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☆ A water tower in Texas suddenly started overflowing. It may be the work of Russian hackers.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Russian hackers are suspected of causing a Texas town's water tank to overflow earlier this year. Cybersecurity experts say the likely culprit is Sandworm, a Russian hacking group. AdvertisementIn January, a Texas town's water tank suddenly started overflowing, spewing a torrent of water to the ground below. But it's raising concerns this week, after the cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Wednesday that Russian hackers were likely behind it. Mandiant, which is owned by Google, attributed the attack in Muleshoe, Texas to Sandworm, a Russian hacking group.

Persons: —, Mandiant Organizations: Service, Google, Business Locations: Texas, Russian, Pennsylvania, Muleshoe , Texas, Sandworm

☆ Hack on a Texas water system may be the first of its kind by Russian hacking group
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian hackers caused a Texas town's water tank to overflow in a suspected hack earlier this year. AdvertisementIn January, Russian hackers caused a small Texas town's water tank to overflow in what was a rare but worrying attack on US infrastructure. The Russian hacking group Sandworm is likely responsible for the attack on the water system in Muleshoe, Texas, the cyber-security firm Mandiant said on Wednesday. AdvertisementHackers posted a video to Telegram of themselves manipulating Muleshoe's water system, showing how they overpowered it and reset the controls, according to The Washington Post. Ramon Sanchez, Muleshoe's city manager, told CNN that the city's water tank overflowed for about 30 to 35 minutes.

Persons: —, Mandiant, Sandworm, Ramon Sanchez Organizations: Service, The Washington, Cyber Army, Post, CNN, Authorities, US Department of Justice, The Justice Locations: Texas, Russian, Pennsylvania, Muleshoe , Texas, Russia, American, Iran, Muleshoe's, South Korea, Ukraine

☆ Russia-linked hacking group suspected of carrying out cyberattack on Texas water facility, cybersecurity firm says
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A hacking group with ties to the Russian government is suspected of carrying out a cyberattack in January that caused a tank at a Texas water facility to overflow, experts from US cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Wednesday. Muleshoe officials replaced the hacked software system and took other steps to secure the network, Sanchez said. “Regulations have not required this low-hanging fruit to be addressed,” Serino told CNN. “I’ve never experienced this before but … we’re aware that those threats are out there,” Poling told CNN by phone. “The haphazardness is part of their pathological emphasis on psychological impact,” Dan Black, a Mandiant analyst, told CNN.

Persons: Mandiant, Jake Sullivan, Sullivan, Ramon Sanchez, Sanchez, ”, Gus Serino, ” Serino, ” Anne Neuberger, ” The, Harris, Neuberger, Buster Poling, Mike Cypert, Poling, “ I’ve, ” Poling, Nick Conger, Sandworm, ” Dan Black Organizations: CNN, FBI, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, White, ” The Biden, Hale Center, Russian Embassy, State of, GRU, “ Locations: Texas, US, Muleshoe, Pennsylvania, Iran, United States, Russian, Ukraine, Lockney’s, Hale, Washington ,, State of Texas

☆ AMC exec has regrets about that 'Dune: Part Two' popcorn bucket
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

You know the "Dune: Part Two" popcorn bucket? An AMC exec told Variety they never would have made them if AMC knew how people would react. AdvertisementThe viral "Dune: Part 2" popcorn bucket has left one AMC Theatres exec with a bit of regret. Frank said the company is continuing to "learn and evolve" its collectible popcorn bucket business. "It's a material part of our food and beverage business, but it's not the majority of it," Frank told Variety.

Persons: —, Elizabeth Frank, Frank, it's, Variety, Barbie, Wonka Organizations: AMC, Service, Variety, Business, eBay, Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood, Disney

☆ Ancient ‘Dune’-like Sandworm Existed Far Longer Than Thought
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Jack Tamisiea | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

With a head covered in rows of curved spines, ancient Selkirkia worms could easily be confused with the razor-toothed sandworms that inhabit the deserts of Arrakis in “Dune: Part Two.”During the Cambrian Explosion more than 500 million years ago, these weird worms — which lived inside long, cone-shaped tubes — were some of the most common predators on the seafloor. “If you were a small invertebrate coming across them, it would have been your worst nightmare,” said Karma Nanglu, a paleontologist at Harvard. “It’s like being engulfed by a conveyor belt of fangs and teeth.”Thankfully for would-be spice harvesters, these ravenous worms disappeared hundreds of million years ago. But a trove of recently analyzed fossils from Morocco reveals that these formidable predators measuring only an inch or two in length, persisted much longer than previously thought.

Persons: ”, Karma Nanglu, “ Organizations: Harvard Locations: Arrakis, Morocco

☆ Anya Taylor-Joy's cameo in 'Dune: Part Two' explained: Who Alia Atreides is and why she matters for 'Dune: Part Three'
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Eammon Jacobs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewAnya-Taylor Joy's cameo in "Dune: Part Two" only last a few seconds, but it could lead to something bigger if Warner Bros. gives the go-ahead for "Dune: Part Three." Anya Taylor-Joy plays Alia Atreides in 'Dune: Part Two'Anya Taylor-Joy at the "Dune: Part Two" New York premiere and Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica. Alia Atreides could replace her brother in 'Dune: Part Three'Timothée Chalamet in "Dune: Part Two." Or Villeneuve could just chalk up the accelerated aging to the spooky space-witch magic of Lady Jessica and the Bene Gesserit. So there's plenty of plot twists for Taylor-Joy to explore as Alia if "Dune: Part Three" gets off the ground.

Persons: —, Anya, Taylor, Paul Atreides, Baron Harkonnen, Stellan, Shaddam Corrino, Christopher Walken, Paul, Lady Jessica, Rebecca Ferguson, — who's, she's, Joy, Anya Taylor, Alia Atreides, Jessica, Kristina Bumphrey, Alia, Arrakis, Villeneuve, Frank Herbert, Baron, He's, Emperor, Leto, Duncan Idaho, Jason Momoa, Gross, that's Organizations: Service, Warner Bros, Business, York, Getty Images

☆ ‘Dune: Part Two’ Gives Sci-Fi-Obsessed Silicon Valley a Reason to Party
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Mike Isaac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a top-floor atrium in downtown San Francisco on Thursday evening, tech workers from Google, Slack, X and Mozilla mingled next to a pair of cardboard cutouts of Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya. Alex Stamos, the former head of security at Facebook, was also spotted. “Do you think they’ll let me take home one of the freaky sandworm popcorn buckets?” someone in the crowd tittered. The techies were all there to celebrate Silicon Valley’s newest obsession: “Dune: Part 2,” the latest movie adapted from the Frank Herbert-authored science-fiction saga, which helped inspire many of them to become interested in technology. The film, which follows the 2021 installment “Dune,” sold an estimated $81.5 million in tickets in the United States and Canada over the weekend, the biggest opening for a Hollywood film since “Barbie.”

Persons: Zendaya, Dustin Moskovitz, chatted, Tim O’Reilly, Alex Stamos, Frank Herbert, ”, “ Barbie Organizations: Google, Mozilla, Facebook Locations: San Francisco, United States, Canada

☆ Breaking down the thrilling ending of 'Dune: Part Two,' and if we'll ever see a third movie
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Jason Guerrasio | Eammon Jacobs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Though the movie's ending takes some liberties from Herbert's book, it should leave audiences begging for a third movie. In the movie's thrilling conclusion, Paul drinks the Water of Life, which is supposed to bring death to any man who consumes it. Sure, they might stay together if Villeneuve gets to make "Dune 3," but it could be a while before that happens. AdvertisementIn late 2023, he said at a press conference in South Korea that the screenplay for the third movie, which would be based on Herbert's book "Dune Messiah," was "almost finished." But even if "Dune: Part Two" becomes a box office success, the director will not hustle to close the trilogy.

Persons: Denis Villeneuve, —, Denis Villeneuve's, Frank Herbert's, Paul Atreides, Timothée, Niko Tavernise, Paul, Baron, Stellan, Atreides, Paul's, Javier Bardem, Jessica —, Mother, Jessica, Anya Taylor, Joy, Christopher Walken, Austin Butler, Emperor, Irulan, Florence Pugh, Stilgar, Chalamet, Jessica hasn't, Alia Atreides, Alia, jabbar, Gesserit, Villeneuve, Feyd Rautha, Feyd, he'll, she's, Princess Irulan, Pictures Denis Villeneuve, Villeneuve isn't clamoring Organizations: Service, Warner Bros, Pictures, Times Locations: Arrakis, South Korea, Hollywood

☆ What’s next for movie theater operators like AMC after the ‘Barbenheimer’ money runs out?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

AMC Entertainment, often viewed as a bellwether for the industry as the world’s largest movie theater chain, is not immune to those challenges. Taylor Swift attends "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" Concert Movie World Premiere at AMC The Grove 14 on October 11, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. While box office revenues have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels, until this year, they had been on an upward trajectory. Wold lowered his projection for the domestic box office to $8.6 billion, down from $8.9 billion earned in 2023. Upping the showmanshipDespite the box office slowdown this year, AMC found itself at the center of yet another viral moment earlier this month.

Persons: “ Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer, ”, ’, It’s, “ Barbenheimer, Taylor, Taylor Swift, Matt Winkelmeyer, Adam Aron, ” Aron, “, Paul Dergarabedian, Eric Wold, Riley, Wold, Barbie, Iris Schneider, Dergarabedian, “ There’s, Deadpool, Barbie ”, Alicia Reese, Michael O’Leary Organizations: CNN, AMC Entertainment, AMC, Hollywood, ZUMA, Warner Bros, Dodge, Wedbush, Dolby, National Association of Theatre Owners Locations: Los Angeles , California

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Denis Villeneuve doesn’t feel like he came back to Arrakis for “Dune: Part Two.” In his mind, he never left. Photos You Should See View All 21 Images“We all walked at the beginning into this project feeling confident,” Villeneuve said. “Dune: Part Two” cost a reported $122 million to produce and is arriving in theaters not a moment too soon. Christopher Nolan recently compared it to “The Empire Strikes Back.” Villeneuve demurred, but the internet went wild. “I think that’s the way movies will survive.”

Persons: — Denis Villeneuve doesn’t, ”, Frank Herbert’s, David Lean, Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Lynch, ” Villeneuve, Greig Fraser, they’d, Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides, Paul, Jessica, Rebecca Ferguson, Villeneuve, Chalamet, “ Denis, ” Chalamet, “ It’s, Josh Brolin, Sicario, Gurney Halleck, Coen, I’ve, ” Brolin, it's, “, he’s, Hans Zimmer, ’ ” Villeneuve, it’s, Christopher Nolan, ” Nolan, Herbert Organizations: ANGELES, Associated Press Locations: Arrakis, Budapest, Wadi Rum, Abu Dhabi, ”, Hollywood

NEW YORK (AP) — There was nary a sandworm in sight Thursday night on the runway of Christian Siriano, but he definitely had “Dune” on his mind as he kicked off New York Fashion Week. The glam squad of the sand had places to go and people to see in their earth tones and orange shimmer worthy of a Sahara sunset. “I was like, what if we lived in this world that was kind of apocalyptic, but in the sand in the desert. He showed lots of mini looks, including some in gold shine with pops of red, the latter a color that's having a moment. “Red brings that nostalgia that we love, of great moments,” Siriano said.

Persons: Siriano, they'd, ”, Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, “, Alicia Silverstone, J, Smith, Cameron, Ashlee Simpson, Sophia Bush, Melanie Lynskey, ” Siriano Organizations: New York, “

☆ Russian Spies Behind Cyberattack on Ukrainian Power Grid in 2022 - Researchers
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By James PearsonLONDON (Reuters) - Russian cyber spies were behind a hack which disrupted part of Ukraine's power grid in late 2022, U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant, part of Google, said in a report on Thursday, in a rare and advanced form of cyberwarfare. Last October, a massive wave of Russian missile strikes on Ukraine's power network caused blackouts in many parts of the country, prompting Kyiv to halt electricity exports and leaving four regions temporarily without electricity. Sandworm hackers rose to prominence in 2015 after a separate cyberattack against Ukraine’s power grid which cut off power for around 255,000 people. The disruptive, digital, intrusion was widely considered to be one of the first, known, successful cyberattacks against a power network. “There have only been a handful of incidents similar to this, with the majority carried out by Sandworm,” Mandiant analyst Nathan Brubaker said.

Persons: James Pearson, ”, Sandworm, Nathan Brubaker, Christopher Bing, Sharon Singleton Organizations: James Pearson LONDON, Google Locations: Russian, Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, London, Washington

"This shift, towards the courts, prosecutors and law enforcement units, shows that hackers are gathering evidence about Russian war crimes in Ukraine" with a view to following Ukraine's investigations, he added. Russian hackers have prioritised targeting government bodies and trying to gain access to their e-mail servers, Shchyhol said, without elaborating. An attempt by a Russian intelligence hacking group dubbed "Sandworm" to launch a destructive cyberattack against Ukraine's electricity grid was thwarted in April, 2022. Shchyhol said his department saw evidence that Russian hackers were accessing private security cameras within Ukraine to monitor the outcome of long-range missile and drone strikes. "You need to understand that the cyber war will not end even after Ukraine wins on the battlefield," Shchyhol said.

Persons: Ivan Lyubysh, Yurii Shchyhol, There's, Shchyhol, Vladimir Putin, Tom Balmforth, James Pearson, Mike Collett, White, Gareth Jones Organizations: State Service of, Reuters, REUTERS, Ukrainian, State Service of Special Communications, Foreign Ministry, Federal Security Service, Court, ICC, Kremlin, Russia, Ukraine, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Kyiv, LONDON, Russia, Netherlands, Russian, Ukrainian, London

☆ Russian hackers broke into Ukrainian battlefield tech, pillaging data from Android devices: intel agencies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian hackers breached devices Ukraine was using on the battlefield, Western intel agencies said. The hacking campaign targeted Android devices used by the Ukrainian military, they said. They said they discovered malware that can "steal sensitive information" was being used in a campaign targeting Android devices used by the Ukrainian military. The Five Eyes agencies' announcement backs up Ukraine's claim that Russia was hacking its battlefield tech. The Five Eyes agencies did not comment on this claim.

Persons: Sandworm, John Hultquist, SBU, Elon Musk's Organizations: Western intel, Service, Infrastructure Security Agency, NSA, FBI, GRU, South, Armed Forces, Defense Forces, CNN Locations: Ukraine, Western, Ukrainian, Wall, Silicon, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Russia

☆ Russian military hackers take aim at Ukrainian soldiers’ battle plans, US and allies say
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Russian military hackers have been targeting Ukrainian soldiers’ mobile devices in a bid to steal sensitive battlefield information that could aid the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine, the US and its allies warned Thursday. The news shows how the struggle to control sensitive military data in cyberspace has been a key front in Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine. The Ukrainian government has encouraged a loose band of thousands of volunteer hackers to launch attacks on Russian assets in Ukraine and on Russian soil. Some analysts and US officials have attributed the relatively limited impact of Russian hacking – at least compared with the outsize expectation of Russian cyber prowess – during the war to the same disorganization that has plagued Russian kinetic operations. But the true scope and impacts of Russian cyber operations in Ukraine is very difficult to pin down in the fog of war, where both sides have incentive to exaggerate their successes.

Persons: Elon Musk’s, “, ”, John Hultquist, Hultquist, ” Paul Chichester, idly, Paul Nakasone Organizations: CNN, Google, Russian Embassy, Cyber Security, Pentagon, Command Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Russia’s, Washington ,, Russia, Ukrainian

☆ 'Dune: Part Two' is supposed to come out this year. The strikes could change that
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As two Hollywood strikes rage on, movie writers and stars aren't permitted to hype their projects, due to strike rules. The longer the work stoppages keep going, the more likely it is studios will delay releases as production shutdowns choke the movie release pipeline. "Dune: Part Two," a science fiction epic based on Frank Herbert's seminal novel, could end up the biggest title to move. Warner Bros. didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. While the Writers Guild of America has returned to the bargaining table with producers, negotiations are moving slowly.

Persons: aren't, Ethan Coen's, Emma Stone, Frank Herbert's, Barbie, HBO Max, Paul Dergarabedian, didn't, haven't, AFTRA, Steven Schiffman Organizations: ANGELES, Warner Bros, American Federation of Television, Radio Artists, HBO, Comscore, Writers Guild of America, SAG, WGA, Georgetown University, National Geographic Locations: U.S

WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - Russian hackers appear to be preparing a renewed wave of cyber attacks against Ukraine, including a "ransomware-style" threat to organizations serving Ukraine's supply lines, a research report by Microsoft (MSFT.O) said on Wednesday. The report, authored by the tech giant’s cyber security research and analysis team, outlines a series of new discoveries about how Russian hackers have operated during the Ukraine conflict and what may come next. “Since January 2023, Microsoft has observed Russian cyber threat activity adjusting to boost destructive and intelligence gathering capacity on Ukraine and its partners’ civilian and military assets,” the report reads. Experts say the tactic of combining physical military operations with cyber techniques mirrors prior Russian activity. These developments have been paired with a growth in more stealthy Russian cyber operations designed to directly compromise organizations in countries allied to Ukraine, according to the report.

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

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