Gmail pop-up reminds you to use Enhanced Safe Browsing

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Gmail pop-up reminds you to use Enhanced Safe Browsing
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If you get a pop-up notification from Gmail, prompting you to take security measures, don’t be alarmed. That’s just a reminder from Google – they want you to use the Enhanced Safe Browsing mode.

The promotional message has been rolling out over the past days, gradually coming to users on both Android and desktop (via 9to5Google). The pop up reads ‘Get additional protection against phishing’ and ‘Turn on Enhanced Safe Browsing to get additional protection against dangerous emails’. If you think you don’t need that level of protection, there’s the option to decline by tapping/clicking ‘No thanks’.

Once enabled, the Enhanced Safe Browsing mode ‘works automatically in the background to provide faster, proactive protection against dangerous websites, downloads, and extensions’, claims the Google team. This mode checks for risky URLs, Downloads, browser extensions.

If you’re interested in using Enhanced Safe Browsing on Google Chrome, you could benefit from the following additional protections:

  • Real-time checks against lists of known phishing and malware sites
  • The option to request Google to perform deeper scans of files they’ve downloaded to check for malware and viruses
  • Protection against previously unknown attacks when navigating to sites
  • Tailored protections based on your risk level

Don’t forget that if you choose Enhanced Safe Browsing, it will share additional security-related information. This data is used only for security purposes and deleted after a short period of time, Google discloses. By sharing additional information about potential risky events, Chrome enables Safe Browsing to improve its ability to detect malicious content online, to better protect users all over the web.

OK, how do I enable it?


If you get the Gmail pop-up prompt and you tap on ‘Continue’, it will take you to the following page: myaccount.google.com/account-enhanced-safe-browsing.On Chrome, you could access it via chrome://settings/security.

Or, the long route:

  1. Go to your Google Account.
  2. On the left, select Security.
  3. Scroll to “Enhanced Safe Browsing for your Account.”
  4. Select Manage Enhanced Safe Browsing.
  5. Turn Enhanced Safe Browsing on or off.

If you turn on Enhanced Safe Browsing for your account, Enhanced Safe Browsing in Chrome will also be turned on when:
  • You’re signed in to Chrome
  • Sync is turned on in Chrome without a custom passphrase
If you turn off Enhanced Safe Browsing in your account:
  • It may take up to 24 hours for this setting change to complete.
  • Google Safe Browsing continues to help protect you from dangerous websites, downloads, and extensions

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YouTube’s latest feature will quickly become your favorite

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YouTube’s latest feature will quickly become your favorite
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YouTube is apparently testing out a new “stable volume” feature. Which is something that you have to wonder, why it took YouTube so long to add. Audio normalizers aren’t new, but still a welcome feature.

According to Twitter user @iTechAndriod, they’ve found a new option in the settings for specific videos, that now shows “Stable Volume”. This is in the same menu as video quality, captions, loop video and other options.

There’s no official word from YouTube on what this feature does, but since it is located on each video, and not in the YouTube app settings, it sounds like it will stabilize the volume throughout the video, rather than for every video. That way any sudden volume changes aren’t felt as much by the user. And it’s a feature that you’re probably going to love.

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Stable Volume appears to be in testing

While a number of users on Twitter have mentioned that they’ve seen this option on YouTube, we are not seeing it on any of our devices here. Likely meaning that this is in testing right now. Google tends to do A/B testing for features like this, before rolling them out. To see how users react to them, and if they should be changed.

Sometimes, changes like this that are in A/B testing, don’t always make it to a full rollout. But this one likely will. As it does seem to be a pretty important one.

YouTube has been making a lot of changes lately, and bringing back some features that they had gotten rid of. Like the ability to sort videos by oldest on individual YouTube channel pages. So they’ve been quite busy in the past few months. Which is good, because when Google starts to work less on a project, it usually gets axed – though we would definitely not expect that with YouTube, given how much money it makes Google.


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Peacock is getting its first increase starting in August

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Peacock is getting its first increase starting in August
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It was bound to happen. With the cost of literally everything else skyrocketing, Peacock also needed to raise their rates, and this is the first time they’ve done so since launching in 2020.

Starting on August 17, subscribers to Peacock will start to see the price increase go into effect. Peacock Premium customers will start paying $5.99 per month, while Peacock Premium Plus customers will be paying $11.99 per month. That’s a jump of $1 and $2 respectively. A similar jump to what we saw with Paramount Plus recently.

Comcast, the parent-company of Peacock’s parent-company, NBCUniversal, is confident that a price hike won’t affect its growth. Peacock has seen a 60% year-on-year subscriber increase in the first three months of 2023. Newer numbers aren’t yet available, and won’t be until Comcast does their quarterly earnings.

Prices going up as Peacock continues to add more original content and sports

Of course, no one likes to see prices going up on anything. But with Peacock, it’s more understandable than some other streaming services. With Peacock, NBCUniversal has continued to add more original content and has also been adding a good amount of live sports to the service.

Since it’s launch, Peacock points out, that it has added over 80,000 hours of content. And they believe that this price hike will enable “Peacock to continue to invest in the best user experience and the highest-quality content while remaining competitive in the marketplace.”

While Peacock has gone up in price, it is still one of the cheapest options out there. Apple TV+ is now $6.99 per month, Netflix starts at $8.99 per month, Paramount Plus is also $5.99 per month. So even jumping up a buck for the Premium option, it’s still a pretty good buy for those that like NBCUniversal’s content.

Even with this price increase, NBCUniversal is expected to lose around $3 billion this year alone. Now this is largely due to the Comcast division transitioning to a streamer rather than a broadcast model.


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Phishers Targeting Diplomats in Kyiv with Fake 2011 BMW Flyers

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Phishers Targeting Diplomats in Kyiv with Fake 2011 BMW Flyers
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When the recipient clicks on the file promising more high-quality photos of the car for sale, they are redirected to a malicious domain. While the victim tries to see the photos, the malicious payload is executed in the background.

Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 researchers found a new phishing campaign in which the Cloaked Usra APT group targets diplomats in Kyiv, Ukraine. It is yet unclear whether the group has successfully achieved its target. Regardless, researchers believe that a staggering number of embassies have been targeted in this campaign, which makes it a sinister APT operation.

Campaign Details

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service hackers known as Cloaked Ursa (aka Nobelium, Cozy Bear, APT29, Midnight Blizzard and UAC-0029), are targeting diplomatic missions in Kyiv and have already targeted 22 out of the 80+ foreign missions in Kyiv.

Scope-wise, this is the biggest espionage effort from a Russian government-affiliated threat group. Unit 42 researchers suspect Cloaked Ursa’s involvement in this campaign because of the similarities between the group’s previous campaigns and their targets, usage of already known Cloaked Ursa TTPs, and code overlapping with previously used malware by the same group.

It is worth noting that Nobelium is the same group that was blamed for the large-scale cyber attack on SolarWinds. Last month, Microsoft warned of the group’s return and its campaign to target the defence sector in Europe and the United States.

Exploiting Old Car Sale Flyer to Phish Diplomats

Attackers have used a legitimate ad for a 2011 model BMW car to target diplomats. A Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomat sent this email flyer to different embassies in April 2023. It is an ad for selling a used BMW 5-series sedan in Kyiv and contains a file attachment (titled: BMW 5 for sale in Kyiv – 2023.docx). The ad claims a “very good condition, low fuel consumption” vehicle for sale for just 7500 euros.

The ad appears reliable because a trusted diplomat shared it. Therefore, it will surely attract foreign missions to Kyiv, considering the transportation issues they might face due to the current political environment.

The fake flyer was emailed on 4 May 2023 to multiple diplomatic missions in Kyiv. When the recipient clicks on the file promising more high-quality photos of the car for sale, they are redirected to a shortened URL (tly or tinyurlcom) of a legit website that Cloaked Ursa coopted for the campaign. While the victim tries to see the photos, the malicious payload (bmw.iso) is executed in the background. 

Phishers Targeting Diplomats in Kyiv with Fake 2011 BMW Flyers
The flyer used in the phishing attack (Image: Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42)

According to their report, researchers observed two versions with slight differences. Cloaked Ursa used publicly available embassy email IDs to reach 80% of their targets, and the remaining 20% weren’t found on the internet as their email IDs were unpublished. In some cases, the email was sent to the victim’s work address, while most were sent to general email addresses recipients used for the embassy.

The Ever-Evolving Threat- Spear Phishing

APT groups are continually improving their attack tactics to ensure success. Spear phishing is one of their preferred tactics; they would do anything to entice targets. The BMW campaign proves that attackers consider diplomatic missions high-value targets for the Russian government as they can carry out espionage to obtain intelligence info on Ukraine.

Researchers suspect that Cloaked Ursa might have compromised the email server of one of the email recipients and repurposed it to be used as a phishing lure. This campaign can be dangerous since the lures have broad applicability in the diplomatic community and could be forwarded to more targets within and outside an organization.

Earlier in July, Hackread reported that BlackBerry researchers identified a cybercrime campaign launched by RomCom targeting Pro-Ukraine guests at the upcoming NATO Summit. 

  1. SmugX: Chinese Hackers Targeting Embassies in Europe
  2. NATO Data Stolen in Cyberattack on Portugal’s Armed Forces
  3. Military Satellite Access Sold on Russian Hacker Forum for $15k
  4. Hackers Deface Russian Sites on Ukraine Invasion Anniversary
  5. Ukraine Busts Hackers for Stealing 30M Accounts of EU Citizens

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CISA Released Free Cloud Security Tools to Secure Cloud Data

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CISA Released Free Cloud Security Tools to Secure Cloud Data
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Free Cloud Security Tools

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released a list of free tools for organizations to secure themselves in cloud environments.

The post from CISA stated that these tools will help incident response analysts and network defenders to mitigate, identify and detect threats, known vulnerabilities, and anomalies in the cloud or hybrid environments.

Threat actors have traditionally targeted internal servers during an attack. However, the rapid growth of cloud migration has attracted several threat actors to target cloud environments as the attack vector is massive when it comes to the cloud.

The tools provided by CISA will aid organizations that lack the necessary tools to defend against cloud threats. These tools can help in protecting their cloud resources from information theft, data theft, and information exposure.

CISA also mentioned that organizations should use the security features provided by the Cloud Service Providers and combine them with the free tools suggested by the CISA for protecting against these threats. The tools provided by the CISA are,

  • The Cybersecurity Evaluation Tool (CSET) (CISA)
  • SCuBAGear (CISA)
  • The Untitled Goose Tool (CISA)
  • Decider (CISA)
  • Memory Forensic on Cloud (JPCERT/CC)

The Cyber Security Evaluation Tool (CSET)

This tool was developed by the CISA that uses industry-recognized standards, frameworks, and recommendations to assist organizations in their cybersecurity posture evaluation. The tool asks multiple questions about system components, architecture, and operational policies and procedures.

This information is then used to generate a report that provides a complete insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the organizations including the recommendations to fix them. The CSET version 11.5 includes Cross-Sector Cyber Performance Goals (CPG) which was developed by the CISA and the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology).

CPG can provide best practices and guidance that all organizations should follow. This tool can help against common and impactful TTPs. 

SCuBAGear M365 Secure Configuration Baseline Assessment Tool

SCuBAGear is a tool that was a part of the SCuBA (Secure Cloud Business Applications) project that was initiated in response to the Supply Chain compromise of SolarWinds Orion Software. SCuBA is an automated script that compares the Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FECB) against M365 Secure configurations of the CISA.

In collaboration with SCuBAGear, CISA created multiple documents that can guide cloud security that can help all organizations. Three documents were created as part of this tool,

  • SCuBA Technical Reference Architecture (TRA) – Provides essential components for hardening cloud security. The scope of TRA adds cloud business applications (for SaaS models) and the security services used to secure and monitor them.
  • Hybrid Identity Solutions Architecture – Provides best approaches for addressing identity management in a Cloud environment.
  • M365 security configuration baseline (SCB) – provides basic security configurations for Microsoft Defender 365, OneDrive, AAD, Exchange Online etc.

This tool provides an HTML report highlighting policy deviations described in the M365 SCB guides.

Untitled Goose Tool

This tool was developed alongside Sandia National Laboratories which can help network defenders identify malicious activities in Microsoft Azure, AAD, and M365. It can also help query, export, and investigate audit logs.

This tool is extremely useful for organizations that do not ingest these kinds of logs into their Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) tool. It was developed as an alternative to PowerShell tools since they did not have data collection capacity for Azure, AAD, and M365.

Network Defenders can use this tool to,

  • Cloud artifacts extraction from AAD, Azure, and M365
  • Perform time bounding of the Unified Audit Logs (UAL)
  • Extra data within time bound
  • Collect data using the capability of time bounding for MDE(Microsoft Defender Endpoint) data

Decider Tool

This tool can help incident response analysts to map malicious activities with the MITRE ATT&CK framework. It also provides an easier approach to their techniques and provides guidance for mapping the activities accordingly.

Just like CSET, this tool also asks several questions to provide relevant user queries for determining the best possible identification method. With this information, the users can now,

  • Export ATT&CK Navigator heatmaps
  • Publish Threat Intelligence reports 
  • Identify and execute mitigation procedures
  • Prevent Exploitation

The CISA has also provided a link on how to use the Decider tool.

Memory Forensic on Cloud (JPCERT/CC)

It was developed for building and analyzing the Windows Memory Image on AWS using Volatility 3. Furthermore, Memory Forensics is required when it comes to the newly trending LOTL (Living-Off-the-Land) attacks which are otherwise called fileless malware.

A memory image analysis can help during incident response engagements that usually require high-specification machines, time, and resources to prepare a sufficient environment.


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The Pixel 8 Pro’s specs just leaked on Twitter

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The Pixel 8 Pro’s specs just leaked on Twitter
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We’re still months away from the eventual unveiling of the Google Pixel 8 phones. However, we’ve been following all kinds of leaks and rumors regarding these upcoming flagships. Thanks to a tweet from Yogesh Brar (via Phone Arena), we have some leaked specs for the Pixel 8 Pro.

We expect the typical upgrades with the Pixel 8 phones. They will use the latest Google Tensor chip and bring some improvements to the cameras. Along with those, they’re going to launch with Android 14 out of the box. While we wait for the phone to come out, we’ll definitely get more information on these phones.

Here are some leaked specs for the Pixel 8 Pro

The Pixel 8 Pro is going to be the more premium of the phones. Thus, the specs are going to be more robust than what we’ll see in the regular Pixel 8.

As for the leak, Brar states that the Pixel 8 Pro will have a 6.7-inch HDQ+ OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The leak also states that it will use LTPO technology. With this technology, the phone’s refresh rate will drop to an incredibly low number if the user is looking at a still image. This could lead to battery savings.

As for the internals, the tweet says that it will use the Tensor G3 with the Titan security chip, and that should come as no surprise. It says that they will be backed up by 12GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB of onboard storage. Those are identical to what we saw in the Pixel 7 Pro; however, the Pixel 7 Pro had a 512GB variant.

Moving onto the cameras, it appears that this phone will have a 50MP main camera, 64MP ultrawide camera, and a 48MP telephoto camera. Up front, we’re looking at an 11MP front-facing camera.

As for the battery, the leak states that it will be ever so slightly smaller than the standard 5,000mAh. It points to a 4,950mAh battery with 27W charging.

When the Pixel 8 phones launch, we’re expecting these phones to be a bit more expensive than what we saw with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7. A rumor points to the Pixel 8 costing $649. That’s a $50 increase from what we saw in the recent years. We’re not sure how much the Pixel 8 Pro is going to cost, but we expect it to be similar.

Just know that these are all leaked specs, so you’ll want to take them with a grain of salt.


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Google introduces new AI-powered note-taking tool called NotebookLM

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Google introduces new AI-powered note-taking tool called NotebookLM
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It’s no secret that this sudden influx of generative AI tools has had companies like Google working around the clock to integrate the new technology into their various services. Now, in recent news, Google has launched its latest experimental project called NotebookLM, an AI-powered note-taking tool designed to assist students and learners in organizing and accessing lecture notes and coursework materials more effectively.

How does it work?

Initially introduced as Project Tailwind during Google I/O in May, NotebookLM aims to simplify the process of understanding and retrieving relevant information from various documents. The tool seamlessly integrates with Google Docs, allowing users to select multiple documents and interact with NotebookLM to ask questions, gain insights, and even generate new content. Additionally, the tool will automatically summarize lengthy documents and transform video outlines into scripts.

For instance, if a student is studying World War 2 and has a specific question about the significance of the Battle of Bulge, the AI tool will first refer to the user’s existing notes and supporting materials to provide an answer. However, even if the user hasn’t explicitly mentioned the battle in their notes, NotebookLM will obtain information from reliable sources through “source-grounding.”

google notebooklm

Addressing inaccurate information and data privacy concerns

To ensure the reliability of the information, the AI tool includes built-in citations that streamline fact-checking and verification processes. Moreover, unlike conventional chatbots that draw data from a wide range of sources, the NotebookLM only focuses on user-provided data, thus enhancing the accuracy of information. However, it’s important to note that Google acknowledges the possibility of occasional errors, particularly if the provided information is inaccurate or incomplete.

When talking about data privacy concerns, Google emphasizes that NotebookLM respects user privacy, as the AI model only accesses documents explicitly uploaded by the user, and the data is neither used to train new AI models nor made available to others.

Although the new NotebookLM AI tool is making its debut to a select group of users in the United States, Google has already announced plans to expand the feature to more regions in the near future.


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YouTube experiments with Stable Volume feature to ensure consistent sound in videos

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YouTube experiments with Stable Volume feature to ensure consistent sound in videos
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YouTube, the world’s largest online video sharing platform, is experimenting with a feature called Stable Volume to address varying sound quality across its billions of videos. This feature aims to ensure a consistent volume level, as some videos may be louder than others.

TechCrunch has confirmed that YouTube is testing the Stable Volume feature with a select group of users worldwide. This new experiment is designed to maintain a more balanced volume while you watch videos. However, whether this feature will become a permanent addition to YouTube remains to be seen.

M. Brandon Lee, a creator on YouTube, recently shared a tweet about this feature, correctly predicting its purpose.
YouTube’s spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that the company is indeed testing a “new YouTube listening control feature that provides users with more consistent sound while watching videos.” The test is currently limited to mobile devices, so if you are among the chosen participants, you may soon see the new Stable Volume feature in your YouTube mobile app.The Stable Volume feature aims to equalize volume levels both between videos and within a single video. This is particularly important when videos include both speech and other sounds. Many creators fail to maintain a consistent volume balance between speech and other audio elements, which can be frustrating for viewers trying to enjoy the content.

Therefore, it was about time for YouTube to start testing such a feature. Watching videos without sudden, excessively loud sounds might be a welcome update to the platform. However, there are some who may argue against the inclusion of this feature while listening to music, and they may have a valid point. Fortunately, the option to disable the feature provides a solution to this concern.


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JumpCloud Hacked – Attackers Compromised via Spear-Phishing

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JumpCloud Hacked – Attackers Compromised via Spear-Phishing
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JumpCloud Hacked

JumpCloud, an American commercial software company, has announced a data breach attributed to a spear phishing attack launched by a sophisticated nation-state-sponsored threat actor.

As a result, the threat actor (Nation-state) gained unauthorized access to JumpCloud systems to target a small and specific set of its customers.

Spear phishing is a type of phishing attack that targets a specific individual, organization, or business with a personalized email or message that looks authentic and comes from a trusted source.

JumpCloud’s cloud-based directory as a service platform is used to securely manage users’ identity, devices, and access across things such as VPN, Wi-Fi, Servers, and workstations.

A nation-state threat actor is a government-sponsored group that forcefully targets and gains illicit access to the networks of other governments or industry groups to steal, damage, and/or change information.

These types of attackers, in particular, go to extreme lengths to cover their tracks and make it difficult to trace their campaigns back to their country of origin. Often, they will plant “false flags” to mislead cyber investigators.

The goal of spear phishing is to get the target to reveal private information, download malware, or lose money.

On June 27 the organization discovered malicious activity in the internal system they accessed a specific area of the infrastructure but they did not find any evidence at that time about the impacts.

To avoid the potential danger, they took immediate measures to rebuild infrastructure and took a number of other actions to further secure our network and perimeter.

Also they combine with Incident Response (IR) partners to analyze the system, they also contacted law enforcement for investigation.

On July 5 at 3:35 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) they found another unusual activity in commands frameworks.

At that time they have evidence of customer impacts so they worked with that impacted customers and help them with more security measures.

The organization decided to execute force-rotation of all admin API keys beginning on July 5 at 23:11 UTC.

They found that attackers inject the data into the command framework moreover they target only certain customers.

This incident made the organization learn to create and now share a list of IOCs (Indicators of Compromise) that we have observed for this campaign.

Also Read:


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