Latest / Connecting the Dots / Rocket Report Updates, Ransomware Crackdown, and Vaccine Policy Shifts

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Rocket Report Updates, Ransomware Crackdown, and Vaccine Policy Shifts · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarful Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Dots, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Welcome to Connecting the Dots. It's Friday,
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  September 19th, 2025. I'm Alex. And I'm Morgan.
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  Thanks for joining us as we connect some important
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  stories happening right now. Let's start with
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  a quick look outside here in Sacramento. Looks
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  like a chance of showers, then partly sunny later
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  with a high around 81 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah,
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  pretty mild for us. Nationally, though, it's
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  a different story. There's still quite a bit
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  of heavy rain and flash flood risk across the
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  western U .S., the southwest, southern Rockies.
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  And even southeast Florida, Puerto Rico, the
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  Virgin Islands. Seems like that tropical moisture
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  is really lingering. It is. And strong storms
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  are also popping up across the plains and the
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  Mississippi Valley. So definitely some active
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  weather out there. OK, let's check the markets.
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  How did things close out yesterday, September
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  18th? Generally positive. if a bit slow. The
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  Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 46 ,142
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  .42. That's up about 85 points or 0 .19 % for
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  the day. OK, small gain. How's the week looking?
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  Pretty decent, actually. For the week, the Dow
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  is up 0 .64%. All right. And the S &P 500? Similar
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  story. It finished at 6 ,631 .96, which was a
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  gain of just over five points, so 0 .08 % on
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  the day. And weekly. Weekly game for the SMP
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  is point four three percent So holding steady
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  maybe some cautious optimism there and what about
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  Bitcoin always moving always as of this morning
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  Friday open It's hovering around a hundred and
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  seventeen thousand hundred thirteen dollars forty
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  five cents Wow Yeah, it did dip a bit over the
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  last 24 hours down about nine hundred and nine
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  dollars, which is negative point seven eight
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  percent Okay, but looking at the week. It still
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  managed to gain a point six eight percent. So
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  Bit of a mixed bag short term, but up weekly.
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  Got it. Now for something truly important, the
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  Giants. How did they do against the Dodgers last
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  night? Ah, well, not great news for Giants fans,
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  I'm afraid. Oh no, don't tell me! Yeah, they
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  lost 1 -2 against the Dodgers on the 18th. Yeah.
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  Always tough when the Dodgers take one from us.
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  1 -2. Tight game though. It was. Looks like Jack
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  Dreyer got the win for LA. Right. Okay, well
• 2:19
  moving on before we get too depressed, let's
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  .com. That's pinsandaces .com. OK, Lipfun Pack
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  this time to dive into the Morningstar report
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  and connect the dots on today's top tech news.
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  Right. First up, we're looking at the well, the
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  very volatile business of commercial space exploration
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  alongside some pretty serious challenges for
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  NASA's Artemis program. So you've got rocket
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  companies making these huge financial bets, trying
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  to scale up while NASA's dealing with budget
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  threats and hardware problems. Exactly. It's
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  this interesting tension. Let's start with the
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  commercial side. Rocket Lab, for instance. Yeah.
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  What are they up to? They're making a big move.
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  They just announced plans to sell up to $750
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  million in common shares. Wow. $750 million.
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  Wasn't their previous program smaller? Much smaller.
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  It was $500 million. So this is a big increase.
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  And they're saying the money is specifically
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  for developing their bigger rocket, the Neutron.
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  The medium lift one, right. And also for building
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  more spacecraft manufacturing capacity. Correct.
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  They want to scale up significantly. But here's
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  the catch. Their stock actually dropped about
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  10 % right after the announcement. Huh. Why would
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  that happen? Isn't raising money usually seen
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  as positive? Well, yes and no. It signals ambition,
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  sure, but it also signals just how much cash
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  they need to burn to get Neutron off the ground
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  and scale production. Investors might be worried
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  about dilution or just the sheer difficulty,
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  the risk involved in making that jump from small
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  rockets to medium ones. It's a huge financial
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  hurdle. Right, that valley of death they talk
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  about in aerospace, it takes billions. Precisely.
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  Meanwhile, you've got Astra trying to make a
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  comeback. Ah, yeah, they had some launch issues
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  before. What's their plan? They're targeting
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  mid -2026 for the first flight of their new Rocket
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  4, launching from Cape Canaveral. They're highlighting
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  successful tests of the new engine for the first
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  stage, about 42 ,000 pounds of thrust. Mid -2026
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  still feels kind of far away. It does. It shows
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  how long the development cycles are. So commercial
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  space is pushing hard, but then you look at the
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  government side, at NASA, and there are some
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  major clouds on the horizon. Okay, what's happening
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  with NASA, specifically Artemis? Well, the big
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  one is the budget. The proposed budget for fiscal
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  year 2026 includes language calling for the cancellation
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  of the space -long system, the SLS rocket, after
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  the Artemis 3 mission. Wait! Cancel SLS? That's
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  NASA's huge moon rocket, the cornerstone of Artemis,
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  isn't it? It is, or it has been. Canceling it
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  after Artemis 3, which is supposed to be the
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  first human landing mission back on the moon
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  in decades, would be a massive pivot. So what
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  would they use instead for, like, Artemis 4 and
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  beyond? They'd have to rely entirely on commercial
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  rockets. Think SpaceX's Starship, maybe Blue
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  Origin's New Glenn, eventually. It would fundamentally
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  shift NASA's role in deep space exploration.
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  That's huge. And wasn't there also a problem
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  with the SLS hardware itself recently? Yes, compounding
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  the budget uncertainty. Back on June 26th, they
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  were testing an upgraded version of the solid
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  rocket posters for SLS. This is the BOLE design
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  stands for booster obsolescence and life extension.
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  It's meant for later Artemis missions, starting
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  around Artemis 9. Okay, an upgrade. What happened?
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  During the test firing, there was a major anomaly.
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  About 100 seconds after ignition, the engine
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  nozzle just... Blew off. Blew off? That sounds
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  bad. It is. Very bad. T plus 100 seconds is well
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  into the burn, under high stress. This B -O -L
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  -E upgrade is supposed to give over 10 % more
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  thrust, which they need for heavier payloads
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  later in the Artemis program. So if the upgrade
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  doesn't work reliably, it throws the timeline
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  for those later missions like Artemis nine into
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  serious doubt. And that's if SLS even gets funded
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  past Artemis three. It raises really fundamental
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  questions about NASA's long term heavy lift capability
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  and the feasibility of goals like Mars missions
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  or a permanent lunar base. So uncertainty is
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  definitely the word in space right now. OK, let's
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  shift from the uncertainty of orbit to the. often
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  alarming certainty of cybercrime hitting critical
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  infrastructure. Yeah, this next story is a big
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  one. Law enforcement in the UK and the US have
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  made some major headway against a ransomware
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  group known as Scattered Spider. Scattered Spider,
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  I've heard that name. They're known for being
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  pretty aggressive. Extremely aggressive and quite
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  sophisticated. The big news is that two key members
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  have been arrested and charged. OK, who are they?
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  Well, and this is maybe the most surprising part.
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  They're teenagers. Thalajou Baer, who's 19, from
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  London, and Owen Flowers, 18, from Walsall, in
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  the UK. Teenagers. Running a major ransomware
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  operation. Allegedly, yes. And the charges are
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  serious. Baer is facing charges in the U .S.
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  for conspiracy to commit computer fraud, wire
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  fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. If convicted
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  on everything, he could face up to 95 years.
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  95 years? Wow. That's not kid stuff. Not at all.
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  And both he and Flowers were also charged in
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  the UK, specifically related to that big cyber
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  attack on transport for London back in August
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  2024. Remember the disruption that caused? Vaguely,
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  yeah. But the US charges suggest this was way
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  bigger than just TFL. Oh, absolutely. Here's
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  where it gets really interesting. The sheer scale
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  they're alleging. Lay it on us. Okay, get this.
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  The indictment claims that between May 2022 and
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  Basically, right now, September 2025, the group
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  breached the networks of at least 120 organizations
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  globally. 120. At least. Including 47 entities
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  right here in the U .S. And they allegedly generated
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  more than $115 million in ransom payments. $115
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  million from ransomware by allegedly teenagers.
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  How is that even possible? It points to their
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  methods. They were apparently very good at social
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  engineering, basically tricking employees, often
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  IT staff, into giving up logging credentials.
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  They combined that with things like SIM swapping
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  to take over accounts and then deploy the ransomware.
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  And they were targeting organizations that could,
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  and presumably would, pay big ransoms. Exactly,
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  high value targets. And they were apparently
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  quite adept at handling the money. The documents
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  alleged Jubeir controlled crypto wallets that,
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  at one point, held around $36 million. 36 million
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  dollars in crypto and get this when authorities
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  tried to seize the funds back in july 2024 he
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  allegedly managed to transfer about 8 .4 million
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  dollars to another wallet basically trying to
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  move it before they could grab it that shows
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  a level of financial savvy or at least criminal
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  agility that's frankly shocking for someone that
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  age it really is And the victims weren't just
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  random companies. They hit critical infrastructure.
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  We mentioned Transport for London. In the US,
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  victims included major health care organizations
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  like SSM Health Care and Sutter Health. Hospitals.
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  Yeah, and even the federal court system. So these
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  weren't victimless crimes affecting just corporate
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  bottom lines. This potentially impacted patient
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  care, access to justice, really vital services.
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  It's a stark reminder of how vulnerable even
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  critical systems can be, and how motivated digitally
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  native individuals, even very young ones, can
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  cause enormous damage purely for profit. The
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  arrests are good news, but the fact they operated
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  at this scale for so long. It definitely raises
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  questions about cybersecurity readiness across
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  the board. Absolutely. Okay, from cyber threats,
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  let's turn to a really significant... and let's
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  say controversial shift happening in U .S. public
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  health policy. Right. This involves the main
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  group that advises the CDC on vaccine policy,
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  the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices,
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  or ACIP. ACIP. OK, what's the news there? The
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  news is that the new ACIP panel, which was recently
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  appointed by Health Secretary Rarot F. Kennedy
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  Jr., has already started making some major changes
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  to establish federal vaccine recommendations.
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  OK, like what? Specifically, they just voted
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  to remove the CDC's recommendation for the MMRV
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  combination vaccine for children under four years
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  old. MMRV. That's measles, mumps, rubella, and
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  varicella, right? Chickenpox? That's the one.
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  It's a standard combination vaccine given to
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  young children. Removing the recommendation is
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  a pretty big deal. Why is it such a big deal?
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  I mean, recommendations change sometimes, don't
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  they? They do, but ACIP recommendations carry
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  enormous weight. They're not just suggestions.
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  They heavily influence state laws for school
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  entry requirements. Ah, OK. And crucially, they
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  generally determine which vaccines health insurance
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  plans are required to cover nationwide under
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  the Affordable Care Act. So when ACIP changes
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  a recommendation, it has immediate practical
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  consequences for doctors, parents, schools, and
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  insurers. Got it. And you emphasize the new panel.
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  What's the context there? Well, that's where
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  the controversy really comes in. Back in June,
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  Secretary Kennedy dismissed all 17 members of
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  the previous ACIP. These were generally seen
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  as highly qualified, long -serving experts in
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  immunology, public health, infectious diseases.
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  Fired the whole committee. The entire voting
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  membership, yes. And replaced them with new appointees.
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  Now some of these new members have publicly expressed
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  views skeptical of vaccines in the past or have
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  even served as paid expert witnesses for plaintiffs
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  suing vaccine manufacturers. So potential conflicts
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  of interest or at least a very different perspective
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  being brought in. That's certainly the perception
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  and the concern raised by many in the public
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  health community. There were also reports from
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  the recent meeting suggesting a lack of familiarity
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  with the data review process. Like what? Sources
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  mention new members asking very basic questions
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  about data analysis or claiming that CDC presentations
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  were missing certain data points when apparently
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  that exact data had just been presented moments
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  earlier by CDC scientists. Hmm, that doesn't
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  sound ideal for a committee making critical national
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  health policy decisions. It raises concerns about
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  the depth of expertise currently guiding these
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  recommendations. And the speed of this MMRV decision
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  is also notable. It's a sharp reversal of long
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  -standing policy happening very quickly after
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  the new committee was installed. Are other vaccine
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  recommendations potentially changing, too? It
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  seems possible. The committee has already postponed
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  a scheduled vote on the recommendation for the
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  hepatitis B vaccine given to newborns. And they
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  still need to vote on the recommendations for
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  this year's updated COVID -19 vaccine. So what
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  does this all mean? Big picture. Well, it means
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  that the system we've relied on for decades to
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  provide evidence -based expert consensus recommendations
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  on vaccines, recommendations that shape everything
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  from state laws to insurance coverage, is undergoing
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  a very rapid and politically charged transformation.
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  And the removal of the MMRV recommendation could
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  be just the first step in a much broader shift
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  in pediatric health policy. That's the concern.
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  It potentially introduces significant uncertainty
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  for parents and pediatricians and could, some
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  worry, undermine public confidence in routine
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  childhood immunizations that have been incredibly
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  successful public health tools. A lot to watch
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  there. Definitely a story with major real -world
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  implications. Absolutely. Okay, before we wrap
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  things up, let's quickly thank our other sponsor
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  dot com. Alright, so let's quickly recap the
• 14:19
  big themes we connected today. We saw the intense
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  push and pull in the space sector. Huge commercial
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  ambition from companies like Rocket Lab needing
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  massive funding, clashing with the hard realities
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  of NASA's budget, possibly forcing the cancellation
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  of its flagship SLS rocket after a key upgrade
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  failed. Then we looked at the alarming sophistication
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  and global reach of cybercrime highlighted by
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  the scattered spider arrests. Teenagers allegedly
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  running a $115 million ransomware empire hitting
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  critical infrastructure, a stark warning about
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  digital vulnerability. And finally, that significant
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  and very controversial pivot in U .S. public
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  health policy with the new ACIP panel quickly
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  moving to reverse a long -standing recommendation
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  for the MMRV vaccine, signaling potentially rapid
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  changes ahead for pediatric health care guidance.
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  It really underscores how technology, finance,
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  security, and government policy are just constantly
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  interacting, shaping the world you navigate every
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  day. Whether it's launching rockets, protecting
• 15:16
  data, or making health decisions for your family,
• 15:19
  these forces are deeply intertwined. We're here
• 15:21
  to help at SNARFL, so reach out on our website
• 15:23
  if you have any more questions. That's a wrap
• 15:29
  on today's top stories. Remember, tech doesn't
• 15:32
  have to be complicated, and we're here to help
• 15:34
  connect the dots. If you've got questions or
• 15:37
  want to learn more, visit us at snarful .com.
• 15:40
  Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next
• 15:42
  time.