Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog – Page 3

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

Log in for authorized contributors

The Human Mind Isn’t Meant to Be Awake Past Midnight, Scientists Warn

In the middle of the night, the world can sometimes feel like a dark place. Under the cover of darkness, negative thoughts have a way of drifting through your mind, and as you lie awake, staring at the ceiling, you might start craving guilty pleasures, like a cigarette or a carb-heavy meal.

Plenty of evidence suggests the human mind functions differently if awake at nighttime. Past midnight, negative emotions tend to draw our attention more than positive ones, dangerous ideas grow in appeal, and inhibitions fall away.

Some researchers think the human circadian rhythm is heavily involved in these critical changes in function, as they outline in a 2022 paper summarizing the evidence of how brain systems function differently after dark.

Chinese Hackers Exploit ArcGIS Server as Backdoor for Over a Year

“This attack highlights not just the creativity and sophistication of attackers but also the danger of trusted system functionality being weaponized to evade traditional detection,” the researchers noted. “It’s not just about spotting malicious activity; it’s about recognizing how legitimate tools and processes can be manipulated and turned against you.”

ReliaQuest told The Hacker News it cannot share any further details regarding when the attack commenced other than noting that the attackers had access to the system for over a year.

“The threat actor likely resorted to this method over an N-day flaw for a simple reason: why use an exploit if they didn’t have to?,” it pointed out. “They likely gained initial access through a weak administrator password and then repurposed a software component into a backdoor.”

Secure Boot bypass risk threatens nearly 200,000 Linux Framework laptops

Around 200,000 Linux computer systems from American computer maker Framework were shipped with signed UEFI shell components that could be exploited to bypass Secure Boot protections.

An attacker could take advantage to load bootkits (e.g. BlackLotus, HybridPetya, and Bootkitty) that can evade OS-level security controls and persist across OS re-installs.

Powerful mm command.

New Android Pixnapping attack steals MFA codes pixel-by-pixel

A new side-channel attack called Pixnapping enables a malicious Android app with no permissions to extract sensitive data by stealing pixels displayed by applications or websites, and reconstructing them to derive the content.

The content may include sensitive private data like chat messages from secure communication apps like Signal, emails on Gmail, or two-factor authentication codes from Google Authenticator.

The attack, devised and demonstrated by a team of seven American university researchers, works on fully patched modern Android devices and can steal 2FA codes in less than 30 seconds.

Why Sorbonne pulled out of university ranking

France’s Sorbonne University plans to leave the Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings, adding its name to a growing number of universities rejecting lists that play one institution off against another. According to its president, most of these rankings are “black boxes” whose methods not only raise ethical questions but also fail to cover the breadth and diversity of university contributions.

“By deciding to stop sending our data to THE, we are leaving this specific ranking, but our criticism of major international university rankings is global,” Nathalie Drach-Temam, president of Sorbonne University, told Science|Business. “These rankings, built on selected quantitative indicators amalgamated into a single score, are not designed to evaluate research nor reflect the breadth and depth of the missions of research and higher education institutions.”

From the UK-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking to the US News and World Report (USWR), university rankings set out to measure how well a higher education institution performs and how its performance and quality compare to its peers. Prospective students turn to them for guidance, and governments and investors base their research funding decisions on them.

Researchers pioneer ‘green’ framework for sustainable drug development

Medical drugs are expensive to make and can have an adverse effect on the environment. Researchers Stefano Cucurachi and Justin Lian have developed a framework to help the health care system assess the economic and environmental sustainability of medical compounds. The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

With a growing and aging population, and more people living with chronic disease, health care costs are rising and the is expanding fast. Patients and health care professionals are also beginning to wonder about the of medicines. But information on this is lacking.

“Some sources claim 10% of all pharmaceuticals have an environmental risk, but only the smallest fraction has ever been assessed,” says Cucurachi, Associate Professor of industrial ecology.

/* */