UEFI firmware flaws in certain ASRock, ASUS, GIGABYTE, and MSI motherboards allow early-boot DMA attacks before OS security loads.
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Microsoft 365 accounts targeted in wave of OAuth phishing attacks
Multiple threat actors are compromising Microsoft 365 accounts in phishing attacks that leverage the OAuth device code authorization mechanism.
Attackers trick victims into entering a device code on Microsoft’s legitimate device login page, unknowingly authorizing an attacker-controlled application and granting them access to the target account without stealing credentials or bypassing multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Although the method isn’t new, email security firm Proofpoint says that these attacks have increased significantly in volume since September, and involve both financially motivated cybercriminals like TA2723 and state-aligned threat actors.
Over 25,000 FortiCloud SSO devices exposed to remote attacks
Internet security watchdog Shadowserver has found over 25,000 Fortinet devices exposed online with FortiCloud SSO enabled, amid ongoing attacks targeting a critical authentication bypass vulnerability.
Fortinet noted on December 9th, when it patched the security flaw tracked as CVE-2025–59718 (FortiOS, FortiProxy, FortiSwitchManager) and CVE-2025–59719 (FortiWeb), that the vulnerable FortiCloud SSO login feature is not enabled until admins register the device with the company’s FortiCare support service.
As cybersecurity company Arctic Wolf reported on Monday, the vulnerability is now actively exploited to compromise admin accounts via malicious single sign-on (SSO) logins.
The Year in Mathematics
Explore a shape that can’t pass through itself, a teenage prodigy, and two new kinds of infinity.
2025 LLM Year in Review
2025 Year in Review of LLM paradigm changes
CRISPR Screens Revolutionize Human Neural Organoids Research
Studying the intricate molecular mechanisms that govern the assembly of the human nervous system has long been one of the most significant challenges in developmental biology and neuroscience. Researchers are continuously seeking a deeper understanding of how the human brain is built and what leads to various neurological disorders. Recent advancements in stem cell technology, particularly the ability to generate neural cells from pluripotent stem cells, coupled with the power of genome-editing tools like CRISPR-Cas9, are setting the stage for groundbreaking insights into human neurodevelopment and associated diseases. These technological innovations open new avenues for research that were previously thought to be unattainable.
The emergence of organoids and assembloids—miniature, simplified versions of brain tissue—has revolutionized the way scientists can model human development in vitro. Organoids replicate some of the complexity of human brain structures, allowing researchers to visualize developmental processes such as the specification, migration, and integration of neurons. This is particularly important for cortical interneurons, which migrate from the ventral forebrain to the dorsal forebrain during early brain development. These in vitro models provide an opportunity to study these intricate processes more closely and could lead to transformative discoveries in our understanding of brain diseases.
In a significant advancement outlined in recent research, scientists have developed a detailed protocol that marries pooled CRISPR-Cas9 screening with neural organoid and assembloid models. This innovative approach enables researchers to map hundreds of disease-related genes onto specific cellular pathways and critical aspects of human neural development. Such a strategy can significantly enhance our understanding of how various genes contribute to essential neuronal functions and the onset of neurological diseases, thereby paving the way for the development of novel therapeutic interventions.
Mitochondrial dysfunction in cellular senescence: a bridge to neurodegenerative disease
Hruby, A.J., Higuchi-Sanabria, R. Mitochondrial dysfunction in cellular senescence: a bridge to neurodegenerative disease. npj Aging 11, 99 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-025-00291-4
New ‘cloaking device’ concept shields electronics from disruptive magnetic fields
University of Leicester engineers have unveiled a concept for a device designed to magnetically “cloak” sensitive components, making them invisible to detection.
A magnetic cloak is a device that hides or shields an object from external magnetic fields by manipulating how these flow around an object so that they behave as if the object isn’t there.
In Science Advances, the team of engineers demonstrate for the first time that practical cloaks can be engineered using superconductors and soft ferromagnets in forms that can be manufactured.
Higher-order sonification of the human brain
Scientific Reports volume 15, Article number: 42,309 (2025) Cite this article.