The messages reveal conversations where Black people are called monkeys and "the watermelon people," political opponents face threats of torture and suicide, and white supremacist symbols like "1488" appear alongside praise for Republicans perceived as supporting slavery. Epithets, including variations of racial and homophobic slurs, appeared more than 251 times combined throughout the communications shared among a dozen millennial and Gen Z Republicans, including Vermont state senator Samuel Douglass. "Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don't fit the Hitler aesthetic," Joe Maligno, who previously identified as general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans, wrote in response to Giunta's gas chamber comments, according to POLITICO.

Since POLITICO began inquiries, Hendrix lost his communications position with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, Walker's job offer managing Republican Peter Oberacker's congressional campaign was rescinded, and prominent Republicans, including Rep. Elise Stefanik and State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, have denounced the chat while calling for resignations. Danedri Herbert, spokesperson for Kobach and Kansas GOP chair, confirmed that Hendrix is "no longer employed" after being shown chat excerpts. A spokesperson for the Oberacker campaign stated Walker won't be brought on in light of the comments.

Giunta claims the release constitutes "a highly-coordinated year-long character assassination led by Gavin Wax and the New York City Young Republican Club" and suggests the logs were obtained through extortion, though he apologized for "insensitive and inexcusable language" while raising concerns that message logs "may have been deceptively doctored." Walker similarly apologized, stating "there is no excuse for the language and tone in messages attributed to me" and suggesting portions "may have been altered, taken out of context, or otherwise manipulated." Michael Bartels, a senior adviser to the Trump administration in the Small Business Administration's general counsel office, who participated in the chat, provided a notarized affidavit obtained by POLITICO. The affidavit claims Wax "demanded" the full chat log and "threatened my professional standing" when he resisted.

Art Jipson, a University of Dayton professor who specializes in white racial extremism, stated the Young Republicans' conversations reminded him of online discussions between neo-Nazi and white supremacist group members after reviewing excerpts provided by POLITICO. "You say it once or twice, it's a joke, but you say it 251 times, it's no longer a joke," Jipson stated. "The more we repeat certain ideas, the more real they become to us." Joe Feagin, a Texas A&M sociology professor who has studied racism for 60 years, warned the participants "will act on these views" and expressed concern the words would be applied to public policy.

Giunta, who serves as chief of staff to New York state assemblymember Mike Reilly, ultimately fell six points short of winning the chairmanship to lead the Young Republican National Federation earlier this year despite earning endorsements from Stefanik and longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone. Stefanik accepted an award from the New York State Young Republicans earlier this year and lauded Giunta for his "tremendous leadership" in August. Alex deGrasse, a senior adviser for Stefanik, stated the congresswoman "was absolutely appalled to learn about the alleged comments" and called for responsible parties to "step down immediately" if POLITICO's description is accurate. Stone stated he would "denounce any such comments in the strongest possible terms" if the chat is authentic.

While reporting this article, POLITICO was examining separate allegations that Giunta and the Young Republicans mismanaged the New York organization's finances and hadn't paid at least one venue for a holiday party hosted last year. Updated records show the organization is in more than $38,000 of debt. In the chat, Walker joked, "NYSYR will be declaring bankruptcy after this I just know it" and Giunta appeared to joke about draining funds for a vacation to Italy, with Walker replying, "Great. Can't wait to get sued by our venue." Walker had earlier joked about the possibility of exposure, writing, "If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr."

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The Telegram instant messaging platform on Thursday blocked six additional channels created by the Iran-affiliated group of hackers known as Black Shadow. The hackers had used the channels to share data they obtained through their breach of the servers of Israeli web hosting company Cyberserve.

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Telegram blocked the channels after having received orders to do so by the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court at the request of the State Attorney's Office.

Likewise, Google continues to remove search results that lead users to a website used by Black Shadow.

According to officials from the cyber unit at the State Attorney's Office, efforts to limit exposure to the personal information of those affected include the removal of the content itself to the extent possible, the blocking of access to content where efforts to remove them proved unsuccessful, and the filtering of search results that lead to the content in question.

On Friday evening, BlackShadow announced it had hacked the servers of Israeli internet company Cyberserve. The hackers shuttered the company's servers and threatened to leak data pertaining to hundreds of thousands of users.

Cyberserve is a web hosting company that provides servers and data storage for companies such as the Kan public broadcaster, the Israel Lottery, Taglit-Birthright, the Dan and Kavim public transportation companies, the Children's Museum in Holon, LGBTQ dating app "Atraf," tour booking company Pegasus, the Israeli Children's Museum, and dozens of other sites.

BlackShadow first surfaced last year, with a massive breach of Israeli insurance company Shirbit and later of KLS Capital. Information from both companies' clients was leaked in the days following the breach.

The group, which had threatened to leak the data obtained from Atraf if a $1 million ransom was not paid within 48 hours, claimed to have leaked the entire user database after its demands were not met Tuesday night.

Hours later, the Iranian hackers continued to wreak havoc Tuesday night as it released private information on nearly 300,000 Israelis receiving medical treatment at the Mor Institute, including patient requests and test results.

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A leaker says they are offering information on more than 500 million Facebook Inc users - including phone numbers and other data - virtually for free.

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The database appears to be the same set of Facebook-linked telephone numbers that has been circulating in hacker circles since January and whose existence was first reported by tech publication Motherboard, according to Alon Gal, co-founder of Israeli cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock.

Reuters was not immediately able to vet the information, which is being offered for a few euros' worth of digital credit on a well-known site for low-level hackers, but Gal said on Saturday that he had verified the authenticity of at least some of the data by comparing it against phone numbers of people he knew. Other journalists say they have also been able to match known phone numbers to the details in the data dump.

In a statement, Facebook said that the data was "very old" and related to an issue that it had fixed in August 2019.

An attempt by Reuters to reach the leaker over the messaging service Telegram was not immediately successful.

Gal told Reuters that Facebook users should be alert to "social engineering attacks" by people who may have obtained their phone numbers or other private data in the coming months.

According to Ido Naor of cybersecurity firm Security Joes, "the phone numbers of 3.9 million Israelis" were included in the leak."

News of the latest leak here was first reported by Business Insider.

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Neither the Revolutionary Guards nor a subsequent announcement on state television explained how authorities detained Ruhollah Zam, who ran a website called AmadNews that posted embarrassing videos and information about Iranian officials.

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The Revolutionary Guards said Zam, who had been living and working in exile in Paris, was "guided into the country" before the arrest. His channel on the encrypted messaging app Telegram was apparently also taken hold of, as a message noting his arrest went out to its 1 million subscribers.

An announcement on state television referred to Zam "special prey." It said his detention was a victory of the Revolutionary Guard's intelligence department over Western services.

The report described Zam as the head of a psychological warfare network operated by Iran's enemies. The Revolutionary Guards alleged Zam was supported by the intelligence services of the US, France, and Israel, something the journalist has long denied. French officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

In 2017, Zam's Telegram channel spread messages about upcoming protests and shared videos from the demonstrations, which were held across some 75 cities and towns. Telegram shut the channel down following Iranian government complaints it had spread information about how to make Molotov cocktails. The channel later operated under a different name.

It's hard to overstate the power of Telegram in Iran. Of its 80 million residents, an estimated 40 million use the free app.

While authorities have banned social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and censor others, Telegram users can say nearly anything on the app. In the last presidential election, the app played a major role in motivating turnout and spreading political messages.

Zam, 46, was previously detained following the disputed 2009 re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Zam is the son of Shiite cleric Mohammad Ali Zam, a reformist who once served in a government policy position in the early 1980s. In July 2017, Zam's cleric father wrote a letter published by Iranian media in which he said he wouldn't support his son over AmadNews' reporting and messages on its Telegram channel.

"I found that you crossed the red line," his father wrote, referring to comments the channel circulated about Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Our red line is the supreme leader, but you crossed the red line."

Meanwhile, Iran's president said his country was prepared to begin using even more-advanced centrifuges as its nuclear deal with world powers unravels.

Hassan Rouhani announced his nation would begin working with advanced IR-9 centrifuges. Although it is unclear what those centrifuges can do, Iran has a host of advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium more rapidly than those allowed under the accord.

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The internet security company, known primarily for its anti-virus software, said the attacks had two stages. The first had users receive messages that included a malicious link.

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Once the Israelis clicked on the link, it created a so-called back door that would let the hackers take over the individual's phone and seize their data.

The attack was apparently not limited to Israel but was spread across the Middle East as well.

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