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Federal advisories exposed Russian credential theft from Zimbra webmail and Iranian attacks on industrial controllers even as Check Point rushed a patch for an actively exploited firewall-management zero-day.
Latest developments: Check Point shipped patches on July 23, 2026 for CVE-2026-16232, a 9.3-severity authentication-bypass flaw in the SmartConsole admin panel, confirming attackers exploited it as a zero-day against customers running certain configurations.
The bug lets an unauthenticated attacker grab an application login token and sign in through SmartConsole with full admin rights over Security Management and Multi-Domain Security Management servers, the systems that push policy to Check Point firewalls. Administrators should apply the fix at once.
Sources: BleepingComputer · SecurityWeek · Help Net Security · The Hacker News · ↑ top
Latest developments: Researchers disclosed two local-root Linux flaws on July 22, 2026: Qualys's RefluXFS, CVE-2026-64600, a nine-year-old XFS filesystem race condition that hands unprivileged users persistent root on default Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora Server, and Amazon Linux, and CVE-2026-8933 in Ubuntu's snap-confine, which escalates to root on default Ubuntu Desktop 24.04, 25.10, and 26.04.
Both bugs let a local user overwrite protected files and seize root on widely deployed distributions. Administrators should apply vendor patches on multi-user and shared systems first.
Sources: BleepingComputer · The Hacker News · The Hacker News · ↑ top
Latest developments: Three AI-agent weaknesses surfaced on July 23, 2026: OpenAI fixed AgentForger, which let an attacker plant and remotely control an invisible autonomous agent inside a victim organization; Accomplish AI disclosed a Claude Cowork sandbox escape that breaks out of its Linux VM to read and write files across roughly 500,000 users' Macs; and Huntress found a threat actor abusing Claude Artifacts on the genuine claude.ai domain to funnel employees at 29 organizations toward SectopRAT malware.
Attackers are turning the AI tools employees now trust into footholds and delivery channels. Organizations should treat agent identities as privileged and scrutinize AI-hosted download links.
Sources: SecurityWeek · The Hacker News · Help Net Security · ↑ top
Latest developments: Cisco Talos disclosed msaRAT on July 23, 2026, a Rust remote-access trojan the Chaos ransomware group deploys ahead of encryption that runs command-and-control through the victim's own Chrome or Edge browser.
The implant never opens an outbound connection of its own; it drives a headless browser through the Chrome DevTools Protocol and tunnels traffic over WebRTC to hide the attacker's IP address. Defenders should watch for unexpected headless browser processes and DevTools activity on servers.
Sources: Cisco Talos · The Hacker News · BleepingComputer · ↑ top
Latest developments: CISA issued advisory AA26-204a on July 23, 2026, and Palo Alto's Unit 42 detailed the same campaign, revealing that Russian state-supported actors have compromised Western government and commercial organizations running Zimbra Collaboration Suite since at least July 2025 by injecting JavaScript to steal webmail logins.
The phishing-driven operation targets Zimbra webmail servers to harvest credentials from diplomatic and corporate users. Organizations running Zimbra should hunt for injected JavaScript and rotate exposed passwords.
Sources: CISA Advisories · Unit 42 (Palo Alto) · ↑ top
Latest developments: US federal agencies broadened an advisory on July 22, 2026 warning that Iran-linked hackers are hitting Siemens, Schneider Electric, and Rockwell Automation industrial control systems, manipulating data on human-machine-interface and SCADA displays and tampering with programmable-logic-controller project files.
The actors go after the controllers that run critical infrastructure. Operators should segment control networks, replace default credentials, and monitor HMI and SCADA systems for unauthorized changes.
Sources: SecurityWeek · The Record · ↑ top
Latest developments: The European Central Bank held its benchmark deposit rate at 2.25% on July 23 after several governing-council members openly weighed the first increase of this cycle.
The European Central Bank kept its deposit rate at 2.25%, and its own account shows members asking whether the bank should consider a hike as an oil-driven inflation threat builds across the euro area.
Latest developments: Trump said July 23 the civil nuclear deal he approved this week now hinges on Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel, a condition that throws the landmark pact into doubt.
President Trump tied the 30-year U.S.-Saudi civil nuclear cooperation agreement—terms that could give Riyadh uranium-enrichment capability—to the kingdom joining the Abraham Accords, a demand Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has conditioned on steps toward a Palestinian state.
Sources: WSJ World News · FT World · ↑ top
This Afternoon: Sunny, high 78F.
Tonight: Mostly Clear, low 56F.
Friday: Partly Sunny, high 83F.
Latest developments: Post-Gazette columnist Brandon McGinley reported July 23 that the Allegheny County retirement board has not changed its investment strategy even as the fund keeps underperforming, a week after the treasurer pegged its shortfall at $1.4 billion.
Allegheny County's pension fund, already $1.4 billion short by treasurer Erica Rocchi Brusselars's July 16 count, continues to trail its benchmarks, and columnist Brandon McGinley faults the county retirement board for holding to the same approach.
Sources: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette · ↑ top
Latest developments: PublicSource reported July 23 that the NRM Tenant Union is a month into a rolling rent strike against landlord NRM, which faces health-code violations and court judgments.
Renters of the property company NRM, organized as the NRM Tenant Union, entered the second month of a rolling rent strike over health-code violations and unpaid judgments, carrying their complaints to the company, local officials, and tenant-advocacy groups.
Sources: PublicSource · ↑ top
Latest developments: WPXI reported July 23 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement dropped its plan to convert two rural Pennsylvania warehouses into detention centers holding thousands.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement scrapped a plan to turn two rural Pennsylvania warehouses into detention facilities that would have held thousands of people.
Latest developments: WTAE reported July 23 that Pittsburgh community leaders pressed for more safe spaces and family support, days after Renee Wilson sued over the new Market Square chaperone-and-curfew policy.
Pittsburgh officials and community leaders debated responses to the downtown teen takeovers that prompted the city's Market Square youth chaperone rule, arguing that enforcement alone will fall short as a resident's court challenge to the curfew proceeds.
Latest developments: TribLive reported July 23 that Oakmont Council advanced a plan to repair the notorious dip in the brick pavement on Allegheny River Boulevard.
Oakmont Council made progress on a plan to fix the long-infamous dip in the brick surface of Allegheny River Boulevard, the borough's landmark thoroughfare.
Latest developments: Phipps Conservatory hosts Adiós Agave Night on Friday, July 24, a send-off for its towering flowering agave, per NEXTpittsburgh's weekend guide.
Adiós Agave Night runs Friday, July 24, from 5 to 10 p.m. at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Schenley Park, marking the blooming of the agave that has risen up through the historic glasshouse.
Sources: NEXTpittsburgh Events · ↑ top
Latest developments: Pittsburgh Magazine reported July 23 that the Pittsburgh Folk Festival, dormant since 2016, returns this August, with Ondrejana Zatek leading the revival.
The Pittsburgh Folk Festival, a multicultural celebration of dance and heritage that ran for 60 years before ending in 2016, comes back this August under organizer Ondrejana Zatek, whose parents met folk dancing at the event.
Sources: Pittsburgh Magazine · ↑ top
Pirates (53-50)
Wed Jul 22 · Pirates 5 · Yankees 3 · Final (10)
Triolo, Mangum lift Pirates over Yankees 5-3 in doubleheader opener after Cole strikes out 11
Wed Jul 22 · Pirates 0 · Yankees 2 · Final
Fried allows 1 hit over 5 innings in return from IL, Yankees beat Pirates 2-0 for doubleheader split
Up Next · Cubs @ Pirates · Fri Jul 24, 6:40 PM
Latest developments: The Post-Gazette's training-camp countdown argued July 23 that Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith has quietly become a dominant defender across from T.J. Watt.
The Post-Gazette cast edge rusher Alex Highsmith as a quietly dominant force in the Steelers' front seven as camp nears, crediting his steady production opposite T.J. Watt.
Sources: Post-Gazette Steelers · ↑ top
Latest developments: Former first-round pick Bud Dupree joined Cam Heyward's "Not Just Football" podcast, posted July 22, to relive his draft night, the locker-room brotherhood, and life after Pittsburgh.
On "Not Just Football with Cam Heyward," ex-Steelers outside linebacker Bud Dupree recounted his 2015 draft night, the injuries that derailed the team's Super Bowl run, and his life after football, with hosts Cam Heyward and Hayden.
Sources: Not Just Football with Cam Heyward · ↑ top
Latest developments: The Norwegian Football Federation said July 23 its board will decide at its next meeting, likely August 6, whether to file a FIFA ethics complaint over Trump's role in lifting United States striker Folarin Balogun's World Cup red-card ban.
Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness called FIFA "on a slippery slope" and said her board will consider a formal ethics complaint after President Trump phoned FIFA chief Gianni Infantino to review the suspension that cleared U.S. forward Folarin Balogun of a mandatory one-game World Cup ban.
Sources: Guardian World Cup 2026 · ESPN Soccer · ↑ top
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