UEFI bootkit infected fully patched Windows machines. Is Microsoft to blame?

UEFI bootkit infected fully patched Windows machines. Is Microsoft to blame?

fivenewscrypto    novembre 04, 2026   

In 2023, malware tracked as BlackLotus became the first publicly documented in-the-wild UEFI bootkit capable of bypassing Secure Boot on fully updated Windows 11 systems. With the industry-wide chain-of-trust mechanism subverted, the malware was able to run malicious code before Windows was fully loaded and many security defenses were operational.

Microsoft had already patched the vulnerability that BlackLotus exploited in 2022. In 2023 and 2024, Microsoft issued additional updates. The first added a new certificate that no longer trusted the vulnerable boot managers. The second provided the means to revoke trust in the digital certificate used to sign older vulnerable Windows boot managers. The organizations infected by the new bootkit, which is tracked under the name BlackX, had installed all of these patches. So how did they fall victim?

UEFI bootkit refresher

Before discussing the incident further, a brief review of BlackLotus and UEFI malware is in order. Short for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, UEFI is firmware that runs immediately after a computer is turned on. One of its main jobs is to load system configuration settings, identify and initialize hardware components, and prepare the computer to start its OS.

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Trump wanted to give No Kings no air. Then, Meta suspended its Instagram.

Trump wanted to give No Kings no air. Then, Meta suspended its Instagram.

fivenewscrypto    novembre 04, 2026   

Over the weekend, the No Kings Coalition said Meta declined to commit to taking steps to prevent automated systems from suspending one of Instagram's most prominent pro-democracy accounts if activity surged around the page during the midterm elections.

A demand for action came after Meta apologized for temporarily suspending the No Kings Instagram account and disabling access for four hours at the peak of an early voting push from the group. In a post on X, Meta’s Andy Stone said the account had been using a Claude AI tool in a way that made it appear to be a bot. But even though automated review detected the error within an hour, Stone acknowledged that additional hurdles kept admins locked out. State and federal lawmakers—as well as a coalition of 14 attorneys general—have asked Meta to further explain its actions.

In a letter to No Kings, Meta offered to arrange a meeting with a technical expert who could better explain the mistake. But No Kings rejected the response, saying it failed to address any of the group's ongoing concerns and requesting a meeting with Meta senior leadership instead. The group stressed that the issue goes beyond its Instagram account, saying that Americans who rely on Meta's platforms need assurance that voting content won’t be suppressed ahead of or on election day. Among eight questions, the coalition asked Meta to publicly disclose any communications with the Trump administration about the No Kings account or the historic early voting day event.

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EPA throws in the towel on policing air pollution from factory farms

EPA throws in the towel on policing air pollution from factory farms

fivenewscrypto    novembre 04, 2026   

The Environmental Protection Agency late last week announced it would end a 20-plus-year effort to develop methods to monitor air pollution from factory farms, effectively shuttering the agency’s stop-and-start attempts to regulate the potentially pollutant-spewing facilities under the Clean Air Act.

The announcement came just days before the midterm elections and was characterized by the agency as a long-awaited reprieve for farmers, a historically important constituency for Trump and the Republican Party.

When tens of thousands of animals are packed into one place, pollution from their waste is blown from ventilation fans or emanates from giant lagoons of liquid effluent. Livestock facilities emit fine particulate matter, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds, all contributing to a toxic mix. Research has shown that emissions from these operations are a major cause of air pollution, causing nearly 12,700 deaths in the United States a year.

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Beyond screens: Mercedes-Benz's new holographic heads-up display

Beyond screens: Mercedes-Benz's new holographic heads-up display

fivenewscrypto    novembre 03, 2026   

Mercedes-Benz provided flights from Los Angeles to Stuttgart, Germany, and accommodation so Ars could experience the holographic display. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

Do screens in cars represent luxury? Judging by the latest car interiors, the answer would seem to be an emphatic “yes.” Screens aren't just getting larger; they are multiplying across the dashboard and morphing into different forms and concepts. Indeed, an interior’s screens are a pretty good indicator of what brand made the car—or at least how much the owner paid for it.

But is this actually what customers want? Are more screens really better? And even if they are, luxury car features inevitably trickle down to cheaper, more mainstream offerings, and screens can only get so big. That leaves luxury automakers with another question to answer: “What’s next?”

Mercedes-Benz is working on a new display alternative that could provide an answer. For now, it's known as the holographic display. Forget the images from Star Trek and Star Wars that just popped into your head, though. It's effectively a more advanced form of heads-up display, or HUD.

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"At Home in Space" opens, caps Air and Space Museum renovation

"At Home in Space" opens, caps Air and Space Museum renovation

fivenewscrypto    novembre 03, 2026   

After seven years of work and nearly $1 billion, the Smithsonian has completed the renovation of the National Air and Space Museum's flagship building in Washington, DC.

On October 30, the museum debuted its last-to-open spaceflight exhibition, returning "home" with a gallery devoted to establishing a spacefaring civilization.

"Welcome to 'At Home in Space'!" said curator Jennifer Levasseur, who guided us through a virtual tour of the gallery. "This is the story of long-duration spaceflight in the last few decades. We generally call it 'reaching orbit.'"

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Why large dogs age faster than small ones, and other October research highlights

Why large dogs age faster than small ones, and other October research highlights

fivenewscrypto    novembre 03, 2026   

It’s a regrettable reality that there is never enough time to cover all the interesting scientific stories we come across. So every month, we highlight a handful of the best stories that nearly slipped through the cracks. October’s list includes an epigenetic mechanism for why large dogs age faster than smaller ones; physicists who trapped a single particle of antimatter for months; and invisible tattoo inks that only show up under UV light.

Why large dogs age faster

In many mammalian species, larger creatures tend to have longer lifespans. Mice, for instance, live an average of just two years, while some whales can last for as long as 200 years. Dogs, however, buck this pattern; larger dogs tend to age faster and die younger than smaller ones, which makes canines an ideal model for biologists to study to learn more about aging in general. Arizona State University scientists report that these lifespan differences seem to be due to so-called "jumping genes," according to a paper published in the journal Science.

The authors used data from 864 dogs collected in the Dog Aging Project to map patterns of DNA methylation (which influences how much certain genes are turned on or off) across the entire genome. It's part of the epigenome, whose markers can change over time in response to stress and other environmental factors. Genetic sequences, by contrast, are largely fixed. So DNA methylation is a good chemical indicator of aging and DNA regulation.

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Third person dies of bird flu since virus started jumping to livestock

Third person dies of bird flu since virus started jumping to livestock

fivenewscrypto    novembre 03, 2026   

A person in Washington state has died from bird flu after exposure at an infected dairy farm, state health officials reported Sunday. It marks the third human bird flu death in the US since a strain of highly pathogenic (H5) avian influenza (HPAI) made the unprecedented jump from wild, migratory birds to dairy cows, which was first reported in the US in March 2024.

The person who died was a Yakima County resident and was said to have had underlying health conditions, which could have made the person more vulnerable to the infection. On Friday, county officials reported that the person was severely ill and hospitalized. In the subsequent announcement of the person's death, officials said they would not be releasing further information about the person, including their name, gender, or age, out of respect for the family's privacy.

"Our hearts go out to the individual's family and loved ones during this difficult time," Dave Atteberry, health officer for the Yakima Health District, said in a statement. "Avian influenza can cause severe illness, particularly among people who have underlying health conditions. While this is a serious and heartbreaking outcome, the risk to the general public remains low."

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