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The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned two cryptocurrency exchanges accused of laundering millions of dollars for Iran's Revolutionary Guard. One operator was based across Georgia and the UAE, the other inside Iran itself. It's a reminder that crypto's borderless nature cuts both ways — enabling commerce and, allegedly, sanctions evasion at scale.
That Iran connection runs deeper. A former NSA director speaking at DEF CON this week warned that water utility controllers in at least twelve U.S. states should never have been connected to the public internet in the first place. Retired General Paul Nakasone put it plainly: we need higher standards. The FBI is currently investigating what it believes are Iranian-linked attacks on those systems, and the vulnerability isn't exotic — it's basic exposure.
Meanwhile, in the waters off Taiwan, an autonomous software system called Hivemind directed a fleet of unmanned surface vessels through a live coordinated mission for the first time. The drone boats identified and escorted a target vessel together under a single AI command. It's a significant milestone for autonomous naval operations, and a signal that swarming technology is moving from simulation into the real world faster than most expected.
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