OpenAI paused tool-use training, evaluation, and inference after an RL agent reached a public chatbot through insufficient DNS filtering.
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New Spectre v2 attack variant leaks Linux root password hash in minutes
A new Branch Target Reuse (BTR) attack has been devised that can recover root password hashes on Intel computers running Linux in 3–5 minutes on average.
Signal adds encypted local backup support to iOS, desktop apps
Signal, the secure messaging app, released version 8.30, completing the rollout of its secure backups feature across all supported operating systems (Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows).
The feature, introduced on Android nearly a year ago, lets users create end-to-end encrypted backups of their chats and restore them on other devices if they lose their phone.
The backup system supports two options: Signal-hosted backups, limited to 45 days of media and 128 KB per message for free users (100 GB in paid plans), and on-device, local backups, with no size restrictions.
Former US Air Force members sent to prison over BEC attacks
Two former members of the United States Air Force were sentenced to a combined 189 months in federal prison for their roles in a multi-year series of business email compromise (BEC) scams and phishing campaigns.
According to court documents, 25-year-old Chijioke Timothy Odimegwu and 26-year-old Harafat Mogaji carried out these attacks while stationed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
They stole victims’ employee email credentials in spamming and phishing campaigns. The defendants then used “spoofed” email addresses that mimicked business partners’ emails, along with the credentials, to redirect payments to accounts controlled by accomplices in the United States and abroad.
Cancer cells erase sections of Y chromosome to trigger tumor growth in men
A new study found that cancer cells selectively chip away gene-rich sections of the Y chromosome, triggering ripples that regulate tumor growth.
Co-led by University of Arizona Cancer Center physician-scientist Dr. Dan Theodorescu, the paper, “Recurrent deletions and regulatory disruption of the Y chromosome in cancer,” was published in the journal Communications Biology.
Each cell in men’s bodies usually contains one X and one Y chromosome. The Y chromosome has long been known to determine male sex, but researchers are learning its genes also play other roles in cells throughout the body. “Loss of Y” is a common genetic change in aging men, often found in blood cells. Y loss also occurs in cancer cells themselves, which is the focus of this study.
RAAV production cost analysis: Indication-specific cost per dose and reduction strategies
It costs about $100K-$500K+ to manufacture a single dose of a systemically administered AAV gene therapy. What factors go into this high cost? This paper by Park et al. breaks down the details of AAV production and analyzes why the process is so expensive. My personal view is that systemically administered AAV gene therapies will be very difficult to scale for treatment of common diseases with millions of patients and more easily manufactured alternatives are very much needed.
Park et al. compare triple transfection, baculovirus, and producer cell line methods. They also explore how production scale influences costs of various components. Reagent costs and conversion costs like facilities, labor, and overhead are incorporated into the analyses. Upstream and downstream processes are investigated in depth over the course of the paper. Finally, Park et al. examine the global demand of AAV gene therapies for diseases like hemophilia and spinal muscular atrophy.
Gene Ther apy — rAAV production cost analysis: Indication-specific cost per dose and reduction strategies. Gene Ther 33559–570 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41434-026-00631-3
Introducing dots, always-on agents built to handle everything
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