High profile TikTok accounts, including CNN, Sony, and—er—Paris Hilton have been targeted in a recent attack.
CNN was the first account takeover that made the news, with Semafor reporting that the account was down for several days after the incident.
According to Forbes, the attack happens without the account owner needing to click on or open anything—known as a zero-click attack. All they need to do is open a DM. The account is then taken over and the user loses access.
Malwarebytes’ Pieter Arntz explained how this sort of attack could happen:
“If they don’t need to click on anything, this could well be a vulnerability in the way content is loaded when opening the DM. We’ve seen similar vulnerabilities before in Chromium browser, for example when fabricated images are loaded.”
TikTok says it has now fixed the issue and is working to get the accounts back to their rightful owners. Spokesperson Alex Haurek told Forbes:
“Our security team is aware of a potential exploit targeting a number of brand and celebrity accounts. We have taken measures to stop this attack and prevent it from happening in the future. “
Haurek didn’t say whether the attackers were still targeting accounts.
Securing your TikTok account
This attack is eye-catching because it’s technically unusual, and was used against people who naturally attract headlines. However, it’s a flash in the pan and the vulnerability was quickly patched.
Meanwhile, there’s a thriving underground market in social logins fuelled with much more successful, but much more mundane forms of attack. To reduce your risk of those, make sure you do these things:
Use a strong password to secure your account, and make sure you’ve not used it elsewhere. You can use a password manager to remember your passwords.
Check what devices are logged into your account. TikTok Device Management allows you to view what devices are logged into your account, remove them if needed, and get notified if there is suspicious activity on your account.
Be careful what you click on. If you receive a link from someone and you don’t know what it is, don’t click on it. Check via a different communication channel about what the link is. In this case, it appears that someone only had to open a DM in order to get their account taken over so watch out for DMs you’re not expecting.
Don’t feel pressure. If someone is messaging you asking you to click on or send them something, think before you do it. Putting pressure on someone to perform an action quickly is a common tactic used by scammers. Trust your instincts.
We don’t just report on threats – we help safeguard your entire digital identity
Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using identity protection.
We’ve seen all sorts of leaks thus far. This one takes the cake, though, in a way. Here we have a pixelated look at all of Samsung’s soon-to-be-announced devices. Yes, these devices are expected at the second Unpacked event this year.
A very odd leak is here to show us Samsung’s foldables, watch & ring
This leak comes from Evan Blass, so it’s safe to say it’s spot on. He could be even teasing what he’ll leak by doing this, we could be seeing proper marketing images soon. Also, even though the images are pixelated, it’s obvious that the design of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 go hand-in-hand with the images Samsung shared recently.
If you take a look at the five images shared in the gallery below, you’ll know what’s what. The Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy Z Flip 6, Galaxy Ring, and what seems to be the Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra.
Yes, these images are pixelated, but at least they confirm what we can expect from Samsung’s upcoming event. The second Unpacked event from the company is coming next month, allegedly.
All of these devices are expected to launch next month
Samsung still hasn’t confirmed it, but it’s rumored to happen on July 10. The company will allegedly host the event in Paris, France. Samsung is moving these Unpacked events constantly, they’re happening sooner and sooner.
August was the month for the second Unpacked event, but then Samsung decided to change things up. Last year’s event happened in July, but later on in July, not as early as this year’s is rumored to occur.
Samsung could be doing it sooner this year because of the Olympic games which are starting later in July, though. Based on the leaks, it will be a packed event once again. Not only will we get two high-end foldables, and a new flagship smartwatch, but the company’s first smart ring too. It’s also worth noting that the regular Galaxy Watch 7 is expected to launch too.
As time goes on, the chips powering our phones get more powerful. This is so that they can perform more demanding tasks and run more advanced software. However, for Qualcomm’s newest chip, it seems that the company is taking a step back. According to a new report, it seems that the new Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 is basically a recycled Snapdragon 695.
Qualcomm is going through a phase right now, and that phase is “Confusing the heck out of us with its naming convention.” We thought that the company had its releases down when it rebranded back in 2021. When it launched the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, we thought that things were clear. However, the company launched the 8+ Gen 1 in 2022, but it didn’t release a “+” variant of the 8 Gen 2.
Then, after launching the 8 Gen 3, we got the 8s Gen 3. We would assume that the “s” took over the “+” variant’s job… nope. It’s a lite version. Now, it has an 8s Gen 3, a 7s Gen 3, and a 6s Gen 3.
The Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 is basically a recycled Snapdragon 695
This is not to say that Qualcomm dug into its back-stock of Snapdragon 695s and rebranded them. Based on the specs, there are differences between the 6s Gen 3 and the 695.
However, there are just so many similarities to the 2021 chip that it’s hard to ignore. For example, both chips are fabricated on TSMC’s 6nm process. Also, they both have 2 Cortex A78 CPUs (2.2GHz for the Snapdragon 695 and 2.3GHz for the 6s Gen 3) along with 6 Cortex A55 CPUs (1.8GHz for the Snapdragon 695 and 2GHz for the 6s Gen 3).
One thing that makes this a bit confusing is the fact that the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 seems to be more powerful than the 6s Gen 3, and this chip was launched in 2021. This chip was fabricated on a 4nm process, and it has two more high-powered cores. Also, it has a newer Adreno GPU (Adreno 710 vs Adreno 619 in the 6s Gen 3). The 6 Gen 1 can also support 200MP photos (up to 108MP for the 6s Gen 3), it has a better modem (Snapdragon X62 5G for the 6 Gen 1 vs Snapdragon X51 5G for the 6s Gen 3), etc.
Qualcomm, why is your newest chip such a downgrade from a chip that hit the market almost three years ago? The 6s Gen 3 is so similar to the Snapdragon 695 that we can’t really call it a spiritual successor because a successor would have some sort of improvement. It almost seems like the company just recycled the older chip.
Everyone is getting into AI these days, and although the tech is now almost everywhere, if you think of it, it’s got some security concerns around it. Now, though, the internet’s favorite privacy-focused search engine, DuckDuckGo, is getting an AI chatbot. And, as you might expect, it’s here with a strong focus on respecting your privacy and keeping your data safe. DuckDuckGo’s AI chat is private and allows you to use AI models like OpenAI’s GPT 3.5 Turbo, Anthropic’s Claude 3 Haiku, and Meta’s Llama 3 anonymously. The company says everything you do with these chatbots is between you and them, and it won’t be used to train future or existing models.
In fact, DuckDuckGo’s solution isn’t perfect and it does have some caveats. DuckDuckGo warns that its supported models may store your conversations temporarily in order to deliver responses. Of course, the company underlines that all metadata is removed from the logs and that the agreements when building these AI chats ensure everything is deleted from servers in 30 days.
Image Source – DuckDuckGo
The app is now live. DuckDuckGo has a daily usage limit for the free version though, and the company has plans to introduce a paid version. The paid option will also offer more advanced models. You can try the tools at duck.ai, and it’s also available within the top bar of DuckDucGo’s search engine. Honestly, these privacy features should probably inspire other companies that use AI to take privacy more seriously. I sincerely do hope so.
Izzy, a tech enthusiast and a key part of the PhoneArena team, specializes in delivering the latest mobile tech news and finding the best tech deals. Her interests extend to cybersecurity, phone design innovations, and camera capabilities. Outside her professional life, Izzy, a literature master’s degree holder, enjoys reading, painting, and learning languages. She’s also a personal growth advocate, believing in the power of experience and gratitude. Whether it’s walking her Chihuahua or singing her heart out, Izzy embraces life with passion and curiosity.
Cybersecurity threats rise during this peak season as millions embark on the annual Hajj pilgrimage. This article offers crucial tips for pilgrims to safeguard themselves online while ensuring a safe and fulfilling Hajj experience.
Every year, millions of Muslims embark on the Hajj pilgrimage, a deeply spiritual journey, to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. However, the forever-widening scope of cybercrimes has made the event vulnerable to a range of cyber threats.
According to Resecurity’s cyber threat intelligence team’s research, shared exclusively with Hackread.com ahead of its publication, this year’s Hajj season is marred with an extensive range of frauds and scams.
The pilgrimage involves a multitude of logistical steps, from booking travel and accommodation to managing finances and staying connected with loved ones, for which pilgrims typically rely heavily on mobile apps and websites.
This reliance can expose them to frauds like fake travel agencies, online registration scams, sub-standard travel arrangements, and unlicensed travel companies created by organized crime groups, etc. The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) reports cases where individuals paid for sub-standard or non-existent travel arrangements, resulting in financial losses for victims.
These scams often involve fake websites or invitations, duping people into providing personal information and money. Scammers also use social media platforms to promote fake Hajj packages and entice people with attractive offers, ultimately leaving individuals without a tour and no way to recover their money.
According to Rsecurity’s blog post, researchers found that a fraudulent website Registergovcom was part of a larger identity theft campaign, which involved several fake websites disguised as free Hajj applications, tricking victims into sharing sensitive data. The information is used by threat actors for identity theft, fraud, and other cybercrime.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia’s official digital platform, Nusuk, launched to facilitate secure planning, booking, registration, and payment for Hajj and Umrah, is also exploited by cybercriminals. One of the phishing campaigns involving a fake site nusuksacom was found redirecting users to a payment interception form, stealing sensitive information.
Screengrabs of the scams targeting Hajj Pilgrimage (Credit: Resecurity)
In addition, scammers are using generative AI and Troll Factories to spread deceptive content on social media and defraud individuals. Resecurity has blocked over 630 accounts suspected of distributing fraudulent content targeting individuals preparing for Hajj season. The team also successfully blocked a resource collecting payment data.
Researchers call for stronger collaboration between platforms, law enforcement, and the private sector as Hajj approaches. Consumers are advised to be vigilant against online scams involving money exchange services, which can result in significant financial losses. To avoid falling victim to these scams, do your research on reputable services, verify their credentials, and exercise caution online.
It’s been a long time since I’ve used a Motorola phone, so when Motorola sent over the new Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 I was eager to check it out. The mid-range phones with affordable pricing aren’t usually the types of phones I tend to go for. I prefer the powerhouses with best-in-class cameras and top-notch specs. Basically the flagship phones. Unfortunately, those also come with a much higher price.
So it’s nice to see that for $399, Motorola can put together a smartphone that quite honestly, performs very well. That might not be something you expect to read about a phone that costs a mere $399. Let me tell you though, powerful, fun phones don’t have to cost an arm and a leg anymore. In fact, a fun phone that comes with tons of excellent features is more readily available at lower prices these days than you might think. Motorola didn’t exactly spearhead this movement, but it’s certainly contributing in a big way.
Enter the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024. A smartphone that puts the fun back into phones for a price that you won’t feel guilty about paying. But how does the Moto G Stylus 5G this year stack up compared to other devices in the same price range? Is it worth your $399? Let’s dive into this review and find out.
Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 Review: Hardware & Design
Motorola has been around for decades building phones. Longer than some of today’s most popular brands. So you can bet it knows a thing or two about designing a good-looking phone, not to mention building one that feels like a quality product. The Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 is exactly those things. A stylish phone that feels very well-built. My last experience with a Moto G was several years ago. It wasn’t my phone either, rather, it was the phone I bought for my parents when they were ready for upgrades.
My mom’s second Android phone, and my dad’s first smartphone. While the phone was affordable and offered plenty of features, the one thing that sticks in my mind about it was how many issues both my parents had with it. It just wasn’t a very good phone. The fingerprint sensors were finicky and didn’t work nearly half the time, and there were numerous other problems that they were always calling me about in hopes I could fix the issue. The Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 is so far removed from that experience that it’s almost like it doesn’t come from the same brand.
When I first picked up the Moto G Stylus 5G, it felt like I was holding something more premium than what the price tag is demanding for this device. The frame is a fingerprint magnet, but it looks nice. And the vegan leather back feels so good to the touch. Plus it actually looks really good. Now it’s not real leather so unfortunately it won’t develop that nice patina that happens as natural leather gets older and more worn. That’s ok though. Because the back of this phone still looks great. I ended up with the Caramel Latte color but the Scarlet Wave also looks very nice.
The one thing I don’t love about the design is the camera bump. It’s not super tall, but the narrowness of it means the phone doesn’t lay completely flat face up. So if I tap the display to wake it up and see notifications or the time, it rocks a little. And that will never not annoy me. It’s a preference thing. Aside from that, Motorola gave this phone a pretty solid design. It’s got an upgraded stylus for one.
But also a 3.5mm audio jack for wired headphones, which is a rare sight these days. It also has a USB-C port on the bottom, speakers on the bottom (the phone also has dual stereo speakers), buttons on the side, and a mic on top.
The buttons for power and volume also feel solid and they’re easy to press without being too easy if that makes sense. Overall, the hardware is good and the design is even better. It’s a phone that doesn’t look cheap, even though the price would have believe it is.
Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 Review: Display
These days you’re almost bound to get a suitable display on any phone that costs around $400 or more. That’s not to say there aren’t some stinkers out there in this price range. However, I was surprised at how good the display looks here. Not to mention the upgrades Motorola gave it to make the phone better than last year’s. For starters, this is a 6.7-inch 1080p display compared to the previous model’s 6.6-inch. It’s big and bright and lends itself well to any entertainment you want out of it.
It also comes with a 120Hz refresh rate which is excellent for anything. If you’re scrolling around menus or browsing the web or using apps, everything is nice and fluid. And of course, the main reason I like it is because the 120Hz means good things for gaming. Not all games will support 120 frames per second. But plenty of them do and you’ll be glad you have that support here. It’s just wild to see in a phone that costs $399 when some phones that cost several hundred more don’t go above 60Hz or 90Hz.
In terms of brightness, the display could be a bit better. It’s not bad but I did notice that it had a little more of an issue with glare out in the bright sunlight than devices like the Pixel 8 or ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition. Now that might not be a problem for you if you aren’t using your phone out in the Summer sun a whole bunch. But if you’re an outdoorsy person you will notice. Luckily, you can still see the display pretty well and I imagine when it gets even brighter in a month or two during the day, it’ll still do just fine.
When it comes to colors, there’s absolutely no complaints from me. The colors pop off the display and they’re nice and vibrant with some saturation. If you don’t like this there is an option in the display settings menu to change it so the colors look more natural. I feel like this takes away from how good the display looks when it’s bright outside though. And you definitely want your colors to be a little more saturated for games.
Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 Review: Performance
Ok so the phone looks good, it’s built well, and it has a decent display, but how does it perform? Honestly, pretty good. I never really noticed any hitching or jitters when using the device. it also felt perfectly fine when playing games like Genshin Impact or Wuthering Waves (another anime-style action RPG with high-fidelity graphics and fast gameplay).
I was surprised at how good games felt here given the phone is running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Mobile Platform. It’s not exactly a flagship CPU. But it’s certainly no slouch either. And the upgrade from 6GB of RAM to 8GB doesn’t hurt. I do think it is worth considering though that for $499, the OnePlus 12R offers better gaming performance thanks to the use of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 inside it, while also having more RAM. So if gaming is one of the main things you’ll be doing on your phone, you’ll want to weigh if it’s worth paying $100 more for something like that.
As I said though, gaming felt good here. By no means was it industry-leading. But I think there’s a real incentive to save that $100 and go for something like this phone instead when games didn’t feel sluggish. That being said, I didn’t try every game I usually play. But if I can run around in Genshin Impact for over an hour with the graphics settings maxed, and not have any noticeable issues, there’s probably not much you’d have problems playing. In short, the performance is pretty decent, although you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the benchmarks.
The Benchmarks
Like we’ve been doing in all our phone reviews for the past few months, we ran a series of benchmark tests on the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024. This includes 3D Mark, Geekbench 6, our own test we created called the CapCut test, and a series of thermal tests.
The results for some were less impressive than others. So on paper, it doesn’t look as good as using the phone actually feels. Let’s start with the CapCut test. For this, we take a 60-second video and upload it to CapCut. We then export it at 1080p at 30 frames per second and see how long it takes to export. The Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 did fine here, though it was noticeably slower than the more high-end devices. In the end, though, it was able to export the video in 23.79 seconds. Which is fine.
The 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress test was a different story. With a best loop score of 611 and a lowest loop score of 604, it doesn’t look great. The silver lining is that it had a stability of 98.8% which is pretty good. As for Geekbench 6, we ran both the CPU and GPU tests. The CPU test resulted in a single-core score of 935 and a multi-core score of 2746. While the GPU test ended up with a GPU OpenCL score of 1341. Nothing to write home about but not terrible considering the price and the chipset. And again, real-world usage still delivered decent performance anyway.
The Thermals
You might not think about the thermals of your phone but it is a pretty important factor. When using things like video recording or watching long pieces of video content at high brightness, the phone can warm up quite a bit. This is especially true when playing more demanding games. I’m happy to say that the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 did pretty well here. And it should, considering the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 isn’t a powerhouse CPU and GPU combo so it’s not exactly pumping out immense heat.
For the thermals tests, we do a few different things. We play Genshin Impact for around an hour or so with the display at max brightness and the graphics settings maxed out. We also run the phone through the 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress test and measure the thermal temperature directly after the test is over. Lastly, we set up a video recording on the phone with video at 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, and then check the temperature after it records for 5 minutes, and again at 10 minutes.
For the Genshin test, the phone reached 108.6 degrees Fahrenheit which is around what I was expecting. The phone didn’t feel that warm though so this was a good sign. For the 3D Mark test, it got to 99.1 degrees, and the camera test ended up at 100.4 and 102.7. So all-in-all, the thermals are good. You won’t have to worry about the phone heating up and being uncomfortable to hold.
Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 Review: Battery Life & Charging
I’ve been spoiled on battery life for the past few years because I’m used to using ASUS’ ROG Phones which have massive batteries and come with 65W chargers. So the batteries last a really long time and they charge up quickly. The Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 comes with a pretty decent-sized battery at 5000mAh, and it does appear to last a fairly long time. I typically unplug my phone around 7AM or 8AM in the morning. It then stays unplugged till about 11PM or 12AM when I go to bed.
This is how I used the Moto G Stylus 5G in my time with it and battery life was decent but not great. After about 4 hours and 25 minutes, I was typically just under 50%. I would end the day with about 40% battery life from about 6 hours of screen-on time. It’s not the best. However, it was more than suitable for my usual daily needs. Where it gets a little concerning is with the charging speeds. Motorola packages this phone with a 30W TurboCharger. Turbo is in the name. Yet it felt anything but turbo in my opinion.
It took just over an hour and a half to charge up this device using the charger that came in the box. There are certainly slower-charging phones. But one hour and thirty minutes felt slow. Motorola says you can get a day’s worth of power in just 30 minutes. And I found that to be pretty accurate. The battery would charge to around 50% in that time. But it would slow way down after that. Taking exceedingly long to reach 100% from a little over halfway.
Benchmarks
Just like with the regular benchmarks, we run a set of tests for the battery life and charging. We did this for the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 using the same methods we do for every other phone. For the battery life rundown, we charge the phone to 100% overnight. Then we play the same 24-hour YouTube video and let it run til the battery reaches 1% so we can see how long it lasts. For this test, the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 lasted for 19 hours, 29 minutes, and 53 seconds.
For the charging test, we simply plug it back in and see how long it takes to reach 100%. As I said earlier, it took a while for this phone. Taking a total of 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 17 seconds to charge completely. Not great. But in the grand scheme of things, it will depend on how you use the device. In my opinion, though, you’ll want the device to charge faster. So this is something to consider if you use your phone heavily throughout the day.
Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 Review: Software
The software experience can be just as important as any other factor on a phone. And I think this is where Motorola is really shining. At least with this device. There were a lot of nifty little touches that made the user experience a joy and although some might call this bloatware, I found Motorola’s little additives to be fun and useful.
Now you’re not getting stock Android 14 here, but that’s honestly fine. Because it’s “mostly” stock Android 14 with a few UI tweaks. What I think users are really going to like is all the little customization options. For instance, you can personalize things like the font, custom colors, the layout and more. These are all things that you can do with a third-party launcher app. But Motorola baked it right into the phone. You can also enhance the experience with more advanced gestures.
One that I particularly liked using was flipping the phone to put it into Do Not Disturb mode. Normally with DND, you have to toggle it on and off. But with this gesture, you simply flip the phone and it enables DND right away. You still get alarms and such, but phone calls, messages, and any other notifications are all blocked. The magic is that you only have to flip the phone back over. Then DND turns back off. You don’t have to press a single button for the whole thing. Aside from enabling this gesture of course.
There’s also a really cool game bar you can enable for while you’re in games. It’s not as advanced as what ASUS has. Then again this isn’t a gaming phone. What Motorola does give you though are some nifty tools. Like a go live button, a screenshot option, and more all from a collapsible game bar panel. Then of course there’s Moto Notes and everything you can do with the stylus. I didn’t use this much for notes. I did use it for marking up pictures of strategy game boards though. This came in handy when I needed to confer with a teammate about what our plan should be.
Overall, the software experience is great on this device and it was one of my favorite things about it.
Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 Review: Camera
Now we come to the final part of our review – the camera. For a lot of people, the camera is going to be the most-used function. The best camera is the one you have on you, and these days, that’s probably your smartphone. So if you like taking pictures, you want your phone’s camera to be good.
Motorola packs in a 50MP main camera sensor on the back with a 13MP ultrawide lens with macro functions and more. Then there’s a front camera for selfies that’s been upgraded from last year’s offering. The camera experience was pretty good and I’d say most photos came out looking nice. I wouldn’t put it on par with the likes of the Pixel 8 or Samsung’s Galaxy S flagships. However, for $399, you’re getting a pretty decent setup.
In a lot of the images I took, there was a high amount of detail and decent color. Some photos though did appear oversaturated. This was minimal though so I think overall, the color you get from the photos on this phone is nothing to worry about. I also noticed that the phone could be a little heavy-handed with the HDR in some shots. I feel like if the lighting is poor or the area is dimly lit, then the camera tries to compensate for this, and in some instances it overcorrects.
The good thing is you can tune things a bit with the camera settings to find a good balance. I don’t think it will end up making a massive difference but it should be enough to improve the images a bit. What I do love is that there are loads of camera features. Slow Motion, Portrait, Pro mode, Spot Color, and even Time Lapse.
There’s a lot for users to play around with. It might feel daunting at first, but trust me you get used to it quickly the more photos you take. The takeaway here should be that you’re getting a pretty decent camera for the price.
Should you buy the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024?
There are an awful lot of options for affordable smartphones out there. But I think Motorola has done a really good job here at separating itself apart from the competition in most cases. For $399 the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 is a very good setup. That being said, there are other really good options that are close to its price point. The Pixel 8a is $499. The OnePlus 12R is $499, and both of these are excellent. If you’re ok with spending $399, then you might be ok with spending $499.
If that’s the case, then the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 could be a hard sell. However, the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 has a lot going for it, and I think this review shows that. It’s fun to use, has some great features, and it looks really good. Those are all great reasons to buy this phone. It also comes universally unlocked so it should work on essentially any carrier in the US.
While it has a few faults I’d like to see improved, I think overall it’s a solid choice in the $399 price range.
You should buy the Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 if:
You want a good phone that won’t cost a lot of money
Due to the growing popularity of Apple devices, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting iOS and macOS with malware.
The App Store is no longer secure, and iCloud is a new target, as Apple’s allowance of third-party app stores in Europe is expected to be exploited.
Existing Android malware is being modified to target iOS, as seen with GoldPickaxe, a Trojan that steals facial recognition data.
As hackers find new ways to exploit Apple devices, it is crucial to understand iOS malware analysis.
App managers Sileo and Zebra
Checkm8, a bootrom vulnerability found in 2019, is a hardware flaw that cannot be patched with software updates and allows attackers to bypass iOS security measures and compromise devices.
Analyze any MaliciousURL, Files & Emails & Configuration With ANY RUN : Start your Analysis
While Apple has implemented mitigation strategies for newer chips, older devices remain susceptible.
Malicious actors are exploiting checkm8 to brute-force passcodes.
Since Apple devices share an ID, a compromised device can put other devices linked to the same ID at risk, which highlights the importance of updating to secure devices and using strong security practices across all Apple products.
Request for permission to execute an application for jailbreaking
Jailbreaking an iPhone for forensic analysis allows access to app data beyond what standard backups provide, which leverages vulnerabilities in the device’s bootrom to achieve a “jailbroken” state.
The Checkm8 vulnerability is usable on iPhone X models running iOS 16 for full app analysis, where a tool called Palera1n can be used on MacOS to jailbreak the device, but for forensics, a more specialized agent is recommended to minimize modifications made to the device.
Settings menu to permit to running of the application
The research by Group-IB instructs on jailbreaking an iOS device with an A11 processor running iOS 16 using a rootless method with a palera1n-macos-universal tool, where the device must be completely reset and not have a passcode set before proceeding.
After establishing a trusted connection between the device and a computer, the tool is used to jailbreak the device, and upon successful jailbreak, a package manager like Sileo is installed.
Output of the command bagbak -l
Frida is then installed on a separate Linux-based machine and used to connect to the jailbroken device.
Finally, the tool bagbak is used to decrypt and extract a desired iOS application (.ipa file) from the device for further analysis.
Hardware vulnerabilities like Checkm8 exploit the boot ROM, making them persistent and difficult to patch, while new exploits emerge to target these vulnerabilities, leaving older devices at risk.
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The OPPO Find X8 Ultra is coming to global markets with an improve periscope camera
The company said that the next Find X flagship will go global. That clearly points to the most powerful OPPO Find X smartphone, and that will most likely be the OPPO Find X8 Ultra.
The OPPO Find X7 Ultra is an outstanding phone, and it’s a shame it didn’t get a chance to shine in markets outside OPPO’s homeland. OPPO is looking to set things straight with the OPPO Find X8 Ultra, though.
That being said, a tipster has just informed us that the phone will come with an improved periscope telephoto camera. The OPPO Find X7 Ultra already arguably has the most complete camera setup on the back. OPPO went all out.
The exact camera details were not shared, but the tipster did hype up its performance
Well, its successor is looking to improve things even further. He did not share the exact sensor that OPPO will use, nor the details around it. He did say that the performance will humble even the Vivo X100 Ultra’s periscope telephoto performance.
The OPPO Find X7 Ultra utilizes the Sony IMX858 sensor, which is a 50-megapixel camera. That camera is able to provide users with 6x optical zoom, which is also backed by a second IMX858 sensor for the regular telephoto camera (3x optical zoom). It remains to be seen what will OPPO do next.
The Find X7 Ultra has a quad-camera setup on the back, four 50MP cameras
The OPPO Find X7 Ultra has a quad-camera setup on the back, led by the Sony LYT-900 sensor for the main camera. That is arguably the best mobile camera sensor out there at the moment.
The OPPO Find X7 Ultra’s camera prowess is also backed by Hasselblad. The company had input in a number of ways, and it definitely did a great job of tuning the colors of the end product (photos).
That phone launched in January this year, but its successor could come even sooner, in December. We’ll have to wait and see.
Remember back when Spotify ventured into the hardware market? Sorry to make you relive that trauma, but the Spotify Car Thing was an interesting device. Well, as you may know, Spotify is discontinuing it. According to a new report, the Car Thing is actually open-source, but it’s ultimately a pretty useless device.
Spotify discontinued this device a while back after very few people bought it. Those who used it thought that they would be able to keep using it for a while. However, they got the news that the company is actually deactivating these devices, making them Spotify-branded paperweights. That’s a bummer, as it’s only a few years old at this point.
The Spotify Car Thing is open-source
Devices are like eggs, you GOTTA crack into them! There are tinkerers that unlock all of the secrets hidden within the devices we use. How else did we find out that the Rabbit R1 is basically an Android app? In this case, the tinkerer is Josh Henderickson.
He was able to look under the Car Thing’s hood and discover some interesting information about it. For starters, the device’s software is actually running on an open-source Linux kernel. The source code for its U-boot is freely available on GitHub. The device isn’t running on the most complicated software, but that should have been expected. The Car Thing didn’t need to be more than a bloated web browser that navigates to spotify.com.
Along with that information, Henderickson was able to see the chip powering the whole show. It’s an Amlogic chip. Amlogic is a fabless chipmaker based in Santa Clara, California. He found out that the chip can run custom code.
With that information, you should expect to see Twitter posts of someone running Windows 11 on it, right? Wrong. It turns out that, while this device’s software points to it being able to run different systems, the Amlogic chip is extremely underpowered. Spotify didn’t exactly shell out for a high-powered Qualcomm chip for this device because of the Car Thing’s limited purpose.
So, it looks like there’s no afterlife for this device. It’s unfortunate because it was a promising gadget. It was a nice way to stream audio while driving safely.
