Hackers hijacked the update system for the Smart Slider 3 Pro plugin for WordPress and Joomla, and pushed a malicious version with multiple backdoors.
The developer says that only the Pro version 3.5.1.35 of the plugin is affected and recommends switching immediately to the latest version, currently 3.5.1.36, or 3.5.1.34 and earlier.
Apart from installing backdoors in multiple locations, the malicious update created a hidden user with administrator permissions and stole sensitive data.
A new Lua-based malware, called LucidRook, is being used in spear-phishing campaigns targeting non-governmental organizations and universities in Taiwan.
Cisco Talos researchers attribute the malware to a threat group tracked internally as UAT-10362, who they describe as a capable adversary “with mature operational tradecraft.”
LucidRook was observed in attacks in October 2025 that relied on phishing emails carrying password-protected archives.
Threat actors using a previously undocumented phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform called “VENOM” are targeting credentials of C-suite executives across multiple industries.
The operation has been active since at least last November and appears to target specific individuals who serve as CEOs, CFOs, or VPs at their companies.
VENOM also seems to be closed access, as it has not been promoted on public channels and underground forums, thus reducing its exposure to researchers.
Google has rolled out Device Bound Session Credentials (DBSC) protection in Chrome 146 for Windows, designed to block info-stealing malware from harvesting session cookies.
MacOS users will benefit from this security feature in a future Chrome release that has yet to be announced.
The new protection has been announced in 2024, and it works by cryptographically linking a user’s session to their specific hardware, such as a computer’s security chip — the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) on Windows and the Secure Enclave on macOS.
The cells that line the blood vessels in our brains are highly selective. By deciding which molecules are allowed in and out of our most important organ, the barrier these cells form is critical for keeping us alive. But how the brain chooses what passes beyond this barrier has been difficult to decipher.
Now, a team led by Janelia Research Campus Group Leader Jiefu Li has developed a new method to examine the proteins lining the inside surface of blood vessels. The technique enables them to uncover two proteins and pathways that play a role in opening and closing the blood-brain barrier—a first step in starting to understand how this important interface works. The study is published in the journal Science.
Uncovering how the blood-brain barrier functions could help scientists figure out what happens when it goes awry, contributing to conditions like multiple sclerosis, encephalitis, and dementia. It could also help researchers develop better ways to deliver medicines that treat neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, which are often blocked from entering the brain.
A new analysis from UC San Francisco argues that diagnostics—medical tests that match patients to the appropriate treatment—are being overlooked both in the United States and around the world. This is slowing progress against major diseases, despite rapid advances in targeted therapies and precision health.
The authors note that nearly half of the world’s population lacks adequate access to diagnostics. These tests receive less investment for research and development, as well as lower insurance reimbursement than drugs, and this is creating barriers to innovation.
“Most people can easily understand how a new drug or surgery might help a patient,” said Kathryn Phillips, Ph.D., a professor of Health Economics in the School of Pharmacy at UC San Francisco and the lead author of the study, which appears in Science. “But the tests that guide medical decisions are just as critical.”
A team from The University of Texas at Austin reviews recent advances in dilute noble metal films for infrared optics and plasmonics: https://bit.ly/4s9XHKR
To address a growing need for a sub-wavelength and nanophotonic optical infrastructure to support quantum applications, dilute noble metals provide a high-optical-quality approach for nanophotonics at long wavelengths.
With further research, their potential applications can even include mid-IR sensing, optoelectronics, and quantum photonics at long wavelengths.
The infrared optical response of noble metals is traditionally considered perfect electrical conductor (PEC)-like due to the noble metals’ exceptionally large electron concentrations, and thus large (and negative) real permittivity. While PEC-like behavior is ideal for a broad range of applications, for instance mirrors, gratings, and wavelength-(and macro-) scale resonators and antennas, the utility of noble metals for nanoscale (sub-diffraction-limit) physics at long wavelengths is limited. However, in ultra-low volume (dilute) metal films, such as those with nanometer-scale thicknesses or lithographic dilution (subwavelength perforation), the thin films’ sheet conductivity is massively reduced, enabling light to penetrate and interact with the films much more efficiently. This avails the infrared of a host of opportunities for noble-metal-based plasmonics, with the potential for nanoscale (deep subwavelength) confinement and strong light-matter interaction, otherwise prohibited with noble metals in this wavelength range. In this perspective, we review the recent advances in dilute metal films for near-and mid-infrared photonics and plasmonics, and discuss the advantageous properties of these optical thin films for potential applications in sensors, detectors, sources, and nonlinear and quantum optics.