Providence will receive $1.1 billion — one of the largest gifts ever pledged to a U.S. healthcare institution — from Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny. The donation will allow the nonprofit health network to build Oregon’s first hospital focused on women’s health, increase support for cardiovascular services and improve patient care.

“Penny and I have always believed that real breakthroughs come from people willing to take on the toughest challenges,” Phil Knight said in a statement. “Providence has shown that kind of ambition in cardiovascular care, and we see the same opportunity to do something truly distinctive for women’s health.”

The funds are being directed to Portland’s Providence St. Vincent Medical Center and to Providence Heart Institute.

The new women’s hospital will be located on the campus of the medical center and provide care in specialties including gynecology, pregnancy, labor and delivery, menopause and cardiovascular care. Providence leaders note that many pregnant patients are also managing hypertension, diabetes, behavioral health and substance abuse, requiring more specialized services.

The Knights have previously donated $200 million over the course of 10 years to Providence Heart Institute, which sees nearly 63,000 patients each year across the Pacific Northwest, up from 40,000 a decade ago. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and hospitalization in the U.S.

The added support for the institute will help pay for diagnostic cardiac imaging, additional clinical trials, and the recruitment of leading doctors.

Knight, 88, co-founded Nike with Bill Bowerman in Eugene, Ore., in 1964. The business was originally called Blue Ribbon Sports before rebranding seven years later. Knight is currently worth an estimated $25.4 billion, according to Forbes.

“The Knights’ extraordinary gift is a generational investment, leading to bold and innovative ideas that will shape healthcare in Oregon for decades to come,” said Jennifer Burrows, chief executive of Providence Oregon.

Source link

Government agencies are warning that Iranian state-linked hackers are using a Windows malware strain named CHOSEN BRICK to target dissidents, activists, and journalists worldwide.

The malware features data theft and espionage capabilities that collect email, Telegram, and WhatsApp communications, take screenshots, and record audio.

The threat actor primarily targeted individuals in the U.S., U.K., and the Netherlands, whose cybersecurity agencies published a joint advisory with the FBI.

A typical attack begins with social engineering messages impersonating trusted contacts or technical support agents, sent to targets via WhatsApp or Telegram.

Advertisement

The threat actor tricks victims into opening malicious files disguised as legitimate applications (e.g., Pictory, RunwayML, Norton Antivirus, Telegram, Adobe Flash Player, KeePass), often suggesting they launch them on personal devices to bypass corporate security blocks.

Depending on the pretext used, the hackers sometimes used even medical-related lures, the agencies found.

The apps display a convincing interface that matches the lure, while silently installing CHOSEN BRICK in the background and securing persistence through Windows Registry Run keys.

The malware adds Microsoft Defender exclusions to evade detection and connects to a unique Telegram bot that matches the victim’s ID and provides command-and-control (C2).

Once launched, CHOSEN BRICK can perform the following actions:

Advertisement

• Collect system information
• Enumerate running processes
• Capture screenshots
• Record audio through the microphone
• Steal email content
• Steal Telegram or WhatsApp browser data
• Download additional payloads to “C:\Windows \SysWOW64”
• Delete files
• Wipe the entire host system

The stolen data is exfiltrated through Telegram or cloud services like VultrObjects and StorjShare, while newer CHOSEN BRICK variants route traffic through SOCKS5 proxies to conceal the activity.

The advisory notes that the stolen data sometimes ends up on pro-Iranian leak sites, serving as a form of harassment and increasing the physical risk for dissidents abroad.

“Iran almost certainly uses cyber activity to support the repression of individuals who are seen as a threat to the regime, such as dissidents, activists and journalists,” the government agencies say.

“In some cases, the Iranian intelligence services have plotted to kidnap or conduct lethal operations against individuals internationally, who they perceive as enemies of the regime.”

Potential victims and organizations should inspect Registry Run entries for suspicious entries, search logs for indicators of compromise (IoCs) shared in the advisory.

Advertisement

Unexpected connections to Telegram’s API, Backblaze B2, VultrObjects, StorjShare, IPRoyal, and LightningProxies should be investigated as suspicious.

Join Mikko Hyppönen and security leaders from the NFL, CHANEL, and Atlassian for a two-hour digital summit on what AI-speed attacks change, what defenders should stop doing, and how to validate, decide, fix, and re-validate at machine speed.

Save your seat

Source link

GIGABYTE has added two new models, the EAGLE 360 and the EAGLE 360 ICE AIO Liquid Coolers, to its family of PC coolers. These models feature a 360mm radiator and are designed for gaming and intensive creation work. They were designed to work with GIGABYTE EAGLE motherboards and GPUs. The EAGLE 360 is black, while the EAGLE 360 ICE is white. Both models also focus on easy installation and a clean-looking PC build.

Cooling Performance and Key Features

The GIGABYTE EAGLE 360 series uses a 3,200 RPM pump to handle CPU heat during heavy workloads. The pump is paired with three air-intensive PWM fans and a 360mm radiator, helping keep modern Intel and AMD CPUs consistently cool. In addition, the cooling solution simplifies PC assembly for the manufacturer. GIGABYTE pre-installs the fans on the radiator. Simplified cabling helps keep the inside of the PC cleaner.

The coolers also use simplified cabling to reduce clutter inside the PC. A single mounting bracket supports both Intel and AMD platforms. This means builders do not need separate mounting hardware for different supported sockets.

Design, RGB, and Availability

The EAGLE 360 series also focuses on design and customization. The pump features a magnetic EAGLE Accent Cover that users can easily remove and rotate. This lets users align the EAGLE logo with their PC build’s orientation. The pump and fans also feature subtle RGB lighting for added customization.

Users can adjust the lighting to their preference and sync it with other compatible devices. The black EAGLE 360 suits any standard PC build, while the EAGLE 360 ICE offers a white variant and is best for a white-themed PC build. Both models will be available through GIGABYTE’s authorized retailers. GIGABYTE has not yet announced pricing details for the new coolers.

Advertisement

Source link

Microsoft is investigating reports that the Windows 11 KB5124008 security update is breaking domain trust relationships on some enterprise systems, preventing users from logging in with valid domain credentials.

Administrators report on Reddit and Microsoft’s Q&A forums that affected computers lose their secure channel with Active Directory after the Windows 11 update is installed and devices reboot.

Last week, Microsoft confirmed to BleepingComputer that it is aware of the reports and is investigating.

“Microsoft is aware of these reports and is investigating. We will share guidance as it becomes available,” Microsoft told BleepingComputer.

Advertisement

While Microsoft has not confirmed the root cause, reports indicate that the failures are linked to the Windows Machine Identity Isolation security feature, especially when it is enabled in audit or enforcement mode.

Domain trust breaks after installing KB5124008

In Windows Active Directory, domain-joined computers use machine account credentials to maintain a secure channel with domain controllers.

If those locally stored credentials no longer match what Active Directory expects, the secure channel can fail. This can cause users to receive domain trust errors or be told their username or password is incorrect even though their credentials are valid.

Alex Turner, a Windows administrator who reported the issue on Microsoft’s Q&A forums, said Windows 11 25H2 workstations worked normally before KB5124008 was installed. However, after installing the update, the devices started having domain login failures after a reboot.

Advertisement

Cached credentials continued to work while the systems were offline, indicating the problem was tied to domain authentication rather than the users’ passwords.

The administrator said testing showed the computer’s secure channel with Active Directory had broken and that the issue could be reproduced consistently. Uninstalling KB5124008 and repairing the domain relationship restored access, while reinstalling the update caused the failure to return.

Another administrator on Reddit reported that 11 Windows 11 25H2 Enterprise devices out of approximately 256 devices lost domain trust after being updated.

The administrator also found numerous Kerberos authentication failures followed by NTLM and Netlogon fallbacks on affected systems.

Advertisement

Another administrator said every Windows 11 25H2 workstation on their network began rejecting valid domain credentials after installing the updates.

Turner later linked the failures to a Windows security setting called “Machine Identity Isolation,” which he said was set to ‘2’, or enforcement mode, after KB5124008 was installed.

Another administrator investigating the issue reported seeing the same behavior, saying ‘MachineIdentityIsolation’ was set to ‘2’ after the update and that disabling the feature stopped Windows from discarding the machine account LSA secret without requiring KB5124008 to be removed.

The feature is part of Windows’ Virtualization-Based Security and Credential Guard configuration and isolates machine account credentials used by domain-joined computers to authenticate with Active Directory.

Advertisement

In enforcement mode, Windows moves the machine account secret into Credential Guard and removes the copy stored in LSA.

The setting can be controlled through the following registry value:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa]
"MachineIdentityIsolation"

Some administrators have restored affected systems by setting ‘MachineIdentityIsolation’ to ‘0’, rebooting, and then repairing the machine’s secure channel using PowerShell.

One administrator said the following PowerShell command, run as administrator, restored the secure channel after disabling the feature:

Advertisement

Test-ComputerSecureChannel -Repair -Credential(Get-Credential)

“After a reboot, I had to restore the secure channel by ‘Test-ComputerSecureChannel -Repair -Credential(Get-Credential)’. Since then, the computer is running without loosing the secure channel anymore,” explained Marcel Zehnder.

However, administrators should be careful about disabling Machine Identity Isolation as it could also cause similar problems.

Another administrator warned that changing the setting from audit or enforcement mode to disabled caused domain trust failures across their environment, including on systems that had never installed KB5124008.

Microsoft’s documentation also warns that if Machine Identity Isolation was previously enabled in enforcement mode, disabling it will break domain authentication and require the device to be unjoined and rejoined to the domain.

Advertisement

Microsoft has not yet confirmed that Machine Identity Isolation is the root cause of the KB5124008 failures and has not published an official workaround.

BleepingComputer will update the story when Microsoft provides additional information about its investigation.

Join Mikko Hyppönen and security leaders from the NFL, CHANEL, and Atlassian for a two-hour digital summit on what AI-speed attacks change, what defenders should stop doing, and how to validate, decide, fix, and re-validate at machine speed.

Save your seat

Source link

You may recall that back in July we had the ridiculous story of how ICE decided to go all gestapo on its critics, including tracking down and threatening David Streever, who had emailed then-acting ICE director Todd Lyons back in January, after federal agents killed some peaceful protestors in Minnesota. Streever’s email was pretty straightforward:

“You are a monstrous human being and will go down in history as America’s Reinhard Heydrich, the butcher.

“The way you are protecting the obvious execution in Minnesota, even as we see the videos, will lead to your downfall. Even Trump will turn on you before the end, and you will be a sad, despised man who eats himself alive with shame at your own pathetic weakness.

“You will never know peace. You will seek to lose yourself, to escape the burden of knowing the truth about yourself. But wherever you go, you will find yourself. You will torment yourself until your last day on Earth.”

Honestly, pretty mild, given what monsters nominal immigration officials have become. But, alas, DHS couldn’t handle someone being mean on main to their boss. They sent federal law enforcement officials to try to find him at his home to leave him a “warning” about his email. When they found out that Streever was out of the country (taking his daughter to an amusement park in Finland), they tracked his flight home and showed up at the hotel near JFK where he was staying overnight, hoping — unsuccessfully — to meet with him. Agents also left a ridiculous “warning notice” with Streever’s wife:

As our initial article made clear, everything about this was bizarre, intimidating, and stupid. ICE’s “Office of Professional Responsibility” is supposed to be making sure that ICE agents are acting professionally and responsibly — not engaging in unprofessional and irresponsible investigations of people who are criticizing ICE leaders.

Streever, along with lawyers from FIRE, sued Homeland Security, and just received a big initial win. Judge Rudolph Contreras is not at all impressed with DHS’s arguments, and points out that criticizing public officials is kind of a big deal here, what with our First Amendment and all:

Americans have long voiced their displeasure with their government. The Declaration of Independence itself is a list of grievances between Americans and the British government. And Americans have not always indulged in the elevated prose of the Declaration. Government officials have long endured “vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks.” N.Y. Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 270 (1964).

Today is no different. Plaintiff David Streever expressed his displeasure with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) by sending a three-paragraph email to the agency’s Acting Director, Defendant Todd Lyons. Mr. Streever compared Acting Director Lyons to an infamous Nazi and predicted that he would become “a sad, despised man who eats himself alive with shame at [his] own pathetic weakness.”

What is different is how the government responded in this case. ICE dispatched agents to Mr. Streever’s home and delivered to him a “WARNING NOTICE.” The notice threatened him with prosecution if he did not “discontinue” his criticism of ICE. Because that notice likely violates Mr. Streever’s First Amendment right to free speech, the Court will grant, in part, Mr. Streever’s motion for preliminary injunction, enjoining Defendants from relying on the Warning Notice, issuing similar threats, or making good on the threats in the Warning Notice.

Note — as the court does — that nothing in Streever’s email to Lyons came anywhere close to being a “true threat” that would take it out of the protective cloak of the First Amendment. Hell, it’s not even remotely near what could be read as a threat:

More importantly, the email does not contain a physical threat. The email registered displeasure with Acting Director Lyons’s official conduct, forecasted that the Acting Director will lose favor with the President, and warned that the moral weight of the Acting Director’s actions will haunt him in the future…. Although Mr. Streever’s email was not kind, and may not have been particularly productive, it was a far cry from a “[t]rue threat[ ] of violence” sufficient for the email to shed its First Amendment protections.

The court notes that ICE had apparently “closed” the investigation after delivering that bizarre notice to Streever’s wife, but never informed Streever that the investigation was closed. However, when Streever sued, DHS decided to respond publicly to a post by FIRE about the lawsuit:

If you can’t see that, it’s DHS angrily posting:

Any allegation DHS and its components are attempting to ‘squash’ free speech is categorically FALSE.

ICE investigates all credible threats towards its employees and officers, including threats to the ICE Director. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on any ongoing investigations.

Our law enforcement officers are on the frontlines arresting terrorists, gang members, murderers, child sex abusers, and rapists. They are experiencing coordinated campaigns of violence against them and facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them, a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats.

ANYONE who assaults or threatens our law enforcement officers will face the consequences.

Advertisement

Thing is, a federal judge now says that’s bullshit, and that this was obviously an attempt to squash free speech. Indeed, this very tweet comes back to hurt DHS, as the judge sees that it is clearly designed to further intimidate Streever and others.

Still, the judge rejects part of Streever’s request for an injunction against being investigated, noting that ICE claims they closed the investigation into him. Streever points out that the tweet suggests otherwise, but the judge accepts that ICE’s investigation is over.

But he is greatly troubled by that bullshit “warning notice” left at his home, and notes that even if the investigation is closed, the “warning notice” and its speech suppressing statements are still in effect:

The Warning Notice is a different matter. Defendants have not disavowed the Warning Notice, nor do they deny that it remains in effect. The Warning Notice therefore provides a continuing injury over which Mr. Streever has standing to sue.

The Supreme Court has recognized that when the government directly threatens a party with future enforcement actions targeting their First Amendment activity, it creates an on-going injury at least where there is a “distinct possibility of” enforcement.

Advertisement

And since the notice orders Streever to self-censor to avoid future trouble, the court sees it as a real First Amendment problem for DHS:

Mr. Streever likewise faces a distinct possibility of prosecution for future speech. The Warning Notice requests that Mr. Streever “discontinue” his political speech and threatens prosecution, if he does not.

And here’s where that raging tweet harms DHS’s case even further:

Even if the Warning Notice were not explicit enough, a DHS spokesperson later posted on social media, in response to a post about Mr. Streever’s lawsuit, specifically referencing a purported “credible threat towards . . . the ICE Director” and warned that “ANYONE who assaults or threatens our law enforcement officers will face the consequences.” Homeland Security (@DHSgov), X (July 6, 2026, at 3:06 p.m.). This public statement and the reference to “consequences” further underscores that Mr. Streever faces a credible threat of government reprisal.

Judge Contreras does not buy DHS’s retort that they’re simply warning Streever not to violate federal law, pointing out that there’s no way you can read the Warning Notice that isn’t an attempt to suppress Streever’s speech:

Defendants dismiss the Warning Notice as merely a reminder to Mr. Streever “not to violate federal law” and argue it represents at most a past injury. Defs.’ Opp’n at 19. The Warning Notice, however, is not quite so innocuous. In the opening paragraph, it identifies Mr. Streever’s January email and states that OPR “has reason to believe [it] may constitute a violation of Title 18 of the U.S. Code.” Compl., Ex. 2. It then requests that Mr. Streever “promptly remove and/or discontinue the aforementioned behavior.” Id. (emphasis added). Defendants seem to understand “aforementioned behavior” to refer to criminal threats generally. But because of the immediately preceding reference to Mr. Streever’s email to Acting Director Lyons, this request is fairly read as a demand that Mr. Streever refrain from criticizing Acting Director Lyons.

The notice also warns Mr. Streever of the potential for prosecution. After describing Mr. Streever’s email as a potential “violation of Title 18,” the notice goes on to describe various crimes under that title and remind Mr. Streever that “[v]iolations of these or related laws could subject you to both federal and state prosecution.” Id. (emphasis removed). If that were not enough, the letter closes by telling Mr. Streever that “[r]eceipt of this Notice will be taken into consideration, should you continue to be involved in any criminal activities described above.” Id. The use of “continue” implies that Mr. Streever’s email already exposed him to criminal liability and, critically, that any similar speech by Mr. Streever in the future will be viewed the same way.

Advertisement

All told, the Warning Notice demands that Mr. Streever “discontinue” his political speech criticizing Acting Director Lyons. It does so while reminding Mr. Streever of the risk of prosecution and warning him that if he “continue[s]” to criticize Acting Director Lyons and ICE, the fact that he has been warned for his past speech “will be taken into consideration,” implying future prosecutions. Political speech is not a crime, so that is hardly a reminder to follow the law. And because the Warning Notice speaks of “discontinu[ing]” Mr. Streever’s political speech and threatens consequences if he “continue[s]” to speak out, it represents a continuing, rather than a past, injury.

The court also rejects the argument from DHS that Streever is trying to block a “speculative” future harm of being arrested and or prosecuted. But as the judge points out, that’s not the issue here. The existing chilling effect on speech is already a harm:

Mr. Streever is not merely alleging that he will be injured at some point in the future because he will face an investigation or prosecution down the line. That would be closer to the risk of being subjected to a chokehold in the future in Lyons because it would rely on predicting the future actions of Mr. Streever and law enforcement. …

Mr. Streever’s injury is the loss of his freedom to engage in political speech now because the threat of such an investigation or prosecution looms over him like the sword of Damocles, and he is forced to self-censor under that threat…. That loss of speech is both imminent and certain because it does not rely on Defendants actually opening a new investigation. The Warning Notice works because Mr. Streever is too intimidated by the threat of future government action that he will not test whether the government will follow through on its threat. As the Supreme Court recently explained, “[t]he value of a sword of Damocles is that it hangs—not that it drops.” First Choice, 608 U.S. at 192 (quoting Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U.S. 134, 231 (1974) (Marshall, J., dissenting)).

DHS also claims that because Streever doesn’t have any “concrete plans” to engage in more such speech in the future, then he can’t show harm. The court (rightly) finds that argument to be quite silly:

Even viewed through the lens of a future injury, Mr. Streever’s case is distinguishable from those cited by Defendants because the type of speech at issue here is different. Mr. Streever seeks to engage in speech through off-the-cuff emails and comments on social media…. This spontaneous speech is different in kind from the sorts of premediated future activities for which courts have expected concrete plans. … Given the spontaneous nature of the speech at issue here, it would be pedantic to require Mr. Streever to detail exactly when he anticipates speaking out against the government next and what he plans to say.

In the end, the court won’t bar the government from investigating Streever (again, ICE insists the investigation is closed) but it does vacate the “Warning Notice” outright, and bars DHS from leaning on it going forward. While the judge considers Streever’s request to block future investigations of his speech, the judge notes he’s not sure he can really do that. If future speech actually contains true threats or violates laws in other ways, an investigation has to be allowed. But clearly mindful of the chilling effects here, the court makes it clear that continuing to harass Streever over his political speech is not allowed.

The Court will, for the time being, vacate the Warning Notice; it will preliminarily enjoin Defendants from relying on the Warning Notice and Mr. Streever’s January email in future prosecutions and investigative demands; and it will preliminarily enjoin Defendants from issuing similar warnings to Mr. Streever that suggest he cannot engage in non-threatening criticism of the government.

DHS whined to the judge that ICE is facing oh so many threats (based on very bullshit claims by DHS), but the judge notes that this is a narrow injunction, one that still leaves ICE free to investigate actual threats. But it does mean that you are free to let ICE officers know that they are monstrous human beings who will be reviled in history, and that they are sad and despised.

Source link

Nuance Labs, a Seattle-based artificial intelligence startup developing a foundational AI model designed to perceive and respond to real-time human expression, raised $50 million in Series A funding.

Founded in early 2025 by former Apple PhD researchers Fangchang Ma, Edward Zhang, and Karren Yang, the research lab is developing a single “full-duplex” foundation model designed to process and generate conversational cues simultaneously.

@media (max-width: 600px) {
aside.callout { float:none !important; max-width:100% !important; margin-left:0 !important; margin-right:0 !important; }
aside.callout .callout-img { display:none !important; }
}

Unlike traditional setups that chain together separate tools for transcription, text generation, and voice or animation, Nuance’s model ingests live audiovisual signals like tone, gaze, and timing to stream real-time facial and vocal responses.

Existing avatars and voice tools fail because they force humans to adapt to the machine rather than the other way around, according to Ma, Nuance’s CEO.

“The most productive collaboration comes from being able to express yourself freely, in words, tone, gesture, and expression, the way you would with a friend or close colleague, with all the nuance in the back-and-forth that turns talking into understanding,” Ma said in a news release. “That’s what we’re building at Nuance Labs: AI that understands the many ways we express ourselves and responds the way a person does, in the moment.”

In a demo video accompanying the announcement (below), the startup showcased an avatar built to function as an active listener, adjusting its facial expressions and verbal cues dynamically as the user speaks.

Zhang, Nuance’s CTO, earned his PhD in computer graphics from the University of Washington and met Ma at Apple’s engineering office in Seattle. The two spoke to GeekWire last fall about building in Seattle rather than Silicon Valley and how they want Nuance “to be the premier research lab in Seattle.”

The startup plans to release a public research preview of its model later this year, giving users their first hands-on test of the interactive face-to-face avatar. Nuance targets applications where real-time human expression drives outcomes, including sales, customer service, professional coaching, and education.

Returning investor Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, which also included participation from existing backers Accel and South Park Commons, alongside new investments from NVIDIA and Define Ventures.

The financing brings Nuance Labs’ total capital raised to $60 million following its $10 million seed round last year.

Nuance, which employs 27, plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate model development and hire researchers and engineers across modeling, data, evaluation, and real-time serving as it expands its team.

Source link

Apple only started rolling out iOS 27 yesterday, but Apple is already working on the next update, which has a small feature that could prove surprisingly useful. As MacRumors points out, the latest iOS 27.2 beta adds an anniversary reminder to Call Context, which can warn you about an important date just before you place a call.

Call Context itself arrived with iOS 27. We previously covered one of its more delightful tricks, where calling someone on their birthday brings up a reminder along with a small fireworks animation. The iOS 27.2 beta now takes that idea a little further by adding anniversaries into the mix.

Your iPhone can give you one last reminder

If an anniversary has been saved in someone’s contact card, iOS 27.2 can surface the date on the call screen when you contact them that day. Unlike birthdays, anniversaries do not get their own animation, so the fireworks remain exclusive to birthday calls for now.

Call Context can also pull relevant information from apps such as Mail when it may be useful during a call. Anniversary support gives the feature a more personal role alongside the practical information it already surfaces.

There is still one catch

The anniversary has to be saved in Contacts first. Apple includes an anniversary option under the date field, while supported Apple Intelligence devices can also use Siri AI to add it to a contact card. Apple has not released iOS 27.2 to the public yet, so the feature is currently limited to the beta build. The update is expected to roll out more broadly in October.

Advertisement

Source link

Source link