Author: GT

A bulletin issued Sunday by U.S. Homeland Security said it expects to see Iranian government-backed hackers conduct attacks against U.S. networks, amid the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Israel and Iran. The National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin said low-level cyberattacks by hacktivists are “likely,” adding that hacktivists and government-linked hackers “routinely target” poorly secured U.S. networks and internet-connected devices to cause disruption. The bulletin was published days after a series of U.S. and Israeli air strikes targeted Iran’s nuclear program, which appeared to coincide with destructive hacks carried out by a pro-Israel hacking group, dubbed Predatory Sparrow. The hackers…

Weather experts are warning that hurricane forecasts will be severely hampered by the upcoming cutoff of key data from U.S. Department of Defense satellites, the latest Trump administration move with potential consequences for the quality of forecasting.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it would discontinue the “ingest, processing and distribution” of data collected by three weather satellites that the agency jointly runs with the Defense Department. The data is used by scientists, researchers and forecasters, including at the National Hurricane Center.It wasn’t immediately clear why the government planned to cut off the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s microwave data by…

U.S. and French authorities have confirmed the arrests of five hackers accused of being behind several major hacks and being part of a notorious cybercrime forum.  On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of British national Kai West, 25, accusing him of being “a serial hacker” known as IntelBroker. U.S. authorities allege West is behind “a years-long hacking scheme,” which caused more than $25 million in damages by targeting more than 40 victims, including a telecoms company, a municipal healthcare provider, and an internet service provider. In the case of the healthcare provider, the DOJ alleges West…

Omead Afshar, Tesla’s vice president in charge of sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe, has reportedly been fired by CEO Elon Musk, according to Forbes. It’s not immediately known why Musk fired Afshar, who was one of his top lieutenants and closest confidants at the company. Afshar, Musk, and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Afshar’s departure was first reported by Bloomberg News. As recently as Tuesday, Afshar was posting support for the limited rollout of Tesla’s robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. “Absolutely historic day for Tesla,” he wrote on June 23 on X, the social…

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda are set to sign a peace deal facilitated by the U.S. to help end the decades-long deadly fighting in eastern Congo.The deal, which is due to be signed in Washington on Friday afternoon, would also help the U.S. government and American companies gain access to critical minerals in the region.The Central African nation of Congo has been ripped apart by conflict with more than 100 armed groups. The most prominent is the M23 rebel group, backed by neighboring Rwanda, whose major advance early this year left bodies littered on…

Rivian has laid off around 140 employees, or roughly 1% of its workforce, as it prepares for the launch of its more affordable R2 SUV in 2026, TechCrunch has learned. The cuts were mostly made to Rivian’s manufacturing team and have been ongoing since Wednesday, according to multiple former employees who were granted anonymity to speak about the layoffs. Some employees were told that the company was eliminating roles that created “process inefficiencies.” Rivian confirmed the cuts in an email to TechCrunch. “We have made the difficult decision to reduce a small number of our salaried manufacturing employees as part…

Uber Eats customers in Atlanta can now opt in to have their food delivered via sidewalk delivery robots, following partner Serve Robotics’ launch on Thursday. The move comes just two days after Uber and Waymo launched a commercial robotaxi service in the city.  Serve, which spun out of Uber in 2021 before braving the public markets last year, is one of 18 autonomous vehicle companies that Uber has partnered with to get a first-mover advantage on the consumer-facing side of autonomy. The ride-hailing and delivery giant said it has an annual run rate of 1.5 million mobility and delivery AV…

In this photo illustration, the DeepSeek logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen and in the background, the flag of the European Union. Thomas Fuller | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesOne of Germany’s data protection watchdogs on Friday said DeepSeek’s app illegally sends user data to China and asked Google and Apple to consider blocking the artificial intelligence service.Berlin’s data protection commissioner Meike Kamp said in a statement that DeepSeek’s transfer of German user data to China is “unlawful.” There is not a readily available way to get in touch with DeepSeek. CNBC has reached out to…

After Google temporarily paused the rollout of its buggy AI-powered “Ask Photos” feature in Google Photos, the company announced that it has improved the feature’s ability to quickly return search results. The AI feature, first introduced at Google’s I/O developer conference last year, allows users to search across their collection of digital photos using natural language queries. Leveraging Google’s Gemini, Ask Photos taps into the AI’s ability to understand a photo’s content and its other metadata when responding to input. However, users complained the AI feature wasn’t reliable and was often slow to respond while the AI was “thinking.” Addressing…

LONDON (AP) — Apple has revamped its app store policies in the European Union with hopes of fending off escalating fines under the 27-nation bloc’s digital competition regulations. It’s a last-minute bid by the iPhone maker to avoid further charges following a 500 million euro ($585 million) penalty in April. The bloc’s executive Commission punished Apple for preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store, and gave it a 60-day deadline, which expired Thursday, to avoid additional, periodic fines. The changes made by Apple will make it easier for app makers to point users to…