NPM Under Attack: IndonesianFoods Worm Turns Open Source Rewards Into Crypto Mining

The npm registry faces an unprecedented attack as the IndonesianFoods worm demonstrates a new paradigm in supply chain threats. Unlike traditional malware that steals credentials, this self-propagating worm publishes 12 packages per minute while exploiting the TEA Protocol blockchain reward system. By embedding tea.yaml files and creating circular dependencies between packages, attackers turned a legitimate system for compensating open-source contributors into a cryptocurrency mining operation powered by registry spam.

OpenAI's GPT-5.1 release brings significant performance improvements with two specialized variants. The Instant model processes complex queries 5x faster than GPT-5, while the Thinking variant achieved 94.6% on the AIME 2025 mathematics exam—more than doubling GPT-4's performance. These improvements demonstrate how AI models are becoming both more capable and more efficient at allocating computational resources.

In other news, Cambridge researchers created an artificial leaf achieving 10% solar-to-fuel efficiency—ten times better than natural photosynthesis—potentially revolutionizing carbon-neutral fuel production. Spotify launches its Premium Platinum tier at $19.99/month for lossless audio, Apple enables digital passports at 250+ TSA checkpoints, and the UK's new cybersecurity bill mandates 24-hour breach reporting and 4-hour recovery windows for critical infrastructure providers.

Links

Main segment

• New 'IndonesianFoods' worm floods npm with 100,000 packages - Sonatype Blog
• TEA Protocol - Blockchain rewards for open source

News

• GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT - OpenAI
• Artificial Leaf Converts Pollution into Power - ScienceDaily
• Spotify introduces Premium Platinum plan - TechCrunch
• Apple Digital ID for passports - TechCrunch
• UK Cyber Security and Resilience Bill - Integrity360