🎩 Top 10 Security and AI reads from the first half of 2025

A look back at the best papers featured in the Stats and Bytes newsletter over the last 6 months

Welcome to the first Stats and Bytes half a year review! This week's newsletter is going to be slightly different. I have compiled my top 10 papers from the 120 (!!) papers featured in the last 6 months of newsletters. I will be linking out to the full week's reads for extra detail but still provide a commentary, albeit shorter and more punchy!

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank folks for reading! I am honestly humbled by the engagement, support and feedback I have received from writing this newsletter. I am glad folks are finding it useful.

A futuristic cybersecurity research laboratory, digital fortress made of glowing code matrices and data streams, AI neural networks visualized as interconnected nodes of light, vulnerability scanners projecting holographic threat maps, robotic sentinels with glowing red eyes being debugged by scientists, ethereal phantom packages floating through digital space, massive screens displaying exploit detection algorithms, researchers in lab…