daily plain-text briefing: security, markets, business, and pittsburgh
Nine nations warned that Russian state hackers are burrowing into critical infrastructure through neglected routers, as CISA flagged two maximum-severity Joomla flaws exploited as zero-days and scanners hunted exposed AI infrastructure.
Latest developments: The Hacker News and SecurityWeek reported July 13, 2026 that the two maximum-severity Joomla extension flaws CISA added to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, iCagenda's CVE-2026-48939 and Balbooa Forms' CVE-2026-56291, were exploited as zero-days in the wild for remote code execution.
Both bugs rate 10.0 on CVSS and let attackers upload files to run arbitrary code on sites running the iCagenda events extension or Balbooa Forms. Administrators should update or remove both extensions immediately.
Sources: The Hacker News · SecurityWeek · ↑ top
Latest developments: The SANS Internet Storm Center reported July 13, 2026 that attackers are actively scanning the internet for exposed Model Context Protocol servers and AI assistant credentials, the same day Orca Security's 2026 State of AI Security Report found 99.9 percent of fixable AI vulnerability alerts remain unpatched.
Orca found 81.2 percent of companies running AI packages carry at least one known vulnerability and 56 percent have pushed agent frameworks into production, while scanners now probe for MCP endpoints and stored credentials. Organizations should inventory and patch AI infrastructure and lock down exposed MCP servers.
Sources: SANS Internet Storm Center · Help Net Security · ↑ top
Latest developments: Cybersecurity agencies from the United States and eight allied countries issued a joint advisory on July 13, 2026 warning that Russian state hackers are targeting vulnerable and poorly configured routers to breach critical infrastructure networks, and shared defensive guidance.
The nine-nation warning tells operators of energy, water, and other critical networks to harden internet-facing routers and small-office devices, the same entry points Russian and Chinese crews have used to build relay networks. Patch and reconfigure edge gear now.
Sources: BleepingComputer · ↑ top
Latest developments: SecurityWeek reported July 13, 2026 that Centers Laboratory, a healthcare testing and laboratory services provider, disclosed a data breach affecting 540,000 individuals after the WorldLeaks extortion group claimed to have stolen 720 GB of its data.
WorldLeaks, an extortion crew, says it exfiltrated patient and testing records from Centers Laboratory. Affected individuals should watch for medical-identity and financial fraud.
Sources: SecurityWeek · ↑ top
Latest developments: The Hacker News reported July 13, 2026 that French security firm Lexfo found an attacker's live Microsoft 365 phishing server left open with directory listing on and the command python3 -m http.server 8080 still in a readable .bash_history, then pivoted through the exposed toolkit to uncover three linked Evilginx operations.
Evilginx is an adversary-in-the-middle phishing framework that steals Microsoft 365 session tokens to bypass multifactor authentication. The operator's own misconfiguration exposed the full kit and two additional campaigns.
Sources: The Hacker News · ↑ top
Latest developments: Wired reported July 13, 2026 that the San Francisco Police Department exposed hours of video captured by its Skydio drone platform, revealing how broadly the force watches the city from above and how the footage can spill onto the open web.
The leak shows the reach of routine aerial drone patrols over San Francisco and the weak controls guarding what they record. It sharpens the debate over warrantless overhead surveillance.
Sources: Wired Security · ↑ top
Latest developments: The United States launched multiple fresh waves of strikes over the weekend and Iran fired on commercial vessels, with Washington and Tehran now each asserting control of the Strait of Hormuz as Brent crude climbed toward $79 a barrel and gold slid Monday, July 13.
The collapsing ceasefire between the United States and Iran has reopened fighting across the Middle East and put the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for roughly a fifth of the world's oil, in dispute, driving crude higher and reviving inflation and rate fears for global markets.
Sources: WSJ World News · FT World · WSJ Markets · ↑ top
Latest developments: Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died Saturday, July 12, at 71 of an aortic tear tied to cardiovascular disease, and the state's Republican governor will move quickly to appoint a successor.
Graham, a four-term Republican, prominent defense hawk, and fixture on foreign policy, died shortly after returning from a trip to Ukraine, opening a Senate seat South Carolina's governor will fill by appointment and reshaping the chamber's balance of power.
Sources: WSJ Politics · WSJ Politics · ↑ top
Latest developments: Global stocks fell Monday, July 13, as Asian memory chipmakers sold off and a quarter-trillion-dollar wave of new artificial-intelligence bonds strained investors, compounding the risk-off mood from the Iran strikes.
TSMC, SK Hynix, and Samsung Electronics together make up 29% of the MSCI Emerging Markets index, and their retreat—alongside SK Hynix slumping in Korea after a strong U.S. debut and tech giants flooding the market with AI-linked debt—rattled equity benchmarks and weighed on bond prices.
Sources: FT Markets · WSJ Markets · FT Markets · ↑ top
Today: Sunny, high 89F.
Tonight: Mostly Clear, low 68F.
Tuesday: Sunny, high 94F.
Latest developments: A grassroots museum of vintage technology called Bloop has taken root in Penn Hills, the Post-Gazette reported July 13.
Bloop, a volunteer-run collection of old computers, gaming systems, and consumer electronics in Penn Hills, has grown into a working museum where visitors can handle and use decades-old machines.
Sources: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette · ↑ top
Latest developments: Pittsburgh's first tiny house, at 223 North Atlantic Avenue in Garfield, returned to the market, Pittsburgh Magazine reported.
The compact, energy-efficient home in Garfield, built during the mid-2010s tiny-house craze, is again listed for sale, a small test of local appetite for minimalist living as housing costs climb.
Sources: Pittsburgh Magazine · ↑ top
Latest developments: The Parkway East (I-376) closure met its first weekday commute Monday, July 13, and PennDOT pointed drivers to a real-time website tracking detour travel times, incidents, and camera feeds.
With the 25-day Commercial Street Bridge replacement shutting a highway that carries about 100,000 vehicles a day, commuters bracing for congestion in Oakland and along the detour routes leaned on PennDOT's live-traffic page to plan around the closure.
Latest developments: The American Red Cross declared an emergency blood shortage as summer donations plunged, saying all blood types are urgently needed.
The Red Cross says donations have dropped sharply just as summer trauma season raises demand, leaving hospital supplies short and prompting an urgent regional appeal for donors of every blood type.
Latest developments: The chief abbot of the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center in West Deer was named chief monk of his order for the United States, celebrated Sunday, July 12, by Sri Lankan and Buddhist communities.
Members of local, national, and international Sri Lankan and Buddhist communities gathered at the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center in West Deer to mark the appointment of its chief abbot as the ranking monk of his order across the United States.
Pirates (50-47)
Sun Jul 12 · Brewers 5 · Pirates 14 · Final
Skenes wins 2nd straight start after 9-game winless slide, Pirates rout Brewers 14-5 with 10-run 4th
Up Next · Pirates @ Guardians · Fri Jul 17, 7:10 PM
Latest developments: The Post-Gazette's Noah Hiles wrote July 13 that the Pirates head into the All-Star break still alive in the NL Central and wild-card race and won't fade quietly in the second half.
In his weekend column, Post-Gazette Pirates writer Noah Hiles argued Pittsburgh's surging offense and pitching have kept the club in contention entering the break, framing the second half as a genuine push rather than a rebuild.
Sources: Post-Gazette Pirates · ↑ top
Latest developments: The Pirates used Day 2 of the 2026 MLB Draft, rounds 5 through 20 in Philadelphia, to select 16 more players, the Post-Gazette laid out the full class.
After taking LSU outfielder Derek Curiel fifth overall, Pittsburgh filled out its draft class over Sunday's later rounds with 16 additional picks, continuing its recent strategy of stocking a highly regarded farm system.
Sources: Post-Gazette Pirates · ↑ top
Latest developments: In a July 11 column, the Post-Gazette's Noah Hiles argued the Pirates must make better use of reliever Carmen Mlodzinski, questioning how general manager Ben Cherington's staff deploys the bullpen.
Post-Gazette writer Noah Hiles contended that Pittsburgh has underused right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski in higher-leverage spots, calling for a bigger role as the club leans on an inconsistent bullpen down the stretch.
Sources: Post-Gazette Pirates · ↑ top
Latest developments: With the United States eliminated from its home World Cup in the round of 16 by Belgium, ESPN published a projection of 30 players who could carry the U.S. men's team into the 2030 World Cup.
ESPN's forward look names 30 candidates—established internationals and rising prospects—who could represent the United States men's national team at the 2030 World Cup, the first accounting of the roster since the 2026 exit as co-host.
Sources: ESPN Soccer · ↑ top
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