Lithuanian space and defense tech company Astrolight has successfully demonstrated undetectable, unjammable, and high-bandwidth laser-based ship-to-ship communication with its POLARIS terminal during REPMUS’25, NATO’s largest unmanned maritime exercise recently.
During the REPMUS (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping using Maritime Uncrewed Systems)/Dynamic Messenger mission, hosted by the Portuguese Navy, POLARIS laser terminals maintained a stable, jam-proof horizon-limited laser-based link between two vessels: NRP Dom Francisco de Almeida and NRP Dom Carlos I. During testing, the link wasn’t detected by a single sensor of other participating ships, drones, and land assets.
Astrolight’s terminals also transmitted gigabytes of data at latencies and speeds that allow for more than 10 concurrent, real-time HD video streams, even through rain and fog, during the day and night.
Jamming is a serious problem at sea because it can distort satellite navigation, confuse radar and ship-tracking displays, and interrupt radio and satellite communications. In such cases, crews switch to less secure backup methods like noisy radio or signal lamps that increase a ship’s electromagnetic signature and make it easier to detect.
The demonstration of Astrolight’s POLARIS in Portugal builds on prior tests with the Lithuanian Navy.
NATO’s REPMUS/Dynamic Messenger exercise combines REPMUS, the top event for maritime robotics and unmanned tech, and Dynamic Messenger, a program for testing innovative naval systems. They bring together NATO Allies, partners, academia, and industry experts, and provide a realistic setting to evaluate new maritime capabilities and promote their integration into NATO operations.
Over 17 Million Consumers Impacted In Prosper Lending Platform Data Breach
Posted in Commentary with tags Hacked on October 17, 2025 by itnerdData breach tracking website Have I Been Pwned posted yesterday that US peer-to-peer lending platform Prosper was hit with a breach that affected 17.6 million customers.
Prosper initially announced last month that it had detected unauthorized access on their systems resulting in the exposure of an undisclosed number of customers and applicant information. The company shut down the activity promptly and confirmed that the unauthorized access was revoked as of September 2.
John Carberry, Solution Sleuth with cybersecurity services provider Xcape, Inc., offers perspective:
“The Prosper data breach is a serious one, both in terms of the number of people affected and the sensitivity of the compromised information. With 17.6 million customers impacted, and data including Social Security numbers, credit scores, and income details exposed, this incident could lead to various types of fraud, such as identity theft, synthetic identity creation, and phishing attacks. Although Prosper says there’s no evidence of unauthorized account access or stolen funds, breaches involving financial data often have lasting consequences, with issues appearing months or even years later. This event highlights how crucial it is for financial platforms to have strong identity and access management, continuous monitoring, and robust data encryption. Those affected should immediately take steps like credit monitoring, fraud alerts, and closely monitoring their accounts. For organizations, this serves as a reminder to minimize data retention, enforce least-privilege access, and ensure quick breach detection and response to limit damage.
“Simply put, companies that store this type of PII in the course of operating their businesses have a fiduciary responsibility to protect it. It is no longer enough to have a “proper” response to such breaches. Consumers must demand stronger data protections and accountability from these vendors at the outset.”
Companies need to take better steps to avoid a situation like this. I say that because the sort of information that has been leaked should be extremely difficult to get. In this case, that does not seem to be case.
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