Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

The FBI is warning that cybercriminals are hacking into the social media accounts of adults and children to steal their intimate explicit images and videos. The perpetrators rely largely on social engineering tactics to target people, the alert said, and victims are often extorted, or their stolen content published online. “Victims often face re-victimization through harassment, sextortion, stalking or other targeted attacks, such as advertising stolen content on a victim’s own social media page,” the FBI wrote. These types of crimes have been known for years. But the FBI’s public alert could indicate that these incidents are now on the…

Cisco is warning that a high-severity denial-of-service vulnerability in Secure Firewall ASA and Threat Defense (FTD) software is being actively exploited in attacks to remotely crash affected devices. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-20349, has a severity score of 8.6 and impacts devices running Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) or Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) software with certain remote access services enabled. In a security advisory published today, Cisco said the vulnerability is caused by insufficient error checking while processing HTTP requests. “An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to the Remote Access SSL…

Casa CEO Nick Neuman pointed to onchain data from the recent Coldcard firmware exploit as evidence that self-custody strengthens Bitcoin’s resilience as an asset class. In an X post on Aug. 9, Neuman cited figures showing that in the days after the Coldcard hack, where approximately 2.1k BTC was stolen, 22k BTC moved to exchanges and 233k BTC left long-term holder wallets in on-chain transactions, according to data by Checkonchain. “The onchain metrics around the Coldcard incident reinforce how important self-custody is to the resilience of Bitcoin as an asset class,” Neuman wrote. DATA BY CHECKONCHAIN Galaxy Research has tracked confirmed…

Strength training has long been seen as something you mainly do to build muscle or look good. But a new study adds to a growing body of evidence that shows lifting weights does far more than change how we look. It may help us live longer – even if you don’t spend hours each day in the gym. The study drew on three long-running US studies that followed nearly 150,000 nurses and other health professionals for up to 30 years. Every couple of years, participants reported how much time they spent on strength training and aerobic exercise such as walking,…

Authorities in Iceland have detained an antiwhaling protest vessel and its crew after it interfered with a hunt by Hvalur hf., the country’s last whaling company.The M/V Bandero, operated by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, and its 21 crew members were being held in Reykjavík; authorities have ordered the crew’s deportation, with five Americans deported on August 6.Iceland is one of the few countries in the world that still commercially hunts whales, with a quota this year of 150 fin whales; in 2023, Hvalur hf. killed 24 fin whales, and the year before, 148. As of Aug 7, at…

Curtis Lovelace was walking out of his law office in downtown Quincy, Illinois, when he spotted the stranger waiting by his car. “I recognized him to be a police officer,” Lovelace recalled about the day in August 2014 that flipped his life upside down. “So my natural inclination was to reach out and shake his hand. ‘What can I do for you, officer?’” Lovelace had spent seven years as an assistant Adams County prosecutor before moving into private practice, and had worked closely with local cops for years. “His first words were: ‘Put your hands on the car. You’re under…

The former assistant state’s attorney charged with murder. The judge caught driving drunk. The clerk accused of skimming government funds. When local prosecutors might have political or personal ties to a defendant, the state brings in an elite squad of government attorneys: the Illinois Special Prosecution Unit. They are supposed to be lawyers beyond reproach. Instead, the unit has been clouded by allegations of corruption, misconduct, and conflicts of interest. ‘The wrong side of justice’ By David Jackson August 11, 2026 Credit: Illustration by Verónica Martinez @media (min-width: 769px) { .hide-on-desktop { display: none !important; } } The former assistant…

For years, Iran has told its neighbors that the Middle East should rely less on the United States for its security. On Aug. 7, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan took a step toward doing just that. Iran, however, was not included. The three countries signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, under which an armed attack on one would be treated as an attack on all three. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan later compared the provision to NATO’s Article 5. The pact will have a ministerial committee and a permanent secretariat in Saudi Arabia. For years, Iran has told its neighbors…

At least six people were killed on Tuesday when a cargo ship was hit in the Red Sea by missiles fired by the Houthi militia, Yemen’s government said, an escalation in the chaos that has engulfed shipping in the Middle East.The Yemeni Transport Ministry said in a statement that the vessel Tihamah was carrying food supplies and was hit while transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. The ministry added that four crew members — three Pakistanis and one Indonesian — were killed when a fire broke out on board. Later on Tuesday, the…

Three fishing vessels are now “constantly patrolling off the coast of the plant” to conduct “preventive fishing operations […] 24/7,” the company added. Tuesday’s jellyfish invasion comes a the latest in a series of climate change-driven incidents that have affected French nuclear energy during a particularly infernal summer. Nuclear power plants are typically built by rivers or on coastlines so they can use nearby water sources to cool their reactors. But a record number in France this summer have been forced to temporarily shut down due to heatwaves and droughts affecting their water supply. Rising sea temperatures have made jellyfish…