What we know about the alleged Iranian hacks on U.S. water utilities

Over the last couple of weeks, hackers have targeted and broken into the systems of several water plants in the United States. Here’s what we know and don’t know about this wave of attacks allegedly carried out by the Iranian government.

ASU’s content creation degree grades your follower count
ASU’s content creation degree grades your follower count

The programme sits inside the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The first cohort enrols this autumn. The Associated Press reported the launch and the backlash on 14 August. Kaitlyn Huamani, who covers social media and interne…

SpaceX has closed its $60bn Cursor deal, and Cursor was buying a company the day before
SpaceX has closed its $60bn Cursor deal, and Cursor was buying a company the day before

SpaceX confirmed completion in a regulatory filing. Bloomberg’s Carmen Arroyo and Natasha Mascarenhas reported the close. The desk covered the binding agreement in June, when SpaceX filed an 8-K and said it expected to complete in the third quarter, su…

A judge just told Google to stop making rival app stores hard to install
A judge just told Google to stop making rival app stores hard to install

The hearing ran on 13 August in a San Francisco courtroom, The Verge reported first. It was a compliance check, not a new case. A jury decided unanimously nearly three years ago that Google held an illegal monopoly over Android apps. Donato set the rem…

Trump’s drone tariffs reach 100%, and Europe gets capped at 15%
Trump’s drone tariffs reach 100%, and Europe gets capped at 15%

Donald Trump signed the proclamation on 13 August. It carries the title Adjusting Imports of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Unmanned Aircraft Systems Components into the United States. It rests on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the nati…

Reddit is joining the S&P 500 with its stock down 31% this year
Reddit is joining the S&P 500 with its stock down 31% this year

The index provider announced the change on 13 August, in a release issued at 18:12 in New York. Reddit enters under the Communication Services sector. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange as RDDT. A second change follows two days later. Sun Communi…

US courts will start publishing how often the government uses spyware

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts told TechCrunch that it will start disclosing how many times judges authorized the use of spyware to wiretap suspected criminals.

Apple wants to pay publishers per use, not per year, to give Siri the news
Apple wants to pay publishers per use, not per year, to give Siri the news

Alexandra Bruell reported the talks for the Wall Street Journal on 12 August, citing people familiar with the matter. Apple has approached publishers over recent months. The content would give Siri AI access to current news and information, the kind th…

Flock Safety cuts data retention to seven days after dozens of police abuse cases
Flock Safety cuts data retention to seven days after dozens of police abuse cases

Garrett Langley, the company’s chief executive, set out the package in a post on Flock’s own blog on 13 August. It covers six areas. Privacy, accountability, data ownership, data security, data accuracy and transparency. Most of the Flock Safety privac…

Private US companies can now run cyber operations abroad. State-backed hackers are excluded
Private US companies can now run cyber operations abroad. State-backed hackers are excluded

Donald Trump signed the memorandum on 12 August and the White House published it that night. It runs to five sections. A National Coordination Center creates and manages the programme. Two Program Executive Directors oversee it. The Attorney General de…