Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

State hackers drive 420% surge in onchain malware, Chainalysis findsNorth Korean and Iran linked hackers were responsible for the majority of the 420% increase this year in malware on public blockchains according to a Chainalysis report. State-linked hackers accounted for roughly two-thirds of new activity whereby attackers stored malware instructions or infrastructure information on public blockchains.Chainalysis also identified UNC5342, a North Korea linked group, to previously unattributed activity spanning Tron, Aptos and BNB Smart Chain.Chainalysis said using public blockchains increases the durability of malware campaigns because the stored information remains accessible after domains, servers or code repositories are taken down. In…

The World Institute of Kimchi (President: Hae Choon Chang), a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT, announced that a lactic acid bacterium isolated from kimchi can help promote the removal of nanoplastics from the body by binding to them in the intestine. Nanoplastics are ultrafine plastic particles measuring less than 1 micrometer (μm; one-thousandth of a millimeter) that are generated during the degradation of larger plastic materials. These particles can enter the human body through food and drinking water. Due to their extremely small size, nanoplastics may cross the intestinal barrier and accumulate in organs such…

Following a familiar pattern, coverage of the glacier collapse on the Nepal-Tibet border three weeks ago has subsided with the initial shock. But while the world’s attention has shifted, Nepal remains in the midst of an appalling tragedy. As well as at least 1,300 people who are known to have been killed, more than 5,000 are missing, some of them trapped in tunnels linked to the 13 hydropower plants that were damaged by the floods. On Wednesday four bodies were recovered from one of these tunnels, with searches ongoing. Families of the missing people are desperate for news.Last week the…

Investment could mark a turning point in US-Niger and US-Canada relations.Published On 17 Sep 202617 Sep 2026The United States government has signed off on as much as $414m in financing for a uranium project in Niger, according to the project’s developer, two years after Washington agreed to withdraw troops from the African country.The US Development Finance Corp approved the debt facility for Canadian miner Global Atomic’s Dasa project, which the company describes as the highest-grade uranium deposit in Africa, according to a company statement on Wednesday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe investment could bolster US access to a…

Shabana Mahmood has described the anti-asylum activist Daniel Thomas as “a far-right and outright racist” who will feel “the full force of the law” if his organisation commits crimes near contested asylum sites such as Piddington.In an interview with the Guardian, the home secretary also “wanted to reassure” concerned villagers that asylum seekers due to move in to a neighbouring former defence site would not “put pressure” on local resources because they would be given “self-contained facilities”.Her intervention came after Thomas, a convicted criminal known as “Danny Tommo” and the co-founder of the Patriot Platform, said thousands of his masked…

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images ZDNET’s key takeaways Roku has a new Labs experience and new streaming bundles. Labs lets you test in-development apps and give feedback. Streaming bundles can save you up to 30%. If you’re a Roku user, you’re getting a new way to save money on streaming and a new way to help influence the design of new Roku apps and features.  Among several additions, including an expansion of Roku Voice and an improved search, the media giant revealed that it’s rolling out bundles of some of its popular streaming services that save users money off…

A new Android malware called RatHat has been discovered, targeting users with an AI-powered subsystem that helps operators remotely navigate compromised devices. Zimperium zLabs researchers analyzed the malware and believe it is linked to threat actors from China after finding it using LLM prompts written in Chinese. The researchers say the malware is distributed through malvertising, SMS, and phishing sites promoting APK downloads from outside Google Play. Like most Android malware families, RatHat relies on abusing Android’s Accessibility permissions to perform highly privileged actions on infected devices. Most notably, it enables Developer Options and Wireless Debugging to gain a local shell-level…

Bitcoin (BTC) traded near $76,500 after Thursday’s Wall Street open as investors snapped up US stocks following their recent dip.Key points:Bitcoin consolidated after dropping below $76,000 on the back of a 0.25% interest-rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. US equities rebounded, with the Nasdaq Composite Index gaining 1.5% as analysis saw upside continuation.Bitcoin price analysis retained its bullish slant on market conditions, with CryptoQuant’s Bull Score Index circling 60/100 on Thursday.Bitcoin halts losses as US stocks turn greenData from TradingView showed that BTC price volatility was cooling over the last 24 hours, with only modest moves to take nearby liquidity. BTC/USD…

Media accreditation is open for the next cargo launch that will deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. The 35th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for NASA will lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket. NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than October to launch the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Credentialing to cover prelaunch and launch activities is open to U.S. media only. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Oct. 1. All accreditation requests must be submitted online at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov Media…

The return of a giant anteater to the protected area in the humid Gran Chaco in Argentina has given researchers hope that ecosystem restoration could help restore biodiversity in an area threatened by habitat loss and agriculture.Passive restoration in the area meant removing pressures on the landscape from livestock, dogs, hunting, and fishing, which allowed the natural vegetation to recover.Experts say it’s too early to say if the anteater’s return is the start of the species’ recovery or just a one-off, and call for continuous monitoring.See All Key Ideas In 2025, a giant anteater returned to the Alma…