MicroWave

joined 2 years ago
 

An Iran-linked hacker group has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on a medical tech company in what appears to be the first significant instance of Iran’s hacking an American company since the start of the war between the countries.

The company, Stryker, which is headquartered in Michigan, produces a range of medical equipment and technology.

Historically, Iran has conducted some of the most infamous “wiper” cyberattacks on national enemies, aiming to simply erase all data on computers’ networks. Victims include Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, in 2012, and the Sands Casino in 2014.

 

One in eight members of Congress now say they plan to leave their current seats after this election cycle, the second-highest total in the last century.

According to NPR's congressional retirement tracker, as of March 11, there are 69 current representatives and senators who are retiring or running for a different office — 13 senators and 56 House members.

 

The estimate builds on numbers from the FBI, which are widely believed to capture only a small fraction of the money lost to scams.

Americans are losing at least $119 billion every year to scams, according to a new estimate from the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America, a consumer advocacy group.

There is no formal U.S. government estimate of how widespread scams are; some indicators show they have steadily risen for years. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center solicits victims to report their losses but admits its figures are a gross undercount, given that many people don’t want to or know to share that information with the agency.

For 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, the FBI found $16.6 billion in reported losses, beating the previous record, $12.5 billion, in 2023.

 

The probes could result in fresh tariffs on imports from 16 major trade partners, including China and the European Union.

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it will launch a wave of tariff-related investigations into more than a dozen U.S. trade partners, the next phase in Donald Trump's sweeping global trade wars.

In a process that is likely to result in a fresh round of tariffs in the near future, the Office of U.S. Trade Representative is opening the formal probes into major trade partners that include the European Union, Mexico and China — each of which ranks among the top five sources of U.S. imports.

Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Japan and India will also be the targets of investigations under the trade statute known as Section 301.

 

Among dozens of companies competing for Pentagon contracts to supply attack drones, one stands out.

Powerus is flush with cash and ballooning in size as it buys up rivals and has one other advantage: It is partly owned by Donald Trump’s two oldest sons.

The Trump family has drawn criticism for expanding its real estate business into foreign countries that are trying to curry favor with the president and for making billions of dollars off cryptocurrency ventures benefiting from his policies. Grabbing less attention are new ownership stakes in federal contractors providing everything from rocket parts and rare earth magnets to AI chips and computer hardware.

 

Lack of public appearances prompted speculation about new leader’s mortality after multiple family members died

The confirmation that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was injured in the first wave of Israeli attacks underlines how desperate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (ICRG) was to ensure their wounded choice was elevated to high office, and how confident it is that the wartime machinery can operate almost on automatic pilot without him.

The full scale of Khamenei’s injuries and speed of his recovery remain unclear, but a broken leg and facial injuries are the minimum. It is not a medical bulletin on which the authorities are seeking to dwell, although Ali Larijani, the secretary of the supreme national security council, chose his words carefully in saying “his condition has not been reported as critical”, a phrasing that suggests he has not personally seen him.

 

Three cargo vessels have been hit by "unknown projectiles" in the Strait of Hormuz, maritime authorities say, as pressure intensifies on one of the world's most important shipping lanes.

Traffic through the strait - a vital corridor for oil - has fallen sharply since Israel and the US attacked Iran in late February, sending global energy prices soaring.

Iran said it unleashed another volley of retaliatory attacks across the Gulf on Wednesday, with targets including a major oilfield in Saudi Arabia and drones falling near Dubai International Airport.

 

The FBI warned police departments in California in recent days that Iran could retaliate for American attacks by launching drones at the West Coast, according to an alert reviewed by ABC News.

“We recently acquired information that as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United State Homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event that the US conducted strikes against Iran,” according to the alert distributed at the end of February. “We have no additional information on the timing, method, target, or perpetrators of this alleged attack.”

The warning came just as the Trump administration launched its ongoing assault against the Islamic Republic. Iran has been retaliating with drone strikes against targets throughout the Mideast.

 

KEY POINTS

Three cargo ships were struck by suspected projectiles off the coast of Iran on Wednesday morning, according to the UKMTO.

The incidents mark the latest in a string of reported attacks in or near to the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

Iran has retaliated by targeting ships trying to pass through the strategically vital waterway.

 

Prior to Bill C-3, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act (2025), citizenship by descent for those born abroad was limited to the first generation.

But now, Canadian citizenship is being retroactively granted to people born before the new law came into effect on Dec. 15, 2025, who would have been citizens if not for the first-generation limit. Different criteria, however, apply to those born on or after that date.

 

Members of Congress demand investigations after complaint alleges unprecedented breach of Americans’ data

A former employee with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency allegedly claimed he tapped into two sensitive Social Security Administration databases and intended to share the information with his private employer, according to an anonymous whistleblower complaint.

The complaint — filed with Social Security’s internal watchdog and first reported by The Washington Post — alleges that the U.S. DOGE Service staffer accessed two protected databases containing personal information, including Social Security numbers, for more than 500 million living and dead Americans.

The employee allegedly told the whistleblower who filed the complaint that he intended to move the data from a thumb drive to his personal computer “so that he could ‘sanitize’ the data” before taking it to his private employer.

 

Long security lines snaked into baggage claim areas and parking garages at some U.S. airports this weekend, a possible indicator of more widespread travel problems as the latest government shutdown drags on.

That kind of disruption, while not yet widespread, is not a concern that typically surfaces at San Francisco International Airport, the largest of nearly two dozen U.S. airports where screening checkpoints are staffed by private contractors under a little-used federal program that allows airports to outsource security screenings while maintaining TSA oversight.

Because contractors’ pay comes from a federal contract, it often continues even when the government shuts down.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks for this comment. News about Iran seems to bring out extreme personalities lately it seems like.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Thanks! Appreciate the recognition.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Thanks officer

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Thanks, that’s nice to hear from a fellow longtimer.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 27 points 6 months ago (4 children)
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