Previously, publisher Electronic Arts has suggested that the next Battlefield game will launch before April 2026, and we've also seen what is allegedly a leaked clip of the upcoming title's campaign mode.

If the footage indeed belongs to Battlefield 6, it looks like it's going to return to the series' roots, offering a more contemporary warfare setting and thus ditching the futuristic escapades of Battlefield 2042 and the historic battlegrounds of Battlefield 5 and Battlefield 1.

While we naturally encourage you to take any and all leaks with a healthy pinch of salt - we won't truly know anything concrete until EA officially reveals the game itself - it'll be worth marking July 29 on your calendar just in case the current crop of rumors turns out to be accurate.

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• The iOS 26 public beta could launch this week, a new report claims
• It’s slightly delayed compared to the usual public beta launch date
• That’s unlikely to push back the full iOS 26 release, expected in September

The iOS 26 developer beta has been out since Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2025, but if you’ve been itching to get your hands on the beta without requiring a developer account there's good news, as the iOS 26 public beta is rumored to be launching as soon as this week.

That’s according to the latest Power On newsletter ($/£) from Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. There, Gurman revealed that “All indications are that iOS 26 should go into the public beta phase this coming week.”

That will bring the updated iOS operating system to a much wider audience than it currently has, although it’s not the full, ready-to-go release – that’s expected in September, alongside the reveal of the iPhone 17 range.

In a post on X last week, Gurman said that the iOS 26 public beta could launch on or around Wednesday, July 23, and the subsequent Power On update seems to suggest that Gurman remains confident with that timing.

Gurman’s report also briefly touched on iOS 27, which is due out in 2026. Gurman believes that Apple has already started development on this software, which he says will focus on features destined for Apple’s foldable iPhone.

That’s rumored to be launching in the latter half of 2026, or perhaps early 2027, and will mark Apple’s first attempt to unseat the current best foldable phones on the market. There’s therefore a lot of pressure on Apple to get it right, perhaps explaining the early start on iOS 27.

In the past, Apple has tended to release its iOS public betas around the middle of July, so the mooted July 23 launch date is a little later than usual. Gurman ascribes this to the full-blown Liquid Glass redesign in iOS 26, saying “it makes sense that Apple would want to take a little extra time to get things right.”

But Gurman is not concerned about any knock-on effect of this delayed public beta release date, adding that it’s unlikely to push back the unveiling of the full version of iOS 26.

Aside from iOS 26, Apple will almost certainly release the public betas for macOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and an update for the HomePod’s operating system at the same time.

The iOS 26 upgrade brings in a radically overhauled look and feel thanks to the Liquid Glass redesign, as well as increased protection from spam callers, a new Games app, updates to Apple Intelligence, and more.

And with the public beta supposedly launching this week, you’ll soon be able to try them out for yourself – just make sure you remember to back up your iPhone first in case anything goes wrong.

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• Popular search engine DuckDuckGo has added a new AI image-filtering tool
• Users can now remove AI-generated images from their search results
• It's available for free at duckduckgo.com

Popular privacy-first search engine DuckDuckGo is rolling out a new feature that lets users remove AI-generated images from their search results.

On X, the company tweeted, "Our philosophy about AI features is "private, useful, and optional.” Our goal is to help you find what you’re looking for. You should decide for yourself how much AI you want in your life – or if you want any at all.

To that end, we’ve added a new setting to hide AI-generated images in your results when you’re searching for images on DuckDuckGo."

The new AI filter feature has already started rolling out, and you can access it simply by searching on DuckDuckGo and selecting "hide AI images" from a new drop-down.

Considering the rapid rise of image- and video-generation tools on the internet, this new feature could be a compelling reason to finally switch from Google to DuckDuckGo.

If you're sick of all the AI content hogging your image searches, DuckDuckGo might be the way to go. That said, the company says, "The filter relies on manually curated open-source blocklists, including the ‘nuclear’ list, provided by uBlockOrigin and uBlacklist Huge AI Blocklist."

This means it won't catch 100% of all AI-generated content, but DuckDuckGo says, "it will greatly reduce the number of AI-generated images you see.”

New setting: hide AI-generated images in DuckDuckGoOur philosophy about AI features is “private, useful, and optional.” Our goal is to help you find what you’re looking for. You should decide for yourself how much AI you want in your life – or if you want any at all. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/pTolmsEQlQJuly 14, 2025

DuckDuckGo is planning to add more filters in the future, which should improve the rate at which the company's algorithm is able to weed out AI-generated content.

I've started to notice more and more AI-generated images in Google search over the last few months, and with tools like ChatGPT's image generation and Google's Veo 3 video generation easily accessible, online platforms are becoming more and more littered with AI slop.

While DuckDuckGo won't solve all your issues with AI images overnight, this new feature is the first step in giving users the choice on how they want to experience AI. If you can't stand AI images, DuckDuckGo might be the solution you've been waiting for.

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We've had confirmation on when you can watch the first trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash – and you'll be able to get your next glimpse of Pandora this week.

The trailer will run in front of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which not only means that you'll be able to watch it from Thursday (July 24), but also means you can potentially watch the trailer in 3D, as it's obviously meant to be seen.

It's availability in 3D might depend on your location – we know for a fact that the trailer is available in 3D, which shouldn't surprise anyway, but whether it's actually shown in 3D even in a 3D screening of First Steps obviously isn't something I can promise you.

And even then, my local movie theater is only doing one 3D showing of Fantastic Four per day, so I guess I know which one I'm going to…

I've long since given up on 3D movies in general – barely any are shown in 3D where I live anyway, and they never feel like they're making good use of it (though I did like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' 3D effects).

But obviously an Avatar movie is a special case – and the trailer is genuinely enough to make me fit my schedule around that one 3D showing of Fantastic Four: First Steps. What can I say; I love James Cameron.

Much as Avatar: The Way of Water introduced us to water-loving Na'vi, the third movie will introduce us to fire-friendly Na'vi.

According to director James Cameron, this movie "goes to darker places than the previous ones did", and the fire Na'vi will be an aggressive clan – it sounds like the story may focus more on conflict between the Na'vi than with the human RDA.

We've been promised hard turns and plot twists, and more character development – and that in particular Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) will find herself questioning her beliefs as a result of whatever's coming in what I assume will be another three-hour epic.

I expect the trailer will appear online at some point, but for now, it looks like seeing Marvel's latest will be your only option. That's recently been the case with other new movies like the trailer for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey playing in front of Jurassic World: Rebirth – and heaven help me, I dragged myself to that. At least I was already enthused about seeing Fantastic Four!

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