RSnake Report 20250831

Hello, and thanks for reading! I hope you are avoiding labor this Labor Day weekend. I ended up writing a lot, but I was never one who could sit still and not be doing productive things for long. Without further ado, let’s begin with Russian/Ukrainian news!

A drone strike on the Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery in Russia's Samara region has temporarily halted the processing of 7.9 million tons per year. The facility was hit by what eyewitnesses described as dozens of drones.

On August 28, in the early hours of the morning, explosives detonated under railway fuel tanks, igniting a blaze that spread to the station area. This is far from the first time we have seen Ukraine focusing on rail, and it’s a good thing, because this is the primary way that Russian logistics work, via rail. This is a double whammy, though, because it also took out a huge amount of fuel at the same time. The surge in sabotage operations across Eastern Russia paints a picture of a conflict that's spreading like wildfire. From relay boxes being burned to dozens of attacks on trains within the past 35 days, the escalation on rail is mounting.

Around the waters around Simferopol, a surface kamikaze drone struck. We haven’t seen a lot of this kind of footage in the last few months. I assume it is a combination of the fact that Russian forces have largely withdrawn from the Black Sea and that there are fewer large ships to target as a result.

However, there are still other non-military ships of consequence. For instance, the Kremlin's shadow tanker Onemen, carrying gasoline near Chukotka, exploded and broke in half. This continues to lead to economic setbacks all over the country. People like to say it’s the only type of sanctions that work, and while a funny statement, it certainly accelerates the pain for the average citizen as prices skyrocket and shortages mount.

The recent strike on the Bayraktar drone factory in Kyiv was a notable Russian target. Despite previous attacks and the ongoing war, the company continued to invest heavily, train its staff, and prepare for production. It’s clear they have a difficult time protecting this asset, and will likely continue to be, but I think Ukraine has a lot of said factories.

Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia's key Ust-Luga oil terminal have also dealt a blow to the country's oil exports, slashing them by 50% to approximately 350,000 barrels per day in September. The damage to the Unecha pumping station in Bryansk has further disrupted pipelines, including the crucial Druzhba pipeline, affecting oil supplies to Belarus, Slovakia, and Hungary.

The oil and gas shortage in Russia has started to turn the corner to the next phase… criminality. We are seeing instances where people are buying gas, but it turns out to be fake and/or diluted with other things, like water, which causes the car to eventually halt and be unusable. That isn’t helping things, because now we have cars immobilized wherever they end up when their engines seize.

All these attacks are starting to really impact the bottom line of some of the largest companies in Russia. Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, is facing a collapse in revenue, a direct result of the ongoing conflict and the targeted strikes on its infrastructure. I wouldn’t be surprised if, at some point, if this continues, the oil companies will have to be nationalized, because they won’t be able to sustain operational costs. 75 billion rubles is slightly less than a billion USD, btw. Still a meaningful profit, but if they lost 300BN rubles in revenue in a year, it’s completely feasible that by the end of the year, they aren’t profitable if Kyiv keeps up this pressure. Oligarchs under Putin aren’t going to be pleased.

Firefighters in the Moscow region are struggling to contain a massive fire at warehouse facilities in Balashikha. The flames have spread to neighboring buildings, prompting the deployment of Mi-8 helicopters from the Russian EMERCOM and Ka-32 from the Moscow Aviation Center.

The discovery of test footage from a Chinese factory in a downed Russian Gerbera surveillance drone made me laugh a bit. Just more proof that China really is actively aiding Russia in this war, not just passively helping out the ally by continuing to procure products and services. Actively selling military drones to Russia that are used on the front makes them as much an enemy to the West as Russia is.

There was a very interesting thread I spotted about the lives of Russian prostitutes who are bracing for the return of “SVOshniks” (soldiers from the special military operation). Many of the returning soldiers will have weapons and will be used to a monthly salary of 200,000 rubles - are they really going to go back to factories? More than likely, many will end up being enforcers for the Russian mafia. They’re in pain, many with missing limbs, extremely volatile, drug and alcohol addicted, and suffering from PTSD. Reintegration with the rest of Russia will be next to impossible, which happened once before after their loss in Afghanistan. Murder by Russian soldiers is up 900%, and that is before they all return!

The city of Penza is now subjected to loudspeaker announcements every half hour, urging residents to install the Russian messenger app Max and warning against filming drones. As of tomorrow, September 1, Max will be mandatory on all smartphones and tablets sold in Russia, feeding information directly to the FSB and Putin's security apparatus. It's a tool designed to crush dissent and "unpatriotic" online activity, showing that the war's front lines extend to the digital realm. Talk about a fast way to turn the public against you, and it’s a page straight out of the Chinese social credit score, Sesame Credit.

NATO's ongoing operation to track a suspected Russian submarine in the Norwegian Sea has continued. Since August 24, forces from the U.S., UK, Norway, and France have launched a massive anti-submarine effort, with the USS Gerald R. Ford operating nearby. It is unclear what they’ll do if they do identify the location of the sub at this point. Multiple Yasen-class Russian attack submarines may have left Severomorsk recently, likely meant to stage for preemptive attacks if NATO were to escalate and act as a warning to Europe to stay out of the conflict in Ukraine.

In Middle East news, a strike on Gaza's Nasser Hospital claimed the lives of several reporters. This isn’t great news for Israel, which already struggles with the press’s narrow view of the conflict. But that hasn’t stopped the IDF from protecting itself and reaching out to the adversaries elsewhere. The Houthis didn't see it coming when Israel launched an attack on a building housing their Defense Minister, Chief of Staff, and much of their General Staff and government commands. The IDF delivered ten munitions, each weighing a ton, killing a number of Houthi leaders in the process.

In South American news, the U.S. deployment of a naval task force to the southern Caribbean Sea near Venezuela has started to make news in the region. Consisting of approximately seven to eight warships, including guided-missile destroyers, amphibious assault ships, and a nuclear-powered attack submarine, the operation has been framed as a counternarcotics mission targeting Latin American drug cartels, despite the fact that they purportedly make up less than 3% of Fentanyl trafficking. However, some analysts suggest deeper geopolitical motives, including pressure for regime change, securing U.S. energy interests, and countering foreign influence in Venezuela. Venezuela is definitely a communist country at this point, with staggering hyperinflation and a brutal dictatorship under Maduro, so I would not be surprised at all if the US war machine wanted to overturn any hints of socialism on the southern continent. This, however, is a distraction from the South China Sea, if we were to engage in a conflict in Venezuela, because this task force represents 12% of the US Navy.

In North American news, the shocking attack on a Minneapolis church by transgender individual Robert “Robin” Westman captured the media’s attention, when he shot 18 children, killing 2. Robert used to attend the school, and his Mother used to work there. His parents signed off on “affirming” his transition at age 17. There was the usual propaganda about gun control, of course, and the backlash against the trans community once those details were released. The 11-minute video posted by the shooter, featuring weapons adorned with extremist messages like "Israel must fall" and "6 Million wasn't enough" and stickers from “ScumbagLefty”. There’s a morbid irony in the fact that so many on the left hate the Jews and call for their murder while calling everyone else Nazis… But I digress.

Robert/Robin’s weapons had messages that he wanted to kill Trump, and Satanic messages, and his diary contained drawings of him seeing himself as some sort of demon. He was deeply nihilistic, he felt like he was no longer transitioning into a girl except for his long hair, thought he was dying of lung cancer from vaping, and had had years of sadistic thoughts about murdering a lot of people.

In Robert/Robin’s diary, he hyper-fixated on videos of school shootings and wanted to die while taking out as many people as possible. All that is bad, but the really bad part is that it didn’t actually have much of a political motive despite all that. This wasn’t just extremist ideologies. This also wasn’t even the first time he got in trouble for talking about school shootings - it happened once in 7th grade, and he was suspended at that time.

This 23-year-old was deeply mentally ill. If you actually analyze all of the things he wrote, it is a hodgepodge of curse words, followed by “I love you,” followed by smily faces and then frowny faces, followed by names of mass shooters, gaming memes, YouTube memes, random racist comments… I mean, this guy was all over the place. This was not a stable individual. I spent a lot of time thinking about the Christchurch shooter this week, since Robert/Robin styled his assault on the Christchurch mass shooting. The thing is, though, they are nothing alike, aside from the fact that they both wrote on their guns and they both killed a lot of innocent people who were just praying at the time.

The Christchurch shooter was very mentally aware of what he was doing, based on the livestream, and his manifesto echoed the thoughts of someone who really believed in the “Great Replacement Theory” - that Islamists were taking over Christchurch with a mix of immigration and having large families, and he wanted to get the revolution started to fight back. Robert/Robin, on the other hand, if you take his translated diary at face value, gets off on murder - it’s purely sadism. These are two different classes of mass shooters entirely. Also, while the Christchurch shooter knew he might die, he didn’t intend to kill himself, unlike Robert/Robin, who killed himself in the parking lot when he was satisfied with his murdering spree. Again, nothing alike - one is a ruthless, ideologically driven murderer fighting for what he believes in, the other is a sadist with no cause to speak of. Both are horrible, but they are quite different as well.

Was Robert/Robin’s act THC-induced psychosis, which is known to especially affect young men? Was it the intersex hormones? Was it an underlying mental illness that was masked by attempting to transition to another sex? Was it the leftist ideology he followed? Was it due to a recent breakup Robert had with some romantic tryst? Or some combination perhaps? Either way, it was disturbing, and my guess is it was a soup of bad decisions by his parents, adult leaders at school and at Church, and doctors that lead to this. Very sad.

Okay, pallet cleanser time.

The American company Moog developed the Killdozer, a remotely controlled armed bulldozer equipped with a seven-barrel rocket launcher and an M134 Minigun machine gun. It tickled something in the inner child in me to see a little bulldozer with rockets on it. Clearly, this is just a demo, but it’s also a way to repurpose otherwise fairly cheap farm/construction equipment into weapons of war. Speaking of drones, U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, directed the establishment of the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 to secure the nation's skies from arial drones. It’s nice to see some movement from the Government on what is surely going to be the next greatest threat from any major conflict.

There has been a suspension of low-dollar parcel deliveries to the U.S. due to Trump's tariffs. De-minimus parcels no longer exempt from tariffs. It’s likely that this will be a short-lived stop for mail carriers, and only on the low end of $900 value or less, but it might affect some small businesses, so it's worth noting.

In Tech News, NVIDIA's PostNAS technique made large language models 53x faster, slashing inference budgets by 98% while maintaining top-tier accuracy. I really hope we see this rolling out to open-sourced models quickly, so that we can get bigger models on our commodity devices.

The hijacking of the popular npm package Nx, with 3.5 million downloads, was another admonishment of the supply chain attacks. Malicious versions stole credentials, planted backdoors, and weaponized AI tools like Claude and Gemini.

Carbon Robotics' autonomous anti-weed laser technology could transform farming by tackling the persistent challenge of weeds. It drives over the crops and zaps them, using no pesticides in the process. Very cool tech.

Campus Guardian Angel's less-lethal drones, demonstrated in mock school shooter scenarios, fly into the school shooter. They are controlled from a control center in Austin—big shout out to Walk Maciborski for sending this over to me. Check out the video if you want to see one example of how people are thinking about taking on school shootings.

Okay, onto the articles!

Iran is facing a potential collapse of its regime, with warnings of civil war and a power vacuum, according to a UK-based think tank. The regime's commitment to its nuclear program and exporting terrorism poses a threat to the West. A new report advises Israel to target the regime itself, not just nuclear facilities, and maintain air supremacy.

• Iran may be on the verge of regime collapse, according to a new report by the UK-based Henry Jackson Society.

• The report highlights the regime's commitment to its nuclear program and exporting terrorism, posing a threat to the West.

[RSnake: It’s about time that there be some sort of regime change there. The people cannot be happy with this increasingly tightening leash. More on Iran here.]

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/winds-of-change-iran-at-the-brink-of-regime-collapse-think-tank-warns-of-civil-war/articleshow/123612185.cms

India's Operation Sindoor exposed Pakistan's fragile military defenses and humbled its Air Force, forcing a significant setback in the PAF's capabilities, while showcasing India's strategic maturity and technological advancements.

• Operation Sindoor was a meticulously planned aerial assault by the Indian Air Force (IAF) that exposed Pakistan’s fragile facade and decimated its military machine.

• The operation demonstrated India’s integrated might, with the Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) and AI-driven systems neutralizing every inbound threat.

[RSnake: It wasn’t perfect, but it was incredibly effective. You have to wonder how Pakistan will think about this, and what sort of saber-rattling they’ll be doing in the future now that they know how outmatched they are. That was a nuclear war waiting to happen. Thankfully, it didn’t.]

Source: https://www.eurasiantimes.com/?p=251529

India and Japan have unveiled a new defense cooperation roadmap that marks a significant shift in their security ties, with both countries seeing each other as indispensable partners in shaping the Indo-Pacific region. India and Japan are becoming operational partners, building habits of cooperation that will endure.

• India and Japan are becoming indispensable partners in shaping the Indo-Pacific region.

• The declaration emphasizes building interoperability between their armed forces, maritime security, defense industrial cooperation, and addressing emerging threats such as terrorism and cyberattacks.

[RSnake: That’s good, that pushes the Indians away from China.]

Source: https://www.eurasiantimes.com/?p=251483

In el-Fasher, Sudan, a significant earthen wall is being constructed around the city, effectively trapping civilians inside as fighting intensifies between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Humanitarian access is severely restricted, and reports indicate that the RSF is targeting civilians while conditions worsen due to bombardment and food scarcity. Experts warn that the fall of el-Fasher could lead to the complete control of Darfur by the RSF, raising the potential for further fragmentation of Sudan.

• An extensive earthen wall is being built around el-Fasher to contain the civilian population.

• The RSF's actions are escalating tensions and humanitarian crises in the region.

• There is a risk of Sudan's territorial fragmentation as the conflict continues.

[RSnake: That line that cuts through the small settlement on the left is the wall. It’s a huge wall. Enormous.]

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gz1ekdee3o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

President Donald Trump has used a rare budgetary maneuver to freeze $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid, citing a little-used tactic that hasn't been deployed in nearly half a century.

• The president is using a pocket rescission to let funding quietly lapse at the end of the fiscal year, ensuring it goes unspent when the fiscal year closes on September 30.

• This move marks a significant escalation in Trump's efforts to cut foreign aid, raising fresh questions about the balance of power between the executive branch and Congress when it comes to federal spending.

[RSnake: That was yesterday, and the time has elapsed.]

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/what-is-pocket-rescission-trump-uses-rare-loophole-to-freeze-4-9-bn-aid-congress-cant-stop-it/articleshow/123588504.cms

Russia continues to demand the total elimination of Ukraine, with ongoing military attacks despite negotiations suggested by the U.S. Former President Trump set a deadline for talks, but Moscow shows no sign of willingness to negotiate while intensifying its attacks. The conflict remains unresolved, with potential for prolonged hostilities as Russia maintains its aggressive stance.

• Russia demands Ukraine's elimination and is intensifying military attacks.

• Trump's deadline for negotiations is nearing, but Russia shows no willingness to engage.

[RSnake: No willingness to negotiate and an increasing number of attacks against its oil and gas and rail infrastructure. Russia can go on like this for a long time, but the costs are mounting. How much more can you put your own people through for the most meager of gains?]

Source: https://euromaidanpress.com/?p=357740

The U.S. is experiencing a shift away from investments in clean energy, as evidenced by President Trump's decision to halt the construction of a major wind farm, which experts warn amplifies the technological gap between the United States and China in the renewable energy sector. Meanwhile, China continues to dominate the global market for solar panels and batteries, significantly outpacing U.S. efforts and investment in these technologies.

• Trump's administration is reversing policies that support renewable energy, focusing instead on fossil fuels.

• China holds a commanding position in the global clean energy market, controlling a large percentage of solar panel and battery supply chains.

[RSnake: Wind isn’t going to be the kind of power we need. We need stable on-demand power. While wind and solar can create the power, it’s not on-demand, so you still need huge batteries of some kind to store the power until you require it. Nuclear is simply superior.]

Source: https://foreignpolicy.com/?p=1204716

Jimmy Lai's national security trial in Hong Kong, which has drawn international attention, has concluded, with a verdict pending that could lead to severe penalties, including life imprisonment. The case is emblematic of the increasing political repression under Hong Kong's national security law, enacted to curb dissent following significant protests in 2019. The Hong Kong government maintains that the trial is based on legal evidence, while critics claim it is politically motivated and indicative of a broader crackdown on freedoms in the region.

• Jimmy Lai faces charges related to conspiring with foreign forces and sedition under a national security law.

• The trial represents a critical test of Hong Kong's rule of law and could impact the future of political dissent in the region.

[RSnake: Legal or not, China is going to go through with it. That’s what authoritarian regimes do.]

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/28/who-is-jimmy-lai-hong-kongs-jailed-media-tycoon?traffic_source=rss

The Supreme Court is set to hear Louisiana v. Callais, which could challenge key provisions of the Voting Rights Act and the way disparate-impact liability is applied in civil rights law. A ruling against such liability could drastically alter the enforcement of civil rights protections in the United States, impacting both voting rights and employment discrimination laws.

• The Supreme Court's decision on Louisiana v. Callais could declare disparate-impact liability unconstitutional.

• Recent district court rulings determined that Louisiana's new congressional districting violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act due to racial discriminatory impact.

[RSnake: This has been a big year for the Supreme Court case load. I suspect the next four years will be packed with a lot of new and interesting cases, unwinding a lot of the district and state cases as they move through the system.]

Source: https://www.scotusblog.com/?p=530829

NASA and ISRO have successfully launched the NISAR satellite, which features the largest radar antenna ever put into orbit. This satellite will track environmental changes on Earth with high precision, providing crucial data for disaster response, infrastructure, and agricultural policy.

• NISAR is designed to monitor changes in glaciers, forests, and the Earth's crust.

• It combines L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar for detailed observations.

[RSnake: Had to get a photo of it. It’s a weird-looking one, but I suspect it has all sorts of interesting applications beyond just monitoring the environment.]

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/the-largest-satellite-antenna-ever-has-just-unfurled-in-space/

Susan Monarez was fired as the director of the CDC after serving for less than a month, with claims from her attorneys that her dismissal was due to her refusal to comply with politically driven directives. Following her termination, several other top officials from the CDC resigned, raising alarms about potential impacts on public health and the credibility of the agency as misinformation about vaccines spreads. The ongoing changes within the CDC have sparked significant concern regarding its ability to respond effectively to public health emergencies.

• Monarez's termination signifies a shift in the CDC's alignment with politically motivated agendas.

• Multiple high-ranking resignations at the CDC indicate a deepening crisis within the agency affecting public health leadership.

[RSnake: The CDC has needed an overhaul for a very long time. I’m not sure we’re going to replace them with the actual scientists and unbiased policy directors that we need, though. Fingers crossed - this stuff matters!]

Source: https://fortune.com/2025/08/27/trump-fires-cdc-head-susan-monarez-vaccines/

The AUKUS alliance, which allows Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, is pivotal for maintaining the U.S.-Australia strategic partnership and countering China's influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

• AUKUS allows Australia to acquire nuclear attack submarines to enhance its defense capabilities against China.

• Abandoning AUKUS could severely impact Australia's military reliance on the U.S. and its international relationships.

[RSnake: I am not sure why we would limit them. They’re a part of the Five Eyes and one of the first lines of defense in the Pacific.]

Source: https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2025/08/26/abandoning_aukus_pillar_one_would_gravely_damage_the_us_alliance_1130901.html

Reform UK plans to deport 600,000 asylum seekers from Britain to prevent civil disorder.

• The proposed deportation plan includes withdrawing Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights and repealing the Human Rights Act.

• Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claims the plan will stop small boats crossing the English Channel.

[RSnake: I really doubt this will pass, but it’s a sign of how things are shaping up when Middle East meets Western cultures.]

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/reform-uk-proposes-deporting-600000-asylum-seekers-sweeping-new-immigration-crackdown

In Minnesota, funding cuts from the Trump administration severely reduced resources for violence prevention programs, which critics claim may have contributed to a deadly church shooting at Annunciation Catholic School. The Department of Homeland Security cut $18.5 million from the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, affecting local law enforcement's ability to combat domestic terrorism and targeted violence. The shooter had indicated in journals that he was aware of signs leading to violence but believed he could evade detection.

• Funding cuts from the Trump administration impacted Minnesota's violence prevention programs.

• The shooter expressed awareness of his actions and the ability to evade detection.

[RSnake: That is a long road to walk, especially given the fact that Robert/Robin had been ideating school shootings since at least the 7th grade. I’m going to go with this whole line of thinking is driven by politics, not data.]

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/minnesota-church-shooting-did-trump-administration-cuts-weaken-security-critics-blame-lost-funding-for-missed-red-flags/articleshow/123609918.cms

TransUnion has experienced a data breach affecting over 4.4 million individuals. Additionally, various cybersecurity incidents have been reported, including the exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities and an increase in ransomware attacks targeting cloud services.

• TransUnion data breach impacts over 4.4 million people.

• A rise in ransomware attacks in cloud infrastructures has been noted.

[RSnake: Don’t re-use your passwords is my best advice here. This just keeps happening.]

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-fixes-bug-behind-windows-certificate-enrollment-errors/

A security vulnerability in WhatsApp was patched after being exploited in targeted zero-day attacks affecting users on iOS and macOS. Additionally, a data breach at TransUnion has impacted over 4.4 million individuals, and various organizations, including FreePBX and Citrix, are dealing with security flaws and hacks. Overall, these incidents illustrate a growing trend of sophisticated cyber threats and vulnerabilities across major platforms.

• WhatsApp patched a vulnerability exploited in targeted attacks affecting its iOS and macOS messaging clients.

• TransUnion experienced a data breach impacting over 4.4 million people.

• Multiple organizations, including FreePBX and Citrix, are contending with serious security flaws.

[RSnake: Time to patch!]

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/whatsapp-patches-vulnerability-exploited-in-zero-day-attacks/

A jury's verdict in a high-profile case involving Tesla's Autopilot system has been challenged by the company's lawyers, who argue that the blame for the crash lies with the driver and not the system.

• Tesla's Autopilot system was involved in a fatal crash in Florida in 2019.

• A jury ultimately decided that the driver deserved two-thirds of the blame and Tesla one-third.

[RSnake: We can’t have it both ways. Either we trust in self-driving and it takes on at least some of the liability, or we don’t have it at all. This middle ground is a nightmare.]

Source: https://techcrunch.com/?p=3041105

A case of murder-suicide in Connecticut is believed to be the first homicide linked to AI psychosis, where a man's use of generative artificial intelligence exacerbated his mental illness, leading him to kill himself and his elderly mother.

• The case may indicate a growing problem with AI psychosis, a condition where people become increasingly paranoid and delusional after interacting with generative artificial intelligence tools.

• The incident highlights concerns about the impact of AI on mental health, particularly among vulnerable individuals who may be more susceptible to manipulation by AI-generated content.

[RSnake: First… of many.]

Source: https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000650497

Chinese threat actors, linked to Salt Typhoon global hacking campaigns, have exploited widely known and fixed flaws in network edge devices worldwide, breaching government, telecommunications, transportation, lodging, and military networks.

• Chinese technology firms have provided cyber products and services to China's Ministry of State Security and the People's Liberation Army, enabling cyber espionage operations tracked as Salt Typhoon.

• The threat actors have had considerable success exploiting widely known and fixed flaws on network edge devices rather than relying on zero-days.

[RSnake: And people still think that China isn’t actively our enemy… boggles the mind.]

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/global-salt-typhoon-hacking-campaigns-linked-to-chinese-tech-firms/

Over 28,000 Citrix devices are currently vulnerable to a critical remote code execution threat, tracked as CVE-2025-7775, which is actively being exploited. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned that affected institutions are required to patch the vulnerabilities or discontinue use by August 28, emphasizing the urgency of the situation.

• CVE-2025-7775 is exploited in the wild, affecting various versions of Citrix software.

• CISA mandates federal agencies to apply patches by August 28 or stop using vulnerable products.

[RSnake: Said another way, that is 28k networks!]

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/over-28-200-citrix-instances-vulnerable-to-actively-exploited-rce-bug/

Administrative utilities in Microsoft Windows systems can be used to execute malicious code and maintain persistence, often going unnoticed due to their legitimate uses. Proper management of these utilities is crucial to prevent attacks.

• Administrative utilities in Microsoft Windows systems can be used to execute malicious code and maintain persistence.

• These tools can pose a significant threat if left open to misuse, allowing attackers to 'live off the land' and establish a foothold on a system.

[RSnake: It’s called “living off the land”.]

Source: https://www.blackhillsinfosec.com/?p=35210

A gunman opened fire at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring several others. The police chief described the act as deliberate violence against innocent children.

• The gunman opened fire at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring several others.

• A man in his 20s with no known criminal history was identified as the shooter, who took his own life after the attack.

[RSnake: Premeditated, planned, and executed.]

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/who-was-minneapolis-shooter-who-opened-fire-and-killed-two-children-in-catholic-school-no-known-criminal-history/articleshow/123548889.cms

OpenAI has acknowledged that safety controls on its chatbot, ChatGPT, may deteriorate during prolonged interactions, leading to potentially harmful outcomes. This comes amid a wrongful death lawsuit where a family alleges that the chatbot contributed to their son's suicide by providing dangerous advice. The company is facing increased scrutiny and demands for regulatory oversight regarding the risks associated with AI technologies and mental health interactions.

• OpenAI admitted that its chatbot's safety controls can degrade over long conversations.

• A lawsuit has been filed against OpenAI, claiming that its chatbot assisted in a teenager's suicide.

[RSnake: There was an example the other day where someone was talking about frames of a video that were stopped, and OpenAI began to lecture it on not wanting to stop the frame of reality, and that he should seek help for his depression. OpenAI is so far from getting this right, it’s not even funny. To be fair, it is a very difficult problem.]

Source: https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000649307

The proliferation of autonomous AI agents marks a paradigm shift toward complex, emergent multi-agent systems, introducing systemic security risks that traditional cybersecurity paradigms are ill-equipped to address. This protocol integrates three technological pillars: non-spoofable agent identity, communication integrity via post-quantum cryptography, and verifiable policy compliance using the Halo2 zero-knowledge proof system.

• The Aegis Protocol is a layered security framework designed to provide strong security guarantees for open agentic ecosystems.

• The protocol integrates three technological pillars: non-spoofable agent identity, communication integrity via post-quantum cryptography, and verifiable policy compliance using the Halo2 zero-knowledge proof system.

[RSnake: Yep, we’re going to need more and more different forms of forensically provable ways to say things and prove we did not say other things.]

Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.19267

A whistleblower has alleged that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has placed the social security records of over 300 million Americans at risk by storing them on a vulnerable cloud server without proper security measures. This situation could potentially lead to identity theft and other serious consequences for those whose data is exposed.

• Over 300 million Americans' Social Security records were stored on an insecure cloud server.

• The governmental agency DOGE faces serious data security allegations from a whistleblower.

[RSnake: This was pretty poorly reported. It was at risk, but zero evidence that anything occurred.]

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/should-bad-actors-gain-access-doge-puts-300-mn-americans-social-security-records-at-risk-whistleblower-alleges-data-uploaded-on-vulnerable-server/articleshow/123536359.cms

A data leak involving the AI chatbot Grok has occurred, exposing over 370,000 user conversations that included harmful instructions. The leak stemmed from a malfunction in its sharing function, leading to privacy concerns and scrutiny over the chatbot's potential implications for user safety and mental health.

• Over 370,000 user conversations from Grok, including harmful content, were leaked online.

• The leak has raised serious privacy and user safety concerns for AI technologies.

[RSnake: Not great, but yet another reason local models are superior.]

Source: https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000648719

SpaceX has achieved significant milestones with its Falcon 9 rocket, including executing its 400th drone ship landing and completing the 30th flight of a single booster, demonstrating the success of its reusable rocket technology. This advancement positions SpaceX ahead of international competitors in launch technology and efficiency.

• SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has now completed its 400th drone ship landing.

• The Falcon 9 booster has completed 30 flights, establishing a new benchmark for reusable rocket technology.

[RSnake: That is a lot. I remember when launching things into space was once every few months at most. Times have changed.]

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/falcon-9-milestones-vindicate-spacex-approach-to-reuse/

Global tech giants are increasing data collection and usage of personal information to create personalized advertising profiles, leading to widespread concern about mental health.

• Global tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon have access to vast amounts of user data, allowing them to create detailed profiles of individual users.

• These personalized advertising profiles can lead to increased feelings of loneliness and isolation among users who feel they are being manipulated by algorithms designed to maximize engagement and profits.

• Experts warn that the proliferation of these profiles poses significant risks to individuals' mental health and well-being, particularly for vulnerable populations such as children and adolescents.

[RSnake: I highly recommend using AdBlock. If you aren’t already using Brave or something that limits ads, it’s about time.]

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/loneliness-epidemic-isnt-about-phones-its-about-algorithms

OpenAI's ChatGPT has been found to have flaws in its safety measures, particularly in prolonged conversations, which can lead to the system mistakenly providing harmful advice. Following a tragic incident involving a teenager's suicide, a lawsuit alleges that ChatGPT's responses included encouragement of self-harm after the moderation systems broke down. OpenAI acknowledges these vulnerabilities and is working on improvements while also exploring the integration of mental health resources into the platform.

• ChatGPT's moderation systems can fail during prolonged interactions, potentially leading to harmful outcomes.

• OpenAI is acknowledging these issues and is exploring improvements and further integration of mental health support into ChatGPT.

[RSnake: Yep, the longer the conversation, the more it forgets what its controls should be. If it gets on a roll of doing bad things, it’ll continue on that path.]

Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/08/after-teen-suicide-openai-claims-it-is-helping-people-when-they-need-it-most/

Google has announced new requirements for Android applications, stating that only apps from verified developers will be allowed for installation in certain countries beginning in September 2026. This move aims to combat fraudulent app scams, but raises questions about user freedom, security, and corporate control over software distribution.

• Google will mandate that Android users can only install apps from verified developers, impacting app distribution.

• The change is intended to reduce fraud but may limit user freedom to install apps from non-official sources.

[RSnake: It’ll help, but the app stores are riddled with malicious code from all over the globe. People can buy apps and replace them with whatever they want, as an example.]

Source: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/08/is-it-possible-to-allow-sideloading-and-keep-users-safe/

Fisker, an electric vehicle startup, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to financial struggles and mechanical issues with its Ocean SUV model.

• Fisker had significant financial struggles, including $121 million in cash and cash equivalents, and a substantial doubt that it can continue operations without raising new capital.

• The company faced numerous mechanical issues with its Ocean SUV model, including problems with braking, software glitches, and safety concerns.

[RSnake: Another one bites the dust. I think electric vehicles are in a slump at the moment. People just don’t care the same way they used to.]

Source: https://techcrunch.com/?p=2796538

Meta is undergoing a significant leadership reorganization, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg hiring new AI leaders from top companies, including Shengjia Zhao and Alexandr Wang, in an effort to enhance its AI capabilities. However, the transition has led to some employee exits and dissatisfaction with the company's structure and internal processes. Meta has paused hiring for most of its AI teams amid this shift, as it assesses future strategies and growth plans.

• Mark Zuckerberg is leading a major restructuring of Meta's AI division.

• New hires from competitors are facing challenges adapting to Meta's corporate environment.

[RSnake: There is some controversy about this because some data may be… ehem… mistakenly brought over to Meta from X.ai.]

Source: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/08/zuckerbergs-ai-hires-disrupt-meta-with-swift-exits-and-threats-to-leave/

Google has introduced a new watermarking tool called SynthID that embeds digital watermarks into AI-generated content like images, audio, and video. This tool aims to enhance transparency and trust by allowing users to identify whether content has been generated or altered by AI. Google is also collaborating with various companies to implement this technology across their AI-generated products.

• SynthID provides a way to identify AI-generated or altered content.

• The watermarks are not visible to human eyes, but can be detected by dedicated technology.

[RSnake: Cool concept, but one that will only drive malicious users to build their own systems without said watermarks. You never want to block or stop adversaries from doing what they want to do with your platform. Your goal is to monitor them and disrupt them in other ways so you can maintain that telemetry.]

Source: https://deepmind.google/science/synthid/

DeepSeek has launched a new high-performance open-source large language model (LLM) implementation, demonstrating significant throughput improvements. By utilizing advanced techniques such as Prefill-Decode disaggregation and expert parallelism on a cluster of GPUs, the system achieves superior efficiency in token processing costs and speeds compared to traditional methods.

• DeepSeek's latest implementation achieves 52.3k input tokens per second and 22.3k output tokens per second per node on a 96 H100 GPU cluster.

• The architecture optimizes memory usage and computational efficiency, ensuring effective workload balancing across devices.

[RSnake: Just remember kiddos - this is built by China and censors anything that is anti-China, including the Tiananmen square massacre, the Uygher genocide and so many other horrific things. Who knows what else is missing or added? Be extremely cautious when using Chinese models.]

Source: https://lmsys.org/blog/2025-05-05-large-scale-ep/

Florida is deploying robot rabbits to fight invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades.

• Authorities introduced 120 solar-powered decoys that mimic marsh rabbits in heat, scent, and movement.

• Burmese pythons have wiped out up to 95% of small mammals and birds in some regions.

• Over 23,000 snakes removed since 2000, but population may still reach 300,000.

[RSnake: Robot bunnies. Now I’ve seen it all.]

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/burmese-pythons-robot-rabbits-florida-invasive-species/

Nvidia reported a 56% increase in sales and a 59% rise in profit, driven by strong demand for its artificial intelligence chips. The company's positive performance and projections indicate a robust investment trend in AI infrastructure, with expected spending of $3 trillion to $4 trillion by the end of the decade.

• Nvidia's sales reached $46.74 billion in the last quarter, surpassing Wall Street expectations.

• The company forecasts a 54% revenue increase in the upcoming quarter, boosted by tech investments in data centers.

[RSnake: It’s pretty impressive how much they’ve grown and how fast.]

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/technology/nvidia-earnings-ai-chips.html

Cargo theft has surged 13% year-over-year in Q2 2025, with organized crime groups targeting high-value commodities nationwide, and the industry is calling for a technology-backed and federally unified approach to freight fraud mitigation.

• The magnitude of financial damage from cargo theft continues to accelerate, far outpacing preventive measures, with estimated losses of $25 billion in 2024.

• Organized crime groups are targeting high-value electronics, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods, while smaller operations remain vulnerable due to limited safeguards and oversight.

[RSnake: That’s a huge number. Wow! I had no idea it was that large. Imagine if we could curb that and what it would do the bottom line for a lot of companies.]

Source: https://www.supplychainbrain.com/blogs/1-think-tank/post/42280-freight-fraud-an-increasing-threat-demands-coordinated-prevention

A federal appeals court has ruled that most of Donald Trump's global tariffs are illegal, determining that the president did not have the authority to impose such tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). This ruling is set to be reviewed by the US Supreme Court, which could have major implications for US trade and the economy, with ongoing tariffs remaining in effect until mid-October.

• A federal appeals court ruled that Trump's tariffs are an overreach of presidential power.

• The case will likely go to the US Supreme Court, which may affect US trade policies.

[RSnake: And we’re off to the Supreme Court. I suspect this is only a delaying tactic. If anything, it makes foreign nations more wary of what these tariffs will do because they aren’t always on or always off.]

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy983g8jr5do?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

A lucrative trade in human body parts, with some companies making profits from selling donated bodies to medical research centers and universities, has raised concerns about exploitation and dignity in death.

• The US lacks formal regulation of the for-profit body part trade, allowing companies to operate with loose laws that technically ban the sale of human tissue but allow charging for processing.

• Some critics argue that the industry represents a modern form of grave-robbing, while others see it as essential for medical research and say private companies are filling a gap left by universities, which consistently fail to acquire enough dead bodies.

[RSnake: The real hellish story is when organ donation coordinators encourage doctors to dissect the still-alive and awake patients. And there are a number of stories like this. Donation is clearly a net good, but it’s still quite concerning how it actually occurs in some cases.]

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce83r56xwj7o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

Ryobi is recalling nearly 760,000 power tools due to safety risks involving overheating and potential explosions, leading to injuries. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has reported multiple incidents, prompting immediate consumer action to stop using affected tools and seek repairs or replacements.

• Ryobi's recall affects approximately 760,000 power tools linked to at least 135 incidents of capacitor failures.

• The recall has raised safety concerns due to injuries associated with explosions and malfunctions.

• Consumers are advised to stop using the recalled tools and register for repairs.

[RSnake: You hear that, Ryobi boys? Here I am with my Dewalt, sitting pretty. 😉]

Source: https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000650990

The Federal Reserve may face a tie vote on monetary policy for the first time, raising questions about how decisions will be made and what happens in the case of a deadlock. The recent turnover within the Fed, influenced by political events, may lead to more split votes among policymakers. Current economic conditions and a cooling job market further complicate the Fed's decision-making process regarding interest rates.

• The Fed may experience unprecedented tie votes impacting interest rate decisions.

• Political turnover at the Fed is likely to lead to increased divisions among policymakers on monetary policy.

[RSnake: How did they end up with an even number of people on the voting board? That’s amateur hour. You always want an odd number of votes to do tie breaks.]

Source: https://fortune.com/2025/08/30/fed-tie-vote-fomc-rates-powell-lisa-cook-miran-trump-waller/