Blizzard Entertainment hit by DDoS attack

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Blizzard Entertainment hit by DDoS attack
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Video game comoany, Blizzard Entertainment, has been the victim of a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) cyber attack.

The DDoS attack was launched against the company on June 25, and caused a number of games that Blizzard hosts to go offline, including Diablo 4 and World of Warcraft. The disruption was noted by players across Blizzard’s titles, with some taking to Blizzard’s forums to post about the cyber attack.

One user, who uses the screen name ‘Gibs’, made a post entitled ‘DDoS attack – guess we just have to wait this one out.

“Looks like Blizzard are under siege…note on [Blizzard.net] saying they are under attack right now. Its not just D[iablo] 4 that is impacted,” they said. 


 
In a tweet about the situation posted on June 25, Blizzard Entertainment’s customer support team said that they were actively monitoring the attack which was “affecting latency/connections to [its] games”. Three hours later, the company posted an update which said that the DDoS attacks against the network had ended. They also said that any players still having issues should try troubleshooting their connection.

No reason for the DDoS attack has yet been given, however some players have speculated that it was an act of retaliation against Blizzard Entertainment. One member of Blizzard’s player forums remarked that it was “not surprising” that a cyber attack was launched against the company.

Blizzard Entertainment itself has faced a number of controversies over the past few years, from accusations of having a “frat boy” company culture that created an unsafe working environment, to fans unhappy with the latest releases from Blizzard like Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 Season 5.

As of the time of writing, the perpetrator of the cyber attack is still unknown.


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Petro Canada Suffers App Issues Amidst Suncor Energy Cyberattack

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Petro Canada Suffers App Issues Amidst Suncor Energy Cyberattack
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Canadian citizens facing trouble at Petro Canada gas stations may have to bear with those issues for some time due to a cybersecurity incident. Petro Canada has confirmed impact on its online payment systems and app as its parent firm Suncor Energy deals with a cyberattack.

Suncor Energy And Petro Canada Confirm Facing A Cyberattack

Canadian energy giant Suncor Energy recently admitted suffering a severe cyberattack. The incident not only hit Suncor Energy, but also impacted the Petro Canada gas station.

According to a Suncor Energy press release, it faced a cybersecurity incident for which the firm promptly took appropriate measures. In addition, the firm also mentioned collaborating with third-party experts to “investigate and resolve” the issue. Besides, it also quickly stated reporting the matter to the relevant authorities.

The brief press release does not state anything about the kind of cyberattack, whether it faced a DDoS, ransomware attack, malware attack, or supply-chain issue. However, it did assure all related entities to have detected no impact on its customers, employees, or suppliers’ data.

The reports about the incident gained attention when Petro Canada customers faced issues while making credit card payments and reward points. Initially, Petro Canada confirmed via a tweet that its systems had developed problems. Besides confirming the app and website unavailability, the service apologized to the customers for the inconvenience.

While Petro Canada initially didn’t mention any other detail, it later confirmed the subsequent impact of the parent firm Suncor Energy’s cybersecurity incident.

As both services jointly worked towards remediation and security measures for the incident, Petro Canada continued operations, albeit with disruptions. According to a following tweet, Petro Canada customers could still not use the app for payments and reward points.

None of the firms have presently shared any details about the cybersecurity incident. Nor have they given any timelines for the complete restoration of their services.

Suncor Energy is a Canada-based energy firm currently listed as the 48th largest public company in the world. Its main services include oil refining and supply (via its downstream brand Petro Canada), whereas it is also known for owning an aircraft fleet.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.


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Galaxy Z Flip 5 could boast Galaxy S23-like camera quality

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Galaxy Z Flip 5 could boast Galaxy S23-like camera quality
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Samsung has reportedly “radically improved” the camera performance of its Flip series foldables this year. Reports coming from the company’s homeland South Korea suggest that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 could offer Galaxy S23-like camera quality. The new foldable may also boast a much longer battery life.

Samsung’s foldable smartphones cost more than its conventional Galaxy S series flagships. But they have always packed worse cameras. That’s despite the company equipping both sets of devices with the same chipset in most markets, if not all. The Korean behemoth never bothered offering flagship-grade cameras on foldable. Moreover, space limitations mean it couldn’t include bigger batteries either, so the battery life has been poor too.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 will address these shortcomings

Samsung is addressing both of these issues with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 this year, at least according to an anonymous Samsung insider. They told the South Korean publication Chosun that the latest Flip model features “clear improvements in camera and battery life matching the level of the Galaxy S23”. Samsung is reportedly making these improvements “in response to customer complaints” that its foldables lag behind the Galaxy S series phones in functionality.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 seemingly won’t get a camera hardware upgrade, though. The Samsung insider said that it’s difficult for the company to “boost camera pixels and battery capacity” of the phone due to space limitations. So we should still get a 12MP+12MP dual-camera setup on the outside and a 10MP camera on the inside. The battery capacity should also remain at 3,700mAh, which is close to the base Galaxy S23’s 3,900mAh battery.

However, Samsung has worked on software optimizations to significantly improved the “photo clarity and battery issues” of its Flip series foldables. If the Galaxy Z Flip 5 performs at the Galaxy S23’s level in terms of camera quality and battery life, it would be huge. Coupled with a bigger cover display, this year’s Flip is shaping up to be a notable upgrade over its predecessor. The 3.4-inch cover display can efficiently run many apps.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 won’t bring many other notable upgrades, though. We are expecting a similar 6.7-inch foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X display on the inside with a 120Hz refresh rate. Samsung will equip it with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 “for Galaxy” processor that also powers the Galaxy S23 series. The chipset is paired with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. The device will debut alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 5 on July 27.


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Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 debuts as the first 4nm chip in the series

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Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 debuts as the first 4nm chip in the series
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Qualcomm has launched the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, its latest budget-friendly smartphone processor. Successor to last year’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 1, it’s the first 4-series chip to be fabricated on a 4nm process node. It also packs the improved 3GPP Release 16 5G technology, another first for the series. This chip will power affordable Android smartphones starting later this year. Xiaomi and Vivo are among the brands that have confirmed plans to launch devices with the new Qualcomm processor.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 specifications

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 is a 64-bit octa-core chipset featuring Qualcomm’s proprietary Kryo CPU. It has two CPU cores clocked at 2.2GHz and six others at 2.0GHz, with the company claiming a ten percent performance boost from its predecessor. The CPU is paired with an unnamed Adreno GPU with support for Vulkan 1.1 and hardware-accelerated H.265 and VP9 decoder. The chipset supports LPDDR5X RAM with up to 3,200MHz data transfer speed. It also supports UFS 3.1 storage and can handle FHD+ displays (1200 x 2520 pixels) at a 120Hz refresh rate.

Qualcomm has included the Snapdragon X61 5G Modem-RF System here for up to 2.5Gbps of download speeds on sub-6GHz 5G networks. It offers up to 900Mbps of upload speeds and supports global 5G Multi-SIM. The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 boasts Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 5 (2.4GHz and 5GHz), and NFC capabilities for additional connectivity options. This chip brings dual-frequency location tracking across QZSS, Galileo, Beidou, GLONASS, NavIC, and GPS satellite systems. Thanks to Sensor-assisted Positioning, it can deliver Lane-level and Sidewalk-level location accuracy.

Coming to camera capabilities, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 can handle up to 108MP cameras. Qualcomm promises support for up to 32MP cameras with zero shutter lag and 16MP+16MP dual-camera systems. The chip offers Multi-frame Noise Reduction (MFNR), Motion Compensated Temporal Filtering (MCTF), AI-backed Low Light enhancement, Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS), and Phase Detection Pixel Correct (PDPC) autofocus. It can capture 1080p videos at 60fps (frames per second) and 720p slow-motion videos at 120fps. The chip supports 1080p video playback at 60fps.

Qualcomm’s aptX Audio platform ensures that the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 delivers high-quality wireless audio  with low latency. Support for Quick Charge 4+, meanwhile, helps top up the device’s battery faster. The company claims a 50 percent charge in just 15 minutes but doesn’t specify things further. The charging time will depend upon the battery capacity as well. The USB Type-C system offers USB 3.2 Gen 1 connectivity. Security features include Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), Platform Security Foundations, and Qualcomm Wireless Edge Services (WES).


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Telegram announces Stories with lifespan from 6 hours

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Telegram announces Stories with lifespan from 6 hours
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For all you storytellers out there, Telegram is releasing a major feature update in July: Stories. Users will be able to choose how long their story post lives: 6, 12, 24 or 48 hours. There’s a permanent option, too.

Pavel Durov, Telegram CEO, admits his initial reluctance to adding Stories to Telegram has been wiped away by user pressure after ‘years’ of requests (via 9TO5Mac). In a lengthy message, Durov announces that now it would be even easier to go viral on Telegram:

The ability to save your stories to the profile page will make Telegram profiles more informative and colorful. You will not only be able to explore more content from your closest contacts, but finally discover more information about users you connect with in groups or channel comments. Speaking of channels, they will benefit from more exposure and subscribers: once we launch the ability to repost messages from channels to stories, going viral on Telegram will become a lot easier.

There’s a user showcase of the new feature:

The 6 key features of Telegram Stories


Durov promotes the update with 6 key points: Privacy, Compact UI, Flexibility, Captions, Dual Camera Support, Optional Ephemerality. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Privacy: Users are given the flexible freedom to define their audience with precision. Instagram, for example, allows users to post stories publicly or only to a Close Friends list. Telegram takes that a step further by letting you choose between the options “everyone”, “only your contacts (with exceptions)”, “a few selected contacts”, or “a list of Close Friends”. This makes it super customizable.

Compact UI: The Telegram team promises not to intrude. ‘Stories will be placed in an expandable section at the top of your chat list, which makes them easily accessible without taking away valuable space’, points out Durov.

Flexibility: If the story posts by a certain contact are giving you the blues, you can hide them. Just move them to the ‘Hidden’ list on the Contacts section.

Captions: Pretty self explanatory. You can add more context (or links, or tags) by providing captions for your photo/video Stories.

Dual Camera Support: Interesting feature that may become popular as “poor man’s 360° camera”. ‘We’re adding the option to post photos and videos taken by the front and the rear cameras simultaneously’, the Telegram CEO promises.

Optional Ephemerality: Pretty useful for those of you who wish to set your Stories for a timespan different from the ‘traditional’ 24 hours. ‘You’ll be able to choose when a story expires – in 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours – or permanently display stories on your profile page, with individual privacy settings for each’, says Durov.

The feature is in its final testing stages and will be rolled out in early July.


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Chrome Security Update – 4 High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched

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Chrome Security Update – 4 High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched
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Chrome Security Update – 4 High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched. For Mac, Linux, and Windows, the Stable and Extended Stable channels have been upgraded to 114.0.5735.198/114.0.5735.198/199, respectively. 

This update will be rolling out over the next few days/weeks.

CSN

With three issues that were discovered by outside researchers, this update offers four high-severity fixes.

Vulnerabilities Patched

Confusion in V8 issue CVE-2023-3420 is the first high-severity bug reported by Man Yue Mo of the GitHub Security Lab, who also received a $20,000 bug bounty from Google.

The next High-severity weakness is CVE-2023-3421, which may be used for free in media. As reported by Piotr Bania of Cisco Talos and a $10000 bug reward from Google.

The following High-severity weakness is CVE-2023-3422, which may be used for free in guest view. Upon Asnine’s report, Google awarded a $5000 bug reward.

Google said that libFuzzer, AFL, Control Flow Integrity, AddressSanitizer, MemorySanitizer, UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer, and UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer are often used to find security flaws.

“The Stable and extended stable channels have been updated to 114.0.5735.198 for Mac and Linux and 114.0.5735.198/199 for Windows, which will roll out over the coming days/weeks”, reads the Google Chrome release notification.

There are several different release channels that Chrome supports.

Starting with their nearly daily Canary channel builds and progressing up to our Stable channel releases, which occur around every six weeks, Google uses these channels to push out improvements to consumers gradually.

The stable and tested release channel for Chrome is at the top of the list, whereas the canary channel is entirely untested and probably the least stable. 

Since they do not exchange profiles, you can operate any channel concurrently with every other channel. This enables you to experiment with their most recent code while retaining a working copy of Chrome.

Make a backup of your profile, including your bookmarks, frequently viewed pages, history, cookies, etc., before making the switch. 

Your updated profile data might not be compatible with the earlier version if you decide to return to a more stable channel. 

Create a copy of the User DataDefault directory ( copy it to ‘Default Backup’ in the same place). Your operating system will determine the location.

AI-based email security measures Protect your business From Email Threats! – Request a Free Demo.


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A week in security (June 19 – 25)

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A week in security (June 19 – 25)
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Last week on Malwarebytes Labs:

Stay safe!

Malwarebytes EDR and MDR removes all remnants of ransomware and prevents you from getting reinfected. Want to learn more about how we can help protect your business? Get a free trial below.

TRY NOW


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WhatsApp wants to make the app’s look more consistent

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WhatsApp wants to make the app’s look more consistent
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WhatsApp is one of the fastest-evolving messaging apps on the market because it’s always working on new features and changes. The latest change discovered in the beta for the app shows that it’s looking to create a more cohesive experience. WhatsApp could bring a white action bar to the Android version of the app.

Over the past several versions, it’s clear that WhatsApp is looking to make some major changes to the app’s aesthetic. We’ve seen it make changes to bring it more in line with Material Design 3. This includes rounded UI elements like what we see with Google’s apps.

WhatsApp could be bringing the white action bar to the Android app

WhatsApp is present on both iOS and Android, so there will be some aesthetic differences between both versions. That’s not the biggest issue, admittedly. If you’re using the Android version, you’re not really concerned about what the iOS version looks like. However, WhatsApp is looking to make the app more consistent across both platforms.

According to WABInfo, WhatsApp’s latest Android beta version (2.23.13.16) will bring the white action bar. This is the toolbar on the bottom of the screen that will house essential tabs to help you navigate the app. We see in the screenshot below that it will have four tabs. You’ll see the Chats, Status, Communities, and Calls tabs at the bottom of the screen.

whatsapp white action bar

The toolbar will be the same color as the rest of the interface, so it will seem more seamless. You’ll know which tab you’re on by the pill-shaped highlight around the current tab. While this is the white action bar, it will also change color to match the dark theme.

In a recent beta version, we saw that WhatsApp added the ability to simply swipe between the tabs rather than needing to tap on them. We expect this to be the case when/if the feature makes its way to the public.


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Congress staff have limited use of ChatGPT

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Congress staff have limited use of ChatGPT
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While the launch of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT has opened up a world of opportunities, it’s no surprise to hear that with it comes the concern of around potential security breaches and misuse of data, especially when it comes corporate and government organizations. This is precisely why the U.S. Congress has reportedly established a strict limit on the use of ChatGPT in congressional offices.

Congress is reportedly setting a limit on the use of ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools.

As Engadget reports, Congress has apparently limited the use of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools. The news first broke by Axios, which received a memo today from the House of Representatives administrative chief Catherine Szpindor. In the memo, Szpindor set narrow conditions for the use of ChatGPT in congressional offices. Limiting use to ChatGPT Plus. The paid version of the AI chatbot, due to its enhanced privacy features.

According to the memo, offices can use the tool for research and evaluation only. Privacy settings must also be enabled as they are turned off by default.

Szpindor also said in the memo that offices should only be only be inputting “non-sensitive” data into the chatbot. In other words, congressional staff are advised to “paste into the chat bot any blocks of text that have not already been made public.”

The bigger picture of corporate and government use of ChatGPT.

Congress is far from the only entity to retrist the use of ChatGPT. Earlier this year, companies such as Samsung and Apple have banned the internal use of the chatbot over privacy concerns — these fears are backed by previous OpenAI privacy blunders, like one ChatGPT bug that temporarily exposed people’s chat histories to each other.

According to Axios, the ChatGPT limit “comes as lawmakers across the ideological spectrum and in both chambers are rushing to craft legislation regulating AI.” Some senate and congressional lawmakers have been introducing bills to regulate the industry.


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Opera’s new AI-powered browser is now available for all Android users

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Opera’s new AI-powered browser is now available for all Android users
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Aria, the native AI browser developed by Opera and OpenAI, is now available for all Android users, as well as on desktops. Marketed as a “free service giving users access to a popular GPT tool paired with live results from the web,” Opera Aria promises a new browsing experience.

With the usage of AI tools on the rise, the launch of new native AI browsers that leverage the power of these tools to enhance productivity is not out of the ordinary. Based on Opera’s Composer infrastructure, Aria connects to OpenAI’s GPT technology, which is further enhanced by additional capabilities, including the ability to add live results from the web.

The AI in Opera provides a user-controlled experience, which means that users have the choice to opt in or not, depending on whether or not they need AI services. Those who do want to try out Aria’s AI services are promised “smart insights and answers, fresh ideas,” as well as the ability to respond to voice commands at will.

To make use of Aria’s powerful AI features, users in more than 180 countries worldwide, including the EU, you’ll need to log in with your Opera account or register for free if you don’t have one. Then, simply open the browser AI in the main many and start checking out the new features. Also, Aria is also available in Opera One, the software company’s redesigned flagship browser.


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