Short Takes – 1-11-24

Here’s Some Bitcoin: Oh, and You’ve Been Served! KrebsOnSecurity.com article. Pull quote: “Experts say regardless of the reason for a cryptocurrency theft or loss — whether it’s from a romance scam or a straight-up digital mugging — it’s important for victims to file an official report both with their local police and with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov). The IC3 collects reports on cybercrime and sometimes bundles victim reports into cases for DOJ/FBI prosecutors and investigators.”

Five Biological Variants of Alzheimer’s Discovered. NeuroscienceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The findings are of great importance for drug research. It means that a drug could only work in one variant of Alzheimer’s disease. For example, medication that inhibits amyloid production may work in the variant with increased amyloid production but may be harmful in the variant with decreased amyloid production. It is also possible that patients with one variant have a higher risk of side effects, while that risk is much lower with other variants.”

Hackers can infect network-connected wrenches to install ransomware. ArsTechnica.com article. Pull quote: “Bosch officials emailed a statement that included the usual lines about security being a top priority. It went on to say that Nozomi reached out a few weeks ago to reveal the vulnerabilities. "Bosch Rexroth immediately took up this advice and is working on a patch to solve the problem," the statement said. "This patch will be released at the end of January 2024."”

Conservatives Revolt Anew Over Johnson Deal to Avert Shutdown. NYTimes.com article (free). Pull quote: “The Republican revolt underscored Mr. Johnson’s predicament in trying to steer the spending deal through the closely divided House, where it has enraged a sizable bloc of Republicans, while keeping his grip on his job. The upheaval came as it was becoming clear that Congress would most likely have to resort to yet another short-term spending patch — something Mr. Johnson had previously ruled out — to buy time to push a bipartisan deal to fund the government.”

Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Chemical Substances Designated as Inactive on the TSCA Inventory; Significant New Use Rule. Federal Register EPA Final Rule. Summary: “Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA is finalizing a significant new use rule (SNUR) for 329 per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that are designated as inactive on the TSCA Chemical Substance Inventory. PFAS are a group of chemicals that have been used in industry and consumer products since the 1940s because of their useful properties, such as water and stain resistance.”

Launch Roundup: Axiom-3 crew and Tianzhou 7 cargo space station missions this week. NASASpaceFlight.com article. Pull quote: “A pair of missions to space stations headline the launches for the week of Jan. 10 to Jan. 17. Axiom-3 will be flying four private astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), becoming the first crew launch of 2024. Crew Dragon Freedom will fly from Florida, with a multinational crew, for a mission to the Station lasting around two weeks.”

A new class of antibiotics is cause for cautious celebration — but the economics must be fixed. Nature.com editorial. Pull quote: “The United Kingdom has been a leader in this regard. In 2019, it launched a ‘subscription’ programme through which companies are paid a fixed annual fee that is based on a drug’s value to the health-care system, rather than on the number of doses sold. Other countries are considering similar plans. In the United States, a bipartisan team of lawmakers is backing the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act [S 1355 and HR 2940 are the latest versions], which would create a similar programme. But the act has struggled in the US Congress since it was first introduced in 2020. The European Union has also been unable to pass relevant legislation. It is time for governments to move from consideration to action.”