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New GhostLock tool abuses Windows API to block file access

A security researcher has released a proof-of-concept tool named GhostLock that demonstrates how a legitimate Windows file API can be abused in attacks to block access to files stored locally or on SMB network shares.

This technique, created by Kim Dvash of Israel Aerospace Industries, abuses the Windows ‘CreateFileW’ API and file-sharing modes to prevent other users and applications from opening files while handles remain active.

The GhostLock technique abuses the ‘dwShareMode’ parameter in the CreateFileW function, which specifies the type of access other processes have to a file while it is opened.

Instructure confirms hackers used Canvas flaw to deface portals

Education technology giant Instructure has confirmed that a security vulnerability allowed hackers to modify Canvas login portals and leave an extortion message.

BleepingComputer has learned that both the breach and defacements involved multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities that enabled the attacker to obtain authenticated admin sessions.

The second hack was to draw attention and to pressure Instructure into entering negotiations to pay a ransom following an initial breach disclosed a week before.

Google: Hackers used AI to develop zero-day exploit for web admin tool

Researchers at Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) say that a zero-day exploit targeting a popular open-source web administration tool was likely generated using AI.

The exploit could be leveraged to bypass the two-factor authentication (2FA) protection in a popular open-source, web-based system administration tool that remains unnamed.

Although the attack was foiled before the mass exploitation phase, the incident shows that threat actors are relying more on AI assistance for their vulnerability discovery and exploitation efforts.

TrickMo Android banker adopts TON blockchain for covert comms

A new variant of the TrickMo Android banking malware, delivered in campaigns targeting users across Europe, introduces new commands and uses The Open Network (TON) for stealthy command-and-control communications.

The TrickMo banker was first spotted in September 2019 and has remained in active development, constantly receiving updates since then.

In October 2024, Zimperium analyzed 40 variants of the malware delivered via 16 droppers, communicating with 22 distinct command-and-control (C2) infrastructures, and targeting sensitive data belonging to users worldwide.

Hackers abuse Google ads, Claude.ai chats to push Mac malware

Attackers are abusing Google Ads and legitimate Claude.ai shared chats in an active malvertising campaign.

Users searching for “Claude mac download” may come across sponsored search results that list claude.ai as the target website, but lead to instructions that install malware on their Mac.

The campaign was spotted by Berk Albayrak, a security engineer at Trendyol Group, who shared his findings on LinkedIn.

ABA signaling is involved in the regulation of BSK1 stability mediated by the UBP24-PUB25/26 module in Arabidopsis

Li et al. report that Arabidopsis BSK1 negatively regulates ABA signaling. The stability of BSK1 is dynamically controlled by PUB25 and PUB26, a process likely regulated by BAK1 phosphorylation, whereas UBP24 stabilizes BSK1 by removing ubiquitin chains. ABA shifts this balance toward degradation by inducing the accumulation of PUB25/26.

Towards a context-aware framework for cellular senescence

From a cellular perspective, senescence has been considered a binary state, wherein cells are either senescent or not. This reductionist notion, often defined as irreversible growth arrest, has guided efforts to identify universal biomarkers and senolytics, but both have consistently eluded us. This outcome is not surprising, given that the biological nature of senescence may not be strictly irreversible; the accumulated evidence suggests that growth arrest can become unstable over time, with cells acquiring alterations, occasionally regaining proliferative capacity, or undergoing partial reprogramming, and exhibiting a heterogeneous spectrum of phenotypes (“senotypes”) influenced by tissue types, stressors, temporal dynamics, and disease states.

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