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Attackers are handing whole intrusion and fraud campaigns to large language models, as biotech giant Amgen and other firms tally fresh data losses.
Latest developments: River Bank said the hackers who breached it in a June ransomware attack have since deleted the stolen data, while Brinks Home confirmed a separate breach after attackers began leaking its files.
River Bank, a bank holding company, is still investigating the June incident; Brinks Home, the alarm-monitoring firm, said its monitoring and alarm functions kept running despite the leak. Victims should assume leaked data circulates regardless of deletion claims.
Sources: SecurityWeek · SecurityWeek · ↑ top
Latest developments: Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 uncovered a Chinese threat actor using the aliases knaithe and KnYuan who orchestrated DeepSeek and other large language models through the open-source Hermes agent to attack internet-facing systems, gaining full visibility into the operation after the actor's own agent misconfigured a file server and exposed the entire infrastructure.
The actor ran an autonomous agent across multiple LLMs to scan, exploit, and pivot through exposed systems with minimal human input. Organizations should expect faster, cheaper mass exploitation and prioritize patching internet-facing services.
Sources: Help Net Security · ↑ top
Latest developments: OpenAI banned a coordinated network of ChatGPT accounts that likely originated in Cambodia's Preah Sihanouk province, a region tied to scam compounds and human-trafficking operations, after a WhatsApp tip surfaced the abuse.
The network built fake online personas, generated and translated messages to scam targets, and produced promotional content for fraudulent schemes. Defenders should treat AI-polished fraud lures as the new baseline.
Sources: Help Net Security · ↑ top
Latest developments: Amgen told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that intruders accessed patient information and proprietary company data through a breach of third-party cloud systems.
Amgen, the Thousand Oaks, California biotechnology giant, said the intrusion hit an outside cloud environment rather than its own infrastructure, and its investigation continues. Companies should audit vendor cloud access and breach-notification terms.
Sources: The Record · ↑ top
Latest developments: Thermo Fisher Scientific patched CVE-2026-17583 in select Applied Biosystems human-identification software after finding that nearly undetectable changes to .fsa and .hid DNA output files could occur before analysis software loads them.
The July 31 bulletin covers forensic and paternity lab software where circumvented lab controls could let someone alter genetic evidence ahead of review. Labs should apply the fix and tighten file-handling controls.
Sources: The Hacker News · ↑ top
Latest developments: Unit 42 detailed a new attack surface in passwordless login where relying parties that fail to validate the User Verified flag downgrade passkey multifactor authentication to a single factor.
Passkeys promise phishing-resistant login, yet server-side implementation gaps can strip the second factor. Developers should verify the User Verified flag on every authentication response.
Sources: Unit 42 (Palo Alto) · ↑ top
Latest developments: Iran publicly denied President Trump's claim that negotiations begin Monday, and oil tumbled with WTI off 6.3% and Brent 5.3% while the Dow jumped roughly 500 points.
President Trump canceled a planned large-scale U.S. strike on Iran and said talks would resume, pushing crude sharply lower after months of war-driven price spikes that Marriott International blamed for weak second-quarter sales. Tehran's denial that any talks are under way left the six-month war's off-ramp uncertain.
Sources: FT World · WSJ Markets · ↑ top
Today: Partly Sunny, high 80F.
Tonight: Mostly Clear then Patchy Fog, low 59F.
Tuesday: Patchy Fog then Sunny, high 85F.
Latest developments: The Post-Gazette traced how a single discarded bicycle grew into Bicycle Heaven, the North Side museum and shop billed as one of the world's largest bicycle collections.
Bicycle Heaven, the free museum and bike shop on Pittsburgh's North Side, assembled thousands of vintage bicycles, parts, and memorabilia, growing from one thrown-away bike into a regional attraction and working repair business.
Sources: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette · ↑ top
Latest developments: TribLive's Valley News Dispatch reported the Alle-Kiski Valley's ice cream truck operators are dwindling as drivers describe the mounting costs of running the mobile business.
Mobile ice cream vendors across the Alle-Kiski Valley are disappearing, drivers told the Valley News Dispatch, as fuel, inventory, and equipment expenses squeeze a seasonal trade that was once a fixture of Western Pennsylvania summers.
Latest developments: PennDOT will reopen Commercial Street beneath the bridge Monday afternoon, three weeks after the Parkway East bridge replacement closed the road.
PennDOT reopens Commercial Street along the Parkway East (Interstate 376) on Monday, another milestone in the Commercial Street Bridge replacement that has reshaped traffic in Pittsburgh's East End.
Latest developments: The Allegheny County Health Department will spray eight Pittsburgh-area communities with the pesticide Zenivex E20 after mosquito samples tested positive for West Nile virus.
Positive West Nile virus mosquito samples prompted the Allegheny County Health Department to schedule truck-mounted spraying of Zenivex E20 across eight communities, a treatment the department calls one of the safest approved insecticides.
Pirates (56-57)
Sun Aug 2 · Pirates 2 · Reds 10 · Final
Burns wins 12th straight decision, Stewart hits 24th HR, as Reds beat Pirates 10-2
Up Next · Pirates @ Brewers · Mon Aug 3, 7:40 PM
Latest developments: U.S. Soccer announced Monday that Mauricio Pochettino signed a new contract to remain U.S. men's national team head coach through the 2030 World Cup, resolving the doubt that lingered after the 2026 round-of-16 exit.
Mauricio Pochettino will keep coaching the United States men's national team through the 2030 World Cup under a fresh deal, though ESPN notes the pull of a major European club could still test the partnership before then.
Sources: ESPN Soccer · ESPN Soccer · ↑ top
S&P 500 7,417.09 ▼ -0.5% Dow 52,248.93 ▲ +0.5% Nasdaq 24,949.59 ▼ -1.9% WTI crude 82.92 ▼ -5.0% EUR/USD 1.1428 ▲ +0.2% GBP/USD 1.3351 ▼ -0.3% USD/JPY 162.95 = -0.0%