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🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur. As the Dallas Cowboys are expected to eventually work out a new contract with the veteran star, Micah Parsons, many are wondering whether the organization will soon have to discuss an extension with the star offensive lineman, Tyler Smith. On Sunday, most of the Cowboys’ 2025 roster reported to California for training camp. Smith was among the group, and addressed reporters ahead of the team’s first practice. Smith was asked about his current contract situation, which doesn’t seem to have any steam on extension talks just yet. Whether he’s searching for an early extension or not, Smith makes it clear that the ball isn’t in his court at this time. “That’s not up to me,” the star lineman told reporters. “I can only control what I can control, and that’s coming in and working.” Cowboys LG Tyler Smith when asked if he’d like to get contract talks started: “That’s not up to me. I can only control what I can control, and that’s coming in and working.” pic.twitter.com/SaN4IFgO5o — Jon Machota (@jonmachota) July 20, 2025 Smith, a Texas native, attended Tulsa for his college run from 2019 to 2021. Entering the 2022 NFL Draft, Smith was a projected first-round pick. The Cowboys made those predictions a reality. With the 24th overall pick, the Cowboys called on Smith to become a key member of the offensive front. From the jump, Smith was a full-time starter for Dallas, appearing in 17 games, playing 99 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. Tyler Smith #73 of the Dallas Cowboys drops back to block during an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals at AT&T Stadium on December 9, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. Perry Knotts/Getty Images Although he dealt with some setbacks during year two, Smith still appeared in 14 games, collecting 941 snaps of action, which accounted for 97 percent of the Cowboys’ offensive snaps when he was healthy. Last year, Smith started the 16 games he played. For the second time in his career, he appeared in over 1,000 snaps. He was whistled for just one holding call and one false start throughout the entire season, which is a career-high for the third-year veteran. At this stage in his career, Smith is a two-time Pro Bowler. He was named Second-Team All-Pro during the 2023 NFL season. If the Cowboys aren’t going to be willing to pay Smith, some other team surely will. This year, Smith will have a base salary of $2.5 million, carrying a cap hit of $4.6 million. There is a team option available for Dallas in 2026, but an established player like Smith might want long-term security at this stage of his career. The Cowboys have already proven they aren’t going to rush to get deals done. Currently, the star pass rusher Micah Parsons is in a position where he wanted an extension early on, but he’s still waiting. Although Parsons was viewed as a potential holdout candidate ahead of training camp this season, the veteran pass rusher is reportedly making his way to camp this upcoming week. Dallas doesn’t have any high-profile holdouts this year. However, they have multiple players to keep an eye on as the stars typically want to get paid earlier. For more Dallas Cowboys and NFL news, head over to Newsweek Sports Read More

By Adeola Adeosun is the Newsweek Weekend Night Editor based in Atlanta, Georgia. Her focus is reporting on U.S. national news, politics and trends. Adeola joined Newsweek in 2024 and has previously worked for CNN, Bossip, and The Messenger. You can get in touch with Adeola by emailing a.adeosun@newsweek.com. Languages: English. Adeola Adeosun and Hannah Parry is a Newsweek Live Blog Editor based in New York. Her focus is reporting on U.S. politics and society. She has covered politics, tech and crime extensively.Hannah joined Newsweek in 2024 and previously worked as an assistant editor at The U.S. Sun and as a senior reporter and assistant news editor at The Daily Mail. She is a graduate of the University of Nottingham. You can get in touch with Hannah by emailing h.parry@newsweek.com. Languages: English. Hannah Parry Weekend Night Editor 🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur. Microsoft has issued an urgent security alert warning of “active attacks” targeting SharePoint servers used by government agencies and businesses worldwide. The attacks, discovered over the weekend, exploit a previously unknown vulnerability in the document-sharing software, prompting immediate action from both Microsoft and federal investigators. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) told Newsweek on Sunday that it is aware of the incidents and working with federal and private-sector partners to address the threat. The Washington Post first reported the hacks, citing unidentified actors who exploited the flaw to target U.S. and international agencies and businesses over the past few days. Newsweek reached out to Microsoft and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Sunday via email for comment. Why It Matters This zero-day attack represents a significant cybersecurity threat to organizations relying on SharePoint for internal document management and collaboration. The vulnerability affects government agencies, schools, healthcare systems including hospitals, and large enterprise companies, with attackers bypassing multi-factor authentication and single sign-on protections to gain privileged access. What To Know The vulnerability affects only on-premises SharePoint servers used within organizations, not Microsoft’s cloud-based SharePoint Online service. Michael Sikorski, CTO and Head of Threat Intelligence for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, told Newsweek in an email statement that “attackers are bypassing identity controls, including MFA and SSO, to gain privileged access. Once inside, they’re exfiltrating sensitive data, deploying persistent backdoors, and stealing cryptographic keys.” According to Sikorski, the attackers have already established footholds in compromised systems, making patching alone insufficient to fully remove the threat. The compromise extends beyond SharePoint due to its deep integration with Microsoft’s platform, including Office, Teams, OneDrive and Outlook. “What makes this especially concerning is SharePoint’s deep integration with Microsoft’s platform,” Sikorski said. “A compromise doesn’t stay contained—it opens the door to the entire network.” Microsoft has released a security update for SharePoint Subscription Edition and is developing patches for 2016 and 2019 versions. The company recommends organizations that cannot immediately apply protective measures should disconnect their servers from the internet until updates become available. FILE – A Microsoft sign and logo are pictured at the company’s headquarters, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Redmond, Wash. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond, File What People Are Saying Microsoft Security Team in a statement: “We recommend security updates that customers should apply immediately.” Michael Sikorski, CTO and Head of Threat Intelligence for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, told Newsweek: “If you have SharePoint on-prem exposed to the internet, you should assume that you have been compromised at this point. This is a high-severity, high-urgency threat. We are urging organizations who are running on-prem SharePoint to take action immediately and apply all relevant patches now and as they become available, rotate all cryptographic material, and engage professional incident response.” The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said on Sunday: “CISA is aware of active exploitation of a new remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability enabling unauthorized access to on-premise SharePoint servers. While the scope and impact continue to be assessed, the new Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE), CVE-2025-53770, is a variant of the existing vulnerability CVE-2025-49706 and poses a risk to organizations. This exploitation activity, publicly reported as “ToolShell,” provides unauthenticated access to systems and enables malicious actors to fully access SharePoint content, including file systems and internal configurations, and execute code over the network.” The FBI told Newsweek in an email response that they are: “Aware of the attacks and working closely with federal and private-sector partners,” though they declined to provide additional operational details. What Happens Next Organizations using affected SharePoint versions face immediate decisions about disconnecting servers from the internet until patches become available. Palo Alto Networks is actively notifying affected customers and working closely with Microsoft’s Security Response Center to provide updated threat intelligence. Microsoft continues developing patches for older SharePoint versions, with timeline details yet to be announced. fairness meter fairness meter Newsweek is committed to journalism that’s factual and fair. Hold us accountable and submit your rating of this article on the meter. Newsweek is committed to journalism that’s factual and fair. Hold us accountable and submit your rating of this article on the meter. Click On Meter To Rate This Article Top stories About the writer Adeola Adeosun is the Newsweek Weekend Night Editor based in Atlanta, Georgia. Her focus is reporting on U.S. national news, politics and trends. Adeola joined Newsweek in 2024 and has previously worked for CNN, Bossip, and The Messenger. You can get in touch with Adeola by emailing a.adeosun@newsweek.com. Languages: English. Adeola Adeosun and Hannah Parry is a Newsweek Live Blog Editor based in New York. Her focus is reporting on U.S. politics and society. She has covered politics, tech and crime extensively.Hannah joined Newsweek in 2024 and previously worked as an assistant editor at The U.S. Sun and as a senior reporter and assistant news editor at The Daily Mail. She is a graduate of the University of Nottingham. You can get in touch with Hannah by emailing h.parry@newsweek.com. Languages: English. Hannah Parry Adeola Adeosun is the Newsweek Weekend Night Editor based in Atlanta, Georgia. Her focus is reporting on U.S. national news,

By Saajan Jogia is a motorsport and automotive writer with over ten years of experience. His passion for cars and motorcycles has been a driving force behind his evolution as a writer. He has extensively covered Formula 1, MotoGP, IndyCar, NASCAR, WEC, and technology for publications including Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, Newsweek, and Men’s Journal. Saajan Jogia Sports Contributing Writer 🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur. Former Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya has revealed the consequences Red Bull Racing could face if Max Verstappen decides to part ways with the team. This comes amid rumors of the four-time world champion’s strong links to the Mercedes F1 team. Mercedes driver George Russell admitted that his contract extension discussions were on hold due to his team’s ongoing talks with Verstappen. Russell’s contract expires at the end of 2025, and the Briton pledged his loyalty to Mercedes, admitting he wasn’t in talks with any of the teams on the grid. Verstappen’s struggles with Red Bull’s RB21 have been going on for a while, which has cost him the championship lead in the season so far. The recent ousting of Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has reportedly contributed to the uncertainty about the team’s future, especially given the beginning of a new era of regulations in 2026, when Red Bull will introduce its own power units, developed in collaboration with Ford. Verstappen’s teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, is finding it challenging to adapt to the RB21 following his promotion to Red Bull in March. He has scored 10 points in the 12 races that have gone by, and is 17th in the Drivers’ Standings. Verstappen, on the other hand, is in third place with a tally of 165 points, 69 adrift of championship leader Oscar Piastri. Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing looks on prior to practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 04, 2025 in Northampton, England. Mark Thompson/Getty Images Montoya believes Red Bull is scoring a significant number of points because of Verstappen. But when he is gone, the team will need two strong drivers to fill the gap. Speaking to AS Colombia, as quoted by Planet F1, he said: “We don’t know what’s going on at Red Bull. Max will now say, ‘It’s going to be interesting.’ We don’t know. “Max is worth as much as half to two-thirds of the entire grid, because at the moment Red Bull is a team that only scores points thanks to Max. “If they lose Max, they will really need to invest in two drivers and try to get the same number of points with those two that Max gets on his own. I think this is what they will try.” As well as Tsunoda and Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson, Montoya opened up about Red Bull’s junior drivers who are being trained for a future Red Bull seat. However, he claimed that none are ready to take Verstappen’s place. Starting with Arvid Lindblad, he said: “For Lindblad, who is now driving in Formula 2, the next step is a switch to Racing Bulls. I don’t know if he’s the solution. He should first drive for a season with Racing Bulls.” Isack Hadjar, who made his F1 debut this year with Racing Bulls, probably needs another year, according to Montoya. He added: “I wouldn’t give Hadjar a seat either. He needs to gain more confidence first. He is doing very well in his first season, but I think he needs at least one more year at Racing Bulls. A driver needs confidence and stability. At the moment his career is going well, but how many careers have we seen lost?” With no driver capable enough to replace Verstappen yet, Red Bull could face serious consequences if he chose to part ways. Is This Article Trustworthy? Newsweek is committed to journalism that is factual and fair We value your input and encourage you to rate this article. Newsweek is committed to journalism that is factual and fair We value your input and encourage you to rate this article. Slide Circle to Vote No Moderately Yes VOTE Top stories About the writer Saajan Jogia is a motorsport and automotive writer with over ten years of experience. His passion for cars and motorcycles has been a driving force behind his evolution as a writer. He has extensively covered Formula 1, MotoGP, IndyCar, NASCAR, WEC, and technology for publications including Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, Newsweek, and Men’s Journal. Saajan Jogia Saajan Jogia is a motorsport and automotive writer with over ten years of experience. His passion for cars and motorcycles … Read more Read More

The Brazilian government says it has offered accommodation for COP30 costing no more than $220 a night to representatives of some of the world’s poorest countries after African and Pacific delegations aired big concerns over the lack of affordable lodgings in the city of Belém. Many of the rooms are offered on two cruise ships that will be docked in the Port of Outeiro – a 30-minute ride from the venue of the climate summit – providing 3,900 cabins and 6,000 beds. “These two large ships are part of a variety of lodging options designed to accommodate all COP30 attendees,” said Valter Correia, the special secretary for COP30 overseeing logistics for the summit. In a statement, Brazil’s COP30 presidency team said that these lodgings would first be offered to 98 of the “smallest developing countries and island nations”, with delegates from other countries able to book accommodation costing up to $600 a night at an unspecified time in the future. Climate Home spoke to four climate negotiators from African and Pacific nations. None were satisfied with the COP30 presidency’s statement, saying that it came too late and the price caps were still too high and would price some developing countries out of participating. A fifth negotiator – Adão Soares Barbosa from the Southeast Asian country of Timor-Leste – told Climate Home that his room has not been booked and $220 a night is “still too much for developing countries”. Brazil’s Belém races to make room for COP30 influx A spokesperson for the COP30 presidency told Climate Home the accommodation platform is “operational”, but it can only be accessed by those specifically invited to submit their information. Anne Rasmussen, lead climate negotiator for the small island group AOSIS, told Climate Home that she had “seen the reports” on this offer and welcomed this initiative but was awaiting “formal communication” from the COP30 presidency. Asked by email if only cruise ship cabins are listed on the platform, the COP30 presidency did not answer directly, saying only that “available accommodation will include all modalities such as hotels, vacation rentals and ships among others”. Response to backlash The COP30 presidency statement comes three weeks after African and Pacific island nations said publicly that they were concerned that the cost of rooms could prevent them from joining in negotiations at COP30, where issues like adapting to climate change and transitioning away from fossil fuels will be discussed. The United Nations subsidises the costs of up to three people from some developing countries – least developed countries and small island developing states – to attend COP talks. But the payment, known as a daily subsistence allowance (DSA), is capped based on living costs. For the city of Belém, UN guidelines – which are not specific to COP – say the DSA should be $149 a day. The UN’s climate arm – which has a severely limited budget – has not said if this limit will be raised for the COP. An increase would involve the International Civil Service Commission, which sets the rates. Because of the DSA rate, one negotiator representing one of the 98 governments offered the $220 cap said that “even with this supposed $220 price point, it’s still far beyond what most delegates can reasonably cover”. “That doesn’t even account for the high cost of food and drinks at the venue”, they said, adding that if delegates are spending all of their DSA on accomodation then “they’re essentially being forced to pay out of pocket for everything else.” “An exclusive COP” “This is increasingly shaping up to be an exclusive COP where only those with big budgets can attend,” they said. “Civil society and media participation seem like an afterthought, and that’s incredibly worrying.” Another negotiator from one of the 98 governments offered the cap agreed, saying that “wealthy countries are always OK” and “the rich developing countries will send limitless delegates” but “the poor will send however many are paid for”. Negotiators from the 57 developing countries who were not offered the $220 a night cap were also dissatisfied. “$600 is way above the limit we have for our per person costs,”said one official from an African state, “it’s going to be really hard for us to participate if the accommodation situation is not resolved.” “None of our delegation has booked as of yet and we’re urgently trying to resolve it but it’s just really expensive as of now,” they added. Another from this group of 57 said the process for choosing which countries were offered the $220 a night cap was “opaque”. They pointed out that some countries whose governments were offered the cap have higher per person incomes than some of those who were not. Kenya, which has been offered the cap, has a gross domestic product (GDP) per person nearly three times higher than that of Nigeria, which has not been offered the cap. Asked about the criteria for choosing the 98 nations, the COP30 presidency said it is “made up primarily of nations with lower development indices and small island developing states, as defined by the United Nations’ technical categories of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS)”. They did not explain why countries like Kenya, Sri Lanka and Nicaragua – which are not LDCs or SIDS – were chosen. While rooms in Belém are listed on Airbnb for the COP30 dates for less than $100 a night, most governments and many companies and NGOs have rules against booking Airbnbs due to safety and other concerns. Cruise ship emissions Green shipping campaigners also criticised the pollution involved in using cruise ships to host COP30 delegates. The two ships – MSC Seaview and Costa Diadema – will rely on their onboard generators to power their air conditioners, televisions and other equipment, a COP30 spokesperson said, adding that “these generators use different types of fuel, ranging from conventional diesel to biodiesel.” A view of the cruise ship MSC Seaview leaving Marseille on 31 October 2021 (Photo

Microsoft’s history of dominating the market for carbon removal continued when the tech giant announced late last week it was buying 4.9 million tons of removal credits from Vaulted Deep, a startup that buries organic waste underground. Here’s what prospective buyers and other carbon credit players need to know about the deal. It’s not all about human waste The Wall Street Journal described the deal thus: “Microsoft wants your poop to lower its emissions.”  That’s not quite right, according to Vaulted co-founder and CEO Julia Reichelstein. The startup takes multiple types of organic waste, including manure and sludge from paper mills, and injects it hundreds or thousands of feet below the ground. This “bioslurry” contains carbon that was removed from the atmosphere by plants before being eaten by animals or used in paper processing, making the process carbon negative. But, yes, excrement is involved. Vaulted’s bioslurry injection technology was originally developed as means of disposing of waste from a water treatment plant in Los Angeles, and human fecal matter will be an important input going forward. Will the credits deliver real climate value? One of the biggest problems in carbon markets is proving “additionality”— knowing that credit revenue is essential to making a project work. Some forest conservation schemes, for example, have been criticized for selling carbon credits to protect forests that were really not at risk.  Vaulted’s process is clearly additional, said Reichelstein, because the vast majority of the organic waste it’s targeting in the U.S. is spread on land, incinerated or sent to landfill, releasing carbon dioxide and methane in the process. Without a commercial incentive or regulatory requirement to do otherwise, credit revenues are needed to fund the removal. Buyers will want that and other claims — including guarantees that the carbon will not seep back into the atmosphere — to be verified by an independent third party. At present, no carbon credit rating agencies have assessed Vaulted’s projects. But the startup does have important proof points. It follows a methodology developed by Isometric, a credit registry with a reputation for thoroughness. Microsoft is also known for doing extensive due diligence on prospective sellers, as is Frontier, a coalition of removal buyers that purchased a total of slightly more than 150,000 credits from Vaulted in 2023 and 2024. “Having them do months and months and months of diligence on us and deciding to purchase from us is good industry validation,” argued Reichelstein. What you can expect to pay for a Vaulted credit The cost of the Microsoft deal was not disclosed, but Frontier paid $58 million for its credits, putting the per-ton price just over $380. For comparison, other recent deals involving “durable” removal — defined as locking away carbon for hundreds or thousands of years — include direct air capture, which costs $500 per ton or more, biomass electricity generation with carbon capture ($350/t) and carbon capture at pulp and paper plants (less than $200/t). Prices of all these credit types are expected to fall, however. Frontier is willing to pay high prices to back emerging technologies, but the coalition only backs projects that can demonstrate a plausible path to reducing costs to less than $100/t. Reichelstein said she expected Vaulted’s costs to come “dramatically down” and to be competitive with other methods for storing biomass. Where buyers can find Vaulted credits Vaulted’s operations are relatively small scale at present: The company has generated 18,000 credits from a facility in Hutchinson, Kansas, that has been operating since August 2023. Thanks to the deals with Frontier and Microsoft, it’s scouting other sites to fulfill those contracts and bring more credits to market. Vaulted is already developing a site in Monarch Fields, Colorado, and has applied for permits to develop a facility at an undisclosed location on the East Coast, said Reichelstein. The challenge is in part about finding sites that are close enough to bioslurry sources for the process to make economic sense. The supply of waste itself shouldn’t be an issue: Reichelstein said the U.S. produces around 1 billion tons of “unused or unusable” organic waste annually, enough to generate hundreds of millions of tons of removal credits. Companies interested in purchasing credits can explore offtake agreements such as the one signed by Microsoft or purchase in smaller amounts direct from the Vaulted Deep website. Jim Giles Jim Giles is Vice President, Editor-at-Large at Trellis Group. Read More

The opinions expressed here by Trellis expert contributors are their own, not those of Trellis.​ The Global South — home to most of the world’s population — is where most of the planet’s economic growth and greenhouse gas emission growth is taking place. In the runup to COP30 in Brazil later this year, we explore how a sample of these economies are shaping climate financing. Kenya is known as the Pride of Africa, thanks to its wildlife tourism, successful marathoners and bustling economy. And when it comes to climate financing, that moniker also rings true due to a clean electric grid and thriving climate innovation culture. While the average electricity access for East Africa hovers around 56 percent, electricity access is at 90 percent in Kenya, with 20 percent of households using solar mini grids or standalone renewable energy systems for their electricity needs. Thanks to leveraging geothermal resources and growing solar and wind capacity, Kenya’s grid is 90 percent clean. The government of Kenya has set a goal to reach 100 percent renewable energy generation by 2030. This goal makes Kenya stand out as a gem to locate low-carbon manufacturing, attracting companies such as Enda running shoes and East African Cables. The major challenge in transforming Kenya’s electricity system to support massive clean manufacturing and livelihoods is increasing the reliability and capacity of the grid. The government has set a goal to expand grid capacity to 100 GW – up from its current 3.3 GW – by 2040, which could require an estimated $40 billion in investment. Last year, new regulations opened up access to private companies to invest and run transmission and distribution networks. Like in the case of Indonesia, expanding and reinforcing the capacity of the grid could be an attractive investment for both local and global investors. A new wave for land use and food systems The land use side of the climate equation– where climate investors and corporations often look to invest — hasn’t progressed as quickly as the energy side of Kenya: over 75 percent of Kenyan soil is degraded and forest cover remains low. Goals to improve both exist, with the goal of a minimum forest cover of 10 percent by 2030 and strategies for agroecology that centers community-driven innovation. This is critical, as Kenya is home to a number of commodity industries and food crops that are important in global trade, including cut flowers, avocados, coffee and black tea, for which Kenya is the world’s largest exporter. Land use thus presents opportunities to align with agroecology and regenerative principles. Special credit providers in East Africa such as SHONA Capital are increasingly supporting climate-friendly food systems’ small and medium-sized enterprises. An investor-friendly environment for climate mitigation There’s a plethora of climate action opportunities for retail and institutional investors in Kenya. Credit unions, known as Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies (SACCOs), are increasingly providing loans for climate-friendly activities, such as solar energy for rural customers. Reform is underway to insure SACCO deposits, which could further attract retail capital. Some SACCOs even specialize in attracting diasporic capital, tapping into the approximately 3 million Kenyans who live overseas. The diaspora can be thought of even wider than that if one includes the 350 million Afro-descendent people living outside of the African continent. A number of incentives exist to attract investment across Kenya’s sustainable development goals, including climate action. Export processing zones provide a 10-year corporate tax holiday and exemptions on import duties and VAT for export-oriented firms; special economic zones allow investors tax holidays of up to 10 years, duty-free capital imports, and simplified licensing. Looking ahead Kenya is arguably the tech capital of East Africa. Nairobi is home to many startup incubators, accelerators, venture studios and venture capital funds, including those dedicated to pursuing sustainability and climate action. Foreign and domestic firms including Persistent Energy, Melanin Kapital and DRK Foundation have chosen Nairobi as regional headquarters for such activity. Agriculture fintech providers such as Apollo Agriculture have enabled smallholder farmers to improve land productivity outcomes through instant credit. Pay-as-you-go solar providers, such as Kenya-founded M-KOPA, have helped unlock the solar market in Kenya and many other African countries. Motorcycles are increasingly electric and companies such as BasiGo are expanding electric bus networks along with charging stations along key routes. Fixing high-emission landfills is another climate investment opportunity. Kenya hosts the largest landfill in East Africa of Dandora. Converting this landfill into a waste-to-energy operation, for example, would be a useful public-private partnership. The opportunities for multinational and local investors to take action by leveraging Kenya’s unique climate position are abundant. Whether through sustainable bond issuances, the stock market or bank and credit union products, investors would be remiss to overlook Kenya. Read More

The hacker collective known as Scattered Spider is once again dominating headlines with a wave of high-profile cyberattacks that span multiple industries. According to threat intelligence sources, the group has pursued a sector-by-sector strategy, recently hitting retail organizations like Marks & Spencer, moving on to insurance firms, and now targeting the aviation and transportation sectors. This surge in high-profile attacks has brought renewed attention on who Scattered Spider is and how they operate. The group’s operations rely heavily on detailed PII, including employee names, job titles, dates of birth, SSN fragments, and phone numbers, leveraged for social engineering, SIM swapping, and doxxing threats. In this article, we explore evidence that data brokers are a primary source of the personal information Scattered Spider exploits in their campaigns. Who Is Scattered Spider? Scattered Spider is not a single tight-knit gang but rather a loose umbrella for threat actors who favor certain techniques, especially social engineering, MFA fatigue “bombing,” and SIM swapping to gain entry into large organizations.  The group is also tracked under other names like 0ktapus, UNC3944, Octo Tempest, Scatter Swine, Starfraud, and Muddled Libra. These attackers are reputedly young, English-speaking individuals (often teenagers or in their early 20s) who congregate on the same hacker forums, Telegram channels, and Discord servers to plan and execute attacks in real time. Uniting them is a common playbook of tricking human targets: impersonating employees or IT staff, tricking help desks, stealing one-time passwords, and SIM-swapping phone numbers to bypass SMS-based 2FA. Scattered Spider actors have partnered with major ransomware groups (e.g. Dragon Force, BlackCat/ALPHV, Ransom.House/RansomHub, Qilin) to monetize breaches.  They’ve been linked to a string of prominent incidents, including attacks on MGM Resorts, Marks & Spencer, Co-op, Twilio, Coinbase, DoorDash, Caesars Entertainment, MailChimp, Riot Games, and Reddit, among others. U.S. officials estimate the broader Scattered Spider community may number up to around 1,000 members, loosely organized under an underground scene called “The Community” (or “the Com”). This amorphous structure makes it hard to pin down all members, but it’s clear they share tools, data, and services for fraud and hacking.  Their modus operandi is to gather as much information about a target organization (and its people) as possible, then exploit this data to defeat security. Key to this preparation is the harvesting of personal data – and this is where data brokers come into play. Data Brokers Fueling Scattered Spider’s Reconnaissance Multiple investigations from 2022 through 2025 suggest that Scattered Spider heavily leverages commercial data broker services as part of their reconnaissance efforts to select targets and craft believable lures.  Early evidence came during the notorious “0ktapus” phishing campaign of 2022. In that attack, Scattered Spider (tracked by Okta as Scatter Swine) blasted SMS phishing texts to thousands of employees at over a hundred companies, including Twilio and Cloudflare. Okta’s security team analyzed the incident and assessed that the attackers “likely harvest[ed] mobile phone numbers from commercially available data aggregation services that link phone numbers to employees at specific organizations.” This explains how the smishing messages were so precisely targeted – even family members of employees received the fake texts.  Armed with those curated lists of numbers (tied to company names), the attackers also called some victims on the phone, impersonating IT support to further pry into the companies’ authentication systems.  Threat researchers have described Scattered Spider’s reconnaissance as highly detailed and methodical. Investigators infer from the group’s detailed impersonation attempts that they are leveraging data brokers, including full personal profiles and professional data commonly found on platforms like ZoomInfo. According to threat intelligence analyst Zach Edwards of Silent Push, Scattered Spider members will buy complete personal dossiers from data brokers to aid in impersonation. In a Financial Times interview, Edwards explained:  “They’re picking a target — maybe a senior developer — to be the person [they’re] impersonating, so they may know their maiden name, their home address, they may have already bought a data broker profile on somebody.” In practice, this means if Scattered Spider decides to impersonate John Doe (a software engineer at Company X) in a help-desk call, they might spend a few dollars on an aggregated background report for John Doe. That report could yield his phone numbers, past addresses, relatives, and other biographical details — all invaluable for convincingly masquerading as John in an IT support scenario. Threat researchers at ReliaQuest assess that Scattered Spider is leveraging both social media platforms and data broker services to build detailed employee profiles for targeting. “Using platforms like LinkedIn and ZoomInfo, the group digs into the lives of key employees within a target organization, piecing together everything from job titles to contact details,” ReliaQuest noted in a June 2025 profile.  ZoomInfo (a business contact aggregator) in particular offers direct phone numbers, corporate emails, org charts, and employment histories – a goldmine for attackers seeking to learn who’s who in a company. By scraping LinkedIn profiles and combining that with data broker info, Scattered Spider can map out an org chart of high-privilege employees and understand exactly how to reach them.  The end result is that when Scattered Spider is ready to approach a target (whether by email, text, or phone call), they have already compiled details about selected employees – from work roles and colleagues’ names to home addresses, birthdates, and hobbies. It’s the payoff of their reconnaissance efforts. How Scattered Spider Uses Personal Data to Breach, Impersonate, and Threaten Smishing, impersonation, SIM swaps, and doxxing threats all depend on having personal data, and Scattered Spider puts this data to work throughout their attacks. Smishing and Vishing Mandiant’s threat intelligence team reports that a hallmark of UNC3944 (their name for Scattered Spider) is SMS phishing (smishing) sent to employees to steal valid login credentials. The mass smishing attacks using phone numbers likely sourced from data brokers during the 0ktapus campaign is an example of this. Once they succeed, the attackers often impersonate those employees in phone calls to IT service desks, requesting password resets or MFA re-enrollment. During these calls, Scatter

Israel’s government has approved a ILS 34 million ($10.1 million) budget and granted construction permit exemptions to support rooftop solar deployment on publicly owned sports facilities nationwide. July 21, 2025 Patrick Jowett

By Alex Kimani – Jul 21, 2025, 7:00 PM CDT Rystad Energy: M&A dealmaking slumped in H1 2025. Rystad Energy: M&A was particularly weak in the first quarter. The slowdown in the U.S. M&A can largely be attributed to a dearth of opportunities in the Permian Basin, long considered North America’s M&A hotspot. Mergers and acquisitions in the global upstream oil and gas sector clocked in at just over $80 billion in the first half of 2025, good for a 34% year-over-year decline amid volatile oil prices and tariff concerns by the Trump administration. According to Rystad Energy, M&A was particularly weak in the first quarter, with deal value totalling just $28 billion compared to $66 billion in the first quarter of 2024. This was largely as a result of lackluster activity in North America, with the region’s share of global deal value dropping to 51% in the first half of the year, down from 71% in the first quarter. The slowdown in the U.S. M&A can largely be attributed to a dearth of opportunities in the Permian Basin, long considered North America’s M&A hotspot. Consequently, E&P companies are increasingly turning elsewhere as the Permian cools and asset values skyrocket: back in May, EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) acquired Utica heavyweight Encino Energy for $5.6 billion; Diversified Energy (NYSE:DEC) bought Maverick Natural Resources for nearly $1.3 billion while Citadel paid $1.2 billion for Paloma Natural Gas.Canada has, however, continued on its hot M&A streak, with upstream M&A deal value hitting $11.9 billion in H1 2025–nearly equal to the country’s annual average over the past five years. Leading the charge was Whitecap Resources (OTCPK:WCPRF) acquisition of Veren for $15 billion, including net debt, as well as CNRL’s purchase of Shell Plc’s(NYSE:SHEL) stake in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project. Further, Strathcona Resources (OTCPK:STHRF) divested all its Montney assets and proposed a takeover of MEG Energy (OTCPK:MEGEF) in a deal that will turn it into a pure-play heavy oil company. Related: Saudi Arabia’s Crude Oil Exports Hit 3-Month High in MayOutside North America, International M&A activity increased 37% year-on-year to $39.5 billion with a strong recovery in the second quarter overcoming a weak start to the year after deal values plunged nearly 60% Y/Y. Major transactions included ADNOC subsidiary XRG’s bid for Australia’s Santos Ltd (OTCPK:STOSF), accounting for nearly half of the total international deal value. A consortium led by ADNOC subsidiary XRG has made a $18.7 billion non-binding indicative offer to acquire Santos. The offer, valued at $5.76 per share, involves a potential scheme of arrangement for all of Santos’ issued shares. The consortium includes Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company (ADQ) and Carlyle. Santos has granted XRG a six-week exclusive due diligence period to assess the proposal. Meanwhile, Italy’s National Oil Company (NOC), Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E) sold its upstream assets in Africa to giant oil and commodity trader, Vitol, for $1.65 billion; Norway’s DNO ASA (OTCPK:DTNOF) acquired Sval Energi for $1.6 billion while Spain’s Repsol (OTCQX:REPYY) and UK’s Nego Energy’s UK merged their North Sea upstream businesses to form Neo Next Energy. That said, a rumored-and-denied merger between BP Plc (NYSE:BP) and Shell (NYSE:SHEL) would no doubt seek to steal the M&A limelight, with deal value likely to approach $80 billion. Recent reports have emerged that Shell was considering a takeover of BP, potentially creating a European energy giant. However, Shell has explicitly stated it is not actively considering an offer for BP and has not held any talks with them regarding a possible acquisition. Shell has made a statement under Rule 2.8 of the UK Takeover Code, meaning the company is restricted from making an offer for BP for at least six months, except in specific circumstances.Interestingly, dealmaking in the natural gas sector has been robust, with deal values surging 30% in the first quarter. As Rystad notes, Big Oil companies are currently optimizing their portfolios to manage risk more effectively, a trend that is driving M&A in the gas sector. To wit, back in March, Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX) sold a 70% stake in its East Texas gas assets to TG Natural Resources for $525 million. The deal includes $75 million in cash and a $450 million capital carry to fund Chevron’s Haynesville development. This transaction is part of Chevron’s plan to divest $10-15 billion of assets by 2028. TGNR will become the majority owner of the East Texas gas assets and Chevron will retain a 30% non-operated interest and an overriding royalty interest. Similarly, Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) acquired a non-operating stake in EQT Corp’s (NYSE:EQT) Marcellus assets, helping the Norwegian energy giant to gain exposure to robust gas production with minimal operational risks. “These non-operated joint ventures allow majors and international oil companies to focus on their core operational portfolios while maintaining exposure to US shale gas, which has a positive outlook due to upcoming liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and rising energy demand from data centers. Retaining non-operated stakes also allows majors to secure feed gas for planned off-grid power plants focused on artificial intelligence (AI),” noted Atul Raina, Rystad Energy’s Vice President, Upstream M&A Research. By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Chinese Firm Secures Key Gas Block in Algeria Middle East Conflict Sparks Exodus of Foreign Oil Personnel Chevron Explores Sale of Singapore Refinery Stake Download The Free Oilprice App Today Back to homepage Read More

Tsvetana Paraskova Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews.  More Info Premium Content By Tsvetana Paraskova – Jul 21, 2025, 6:00 PM CDT Chevron has completed its acquisition of Hess Corporation, gaining a 30% stake in Guyana’s Stabroek offshore block, where ExxonMobil operates with a 45% stake. The acquisition followed a year-long arbitration battle initiated by ExxonMobil, which ultimately ruled in favor of Chevron. Despite previous tensions, ExxonMobil and Chevron must now cooperate as joint venture partners to maximize production and profits from the high-potential Stabroek block. Following the completion of Chevron’s acquisition of Hess Corporation, the U.S. supermajor will need to overcome a previously strained relationship with its biggest competitor at home, ExxonMobil, and work together as joint venture partners in the hottest oil province in the world, Guyana’s offshore oil treasure trove.  Chevron’s foray into the fastest-growing exploration and production spot globally could also be a sign of what’s to come for the biggest international oil and gas majors. Big Oil may be looking to acquire smaller companies with prized assets to boost reserves amid lower spending on exploration within the industry over the past five years.  For Chevron, the acquisition of Hess, whose completion was announced last week, means the supermajor is now gaining 30% in Guyana’s Stabroek offshore block—where the operator ExxonMobil is leading the production of more than 660,000 barrels per day (bpd) from several projects in the block. Chevron’s deal was finalized after a more than a year-long arbitration battle initiated by Exxon, which challenged the Chevron-Hess deal, claiming it had a right of first refusal for Hess’s stake under the terms of a joint operating agreement (JOA) for the Stabroek block. Hess and Chevron claimed the JOA doesn’t apply to a case of a proposed full corporate merger.    The arbitration case has reportedly strained the relationship between the top executives of the two biggest U.S. oil firms.  In the legal fight, Chevron had much more to lose than Exxon because Guyana’s resources were the key reason for pursuing Hess Corp, more than the reason for adding producing assets in the Bakken shale basin in North Dakota.  With the arbitration ruling in favor of Chevron, the company announced the completion of the Hess acquisition, “following the satisfaction of all necessary closing conditions, including a favorable arbitration outcome regarding Hess’ offshore Guyana asset.” “The combination enhances and extends our growth profile well into the next decade, which we believe will drive greater long-term value to shareholders,” Chevron chairman and CEO Mike Wirth said in a statement.     Chevron now owns a 30% position in the Guyana Stabroek Block, which has more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent discovered recoverable resource.  Exxon is the operator of the Stabroek block with a 45% stake, and China’s state firm CNOOC has the remaining 25% stake.  The new shareholding composition of Guyana’s prized oil asset means that Exxon and Chevron must put hard feelings aside and cooperate to boost their production and profits from the Stabroek block.  The asset has a lot to offer, in terms of resources and money, to a company like Chevron, whose reserves replacement ratio has declined in recent years, and its oil and gas reserves have now reached the lowest level in at least a decade.  During the past 10-year period, Chevron’s reserves replacement ratio was 88%, it said at the Q4 earnings call in January.  A ratio below 100% means that Chevron is depleting reserves faster than it can replace them.  So far this year, Chevron has expanded production in Kazakhstan and started up production at the Ballymore oil project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Guyana’s offshore oil field is a top-performing asset with the potential to yield even more barrels and billions of U.S. dollars for the project’s partners. Both Chevron and Exxon will benefit from Stabroek even at relatively lower oil prices, because the Guyana block is estimated to have a breakeven oil price of about $30 per barrel.  Production capacity in Guyana is expected to surpass 1.7 million barrels per day, with gross production growing to 1.3 million barrels per day by 2030, Exxon says.   Following the bitter arbitration dispute, Exxon and Chevron now must work together in Guyana, as they do in Kazakhstan and Australia, for example.  “Partnership is one of our core values, and we pride ourselves on being a good partner around the world with many, many different companies,” Chevron’s Wirth told Bloomberg last week.  “We partner with Exxon on projects elsewhere in the world and have for many many years, and I’m sure we will find a way to move forward.” Exxon welcomed Chevron to the joint venture in Guyana, signaling that Big Oil will collaborate on multi-billion-dollar projects to maintain a high reserves replacement ratio, production, and profits.    By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Global Natural Gas Production Dropped in May U.S. Supermajors Discuss Development of Oilfields in Iraq Big Oil Rethinks Renewable Investments Download The Free Oilprice App Today Back to homepage Tsvetana Paraskova Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews.  More Info Related posts Leave a comment Read More