Cisco ASA zero-day attacks used RayInitiator bootkit and LINE VIPER malware to breach end-of-support firewalls.
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Microsoft warns of new XCSSET macOS malware variant targeting Xcode devs
Microsoft Threat Intelligence reports that a new variant of the XCSSET macOS malware has been detected in limited attacks, incorporating several new features, including enhanced browser targeting, clipboard hijacking, and improved persistence mechanisms.
XCSSET is a modular macOS malware that acts as an infostealer and cryptocurrency stealer, stealing Notes, cryptocurrency wallets, and browser data from infected devices. The malware spreads by searching for and infecting other Xcode projects found on the device, so that the malware is executed when the project is built.
“The XCSSET malware is designed to infect Xcode projects, typically used by software developers, and run while an Xcode project is being built,” explains Microsoft.
Unofficial Postmark MCP npm silently stole users’ emails
A npm package copying the official ‘postmark-mcp’ project on GitHub turned bad with the latest update that added a single line of code to exfiltrate all its users’ email communication.
Published by a legitimate-looking developer, the malicious package was a perfect replica of the authentic one in terms of code and description, appearing as an official port on npm for 15 iterations.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that allows AI assistants to interface with external tools, APIs, and databases in a structured, predefined, and secure manner.
Scientist Connected Light And Matter a Century Before Quantum Physics
The Irish mathematician and physicist William Rowan Hamilton, who was born 220 years ago last month, is famous for carving some mathematical graffiti into Dublin’s Broome Bridge in 1843.
But in his lifetime, Hamilton’s reputation rested on work done in the 1820s and early 1830s, when he was still in his twenties. He developed new mathematical tools for studying light rays (or “geometric optics”) and the motion of objects (“mechanics”).
Intriguingly, Hamilton developed his mechanics using an analogy between the path of a light ray and that of a material particle.
4D printing with smart materials is changing product design
With shape memory polymers, hydrogels, and alloys, 4D printing is turning prototypes into programmable, industry-ready components.
AI system learns from many types of scientific information and runs experiments to discover new materials
Materials science experiments can also face reproducibility challenges. To address the problem, CRESt monitors its experiments with cameras, looking for potential problems and suggesting solutions via text and voice to human researchers.
The researchers used CRESt to develop an electrode material for an advanced type of high-density fuel cell known as a direct formate fuel cell. After exploring more than 900 chemistries over three months, CRESt discovered a catalyst material made from eight elements that achieved a 9.3-fold improvement in power density per dollar over pure palladium, an expensive precious metal. In further tests, CRESTs material was used to deliver a record power density to a working direct formate fuel cell even though the cell contained just one-fourth of the precious metals of previous devices.
The results show the potential for CRESt to find solutions to real-world energy problems that have plagued the materials science and engineering community for decades.