According to a recent poll by the US Chamber of Commerce, 60% of small businesses are concerned about cybersecurity threats, and 58% are concerned about a supply chain breakdown.
Not surprisingly, small businesses in the professional services sector feel significantly more concerned about cybersecurity threats than those in manufacturing or services, but the poll explains that they also feel more prepared to handle them.
“The small businesses most concerned about cybersecurity threats include businesses with 20-500 employees (74%) and businesses in the professional services industry (71%). On the other hand, small businesses that are least likely to say they are prepared for cyber threats include businesses in the manufacturing sector (61%), female-owned businesses (68%), and businesses in average health (64%).”
Services businesses are right to be concerned. The most serious cyberthreat faced by organizations is ransomware, and on any given month, in almost any country, the services sector is the one hardest hit by ransomware.
However, while the services sector suffers more attacks than manufacturing, the difference has been steadily narrowing, so that it is almost insignificant
Known ransomware attacks by industry sector, February 2024
Small businesses are not sitting on their hands though. 49% say they have trained staff on cybersecurity measures in the past year, 23% think they are “very prepared” to handle cyberthreats, and 50% feel “somewhat prepared.”
It’s no surprise that small businesses are concerned—they have limited resources, and yet they need to be ready to fight off the same sophisticated criminal gangs as the biggest enterprises.
And, as you can read in our 2024 State of Malware report, cybercriminals continue to evolve their tactics. They like to use social engineering, and vulnerabilities in internet-connected devices and services, rather than old-fashioned malware to infiltrate systems and networks. And once they’ve broken in to a company network, they are increasingly turning to legitimate tools instead of malware to carry out their attacks, a tactic known as living-off-the-land (LOTL)
This requires a different approach and security solutions capable of dealing with these threats.
We don’t just report on threats—we block and remove them.
ThreatDown can help small business to be secure. Choose the ThreatDown bundle that’s right for your organization.
Google allows game emulators to be listed on its Play Store, but Apple didn’t until recently. Apple’s iOS ecosystem is extremely restrictive, especially to third-party apps, so the existence of game emulators in the App Store was something unthinkable until the European Union decided to shake things up a bit.Over the weekend, Apple revealed that game emulators can be listed on its App Store not only in the EU, but also in all other parts of the world. First spotted by The Verge, the change also extends to the downloadable games offered by these emulators, which must comply with “all applicable laws.”
Software offered in apps under this rule must: follow all privacy guidelines, including but not limited to the rules set forth in Guideline 5.1 concerning collection, use, and sharing of data, and sensitive data (such as health and personal data from kids); include a method for filtering objectionable material, a mechanism to report content and timely responses to concerns, and the ability to block abusive users; and use in-app purchase in order to offer digital goods or services to end users.
But that’s not everything that Apple decided to change about its apps store. The Cupertino-based company now says that mini-games and mini-apps within big apps like WeChat must use HTML5, so they can’t be native apps and games.
And finally, in a response to the European Commission, Apple promised to allow music streaming apps in the EU to include in-app links that redirect to outside purchases and pricing information.
Google has a ton of first-party apps, and we’re constantly getting reports of the company switching and changing their UIs. Well, this is continuing with the Google app. According to a new report, Google may be testing a bottom bar in the Google app.
The Google app is the company’s gateway to Google Search on Android phones. It’s more than a bloated search bar. Right now, the company is actually testing a Gemini toggle in the Google app. When you open the app and switch to Gemini mode, you’ll have access to Gemini’s assistant capabilities. You will be able to summon it with a voice command and ask it to perform different tasks within your phone. At this point, Google is looking to make it a proper alternative to Google Assistant.
Google is testing a bottom bar for the Google app
When opening the Google app, we’re used to seeing the search bar up top with our recent searches below. When tapping on the Google icon, we open the Discover page, and it still shows the search bar rather close to the top.
However, according to a new report, the company may be working on bringing the search bar even lower. Looking at the screenshot below, it appears that Google wants to make the search bar a part of the bottom bar. We see the search bar within the same UI element as the tabs on the bottom. It will hover just above the Discover, Search, and Saved tabs.
As smartphones get bigger and taller, we start to appreciate companies doing this more. We can’t deny that it’s pretty tough reaching the top of our nearly 7-inch phones. At this point, phones have the ability to summon the notification shade with simple gestures, shrink the entire display, and bring half of the screen down to accommodate larger displays.
So, it’s clear that companies acknowledge that larger phones can be a bit of a hassle. If you’re a person who uses the Google Search app a lot, and you don’t want to constantly stretch your finger to the top of your phone, then you will love this change.
There’s another change
This change has pretty much been confirmed by Google, as it shows up and screenshots on the Play Store listing for the Google app. In the screenshot above, we see the pill-shaped element surrounding the selected tabs. So, the magnifying glass for the Search tab is inside of a pill-shaped enclosure. This will bring the Google app even more in line with the Material You design language.
It’s a nice little addition to the app. Also, it will help create a more consistent look throughout all of Google’s apps. Even though Material You was introduced back in 2021, the company is still working and tweaking the design of all of its apps to make a fully consistent design language.
At this point, it’s clear that Google is only testing these changes. So, there’s no telling if both of them are going to come to the Google app. We will have to wait for Google to officially confirm this to be sure.
There’s no shortage of AI image generators on the market, and the number seems to be going up every day. However, there exists a core group of the best and most versatile image generators on the web like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Copilot Image Creator, and more. MidJourney is one of them. This image generator has been on the market for quite some time. If you’re curious about what MidJourney is and why you should use it, here’s a guide to explain all of the ins and outs.
We’ll go over any questions that you may have about this image generator. For all you know, this could be your new favorite image generator. One thing to note is that this article will be updated with new information as it comes out, so you’ll want to check back every now and then for any updates. So, without further ado, let’s dive right in.
What is MidJourney?
MidJourney, just like other AI image generators, can create images based on text prompts. So, all you have to do is type a description of what image you want to be created. It can be brief like “cat in space”. However, you could also be long-winded like “cat with gray fur floating in space with planets, comets, and stars in the background, blue aesthetic”. MidJourney will do its best to create an image matching the exact description you gave.
Do I need an account?
Yes. In order to create an account with MidJourney, you will need a Discord account. You will use your Discord account to sign into your MidJourney account. For the time being, there doesn’t seem to be any other way to log in to the platform.
So, there’s no traditional method of signing up such as using an email and password or through another account (Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc.).
Does MidJourney cost money?
Yes, it does. When you make your account, you will have 25 free prompts. These prompts do not replenish after a period of time. If you want access to more prompts, then you will need a subscription.
In order to get a subscription, you will need to go to the bottom left of the homepage of the MidJourney website and click on your profile button. It will show your email address. In the pop-up menu, you will see the Manage Subscription option. There, you’ll see the option for subscription tiers to try out. Right now, there are four subscription tiers for you to choose from.
The first option is the Basic plan, and it costs $10/month ($96/year). It will give you 200 prompts every month. You’ll also gain general commercial rights to use the images you create, access to the member gallery, optional credit top-ups, and three concurrent fast jobs (Fast jobs will be explained later in the article).
Next, the Standard plan costs $30/month ($288/year). This plan gives you unlimited image generations in Relax mode. However, you also get access to 15 hours of Fast Mode generations (Relax Mode and Fast Mode will be explained later in the article). You will get these perks along with all of the perks in the basic plan.
The next plan is the Pro plan. This one costs $60/month ($576/year). Along with all of the aforementioned perks, you get 30 hours of Fast Mode generations and 12 concurrent fast jobs. Also, you get Stealth Mode (explained later in the article).
Last but not least, we have the Mega plan. This plan costs $96/month ($1,152/year). Alongside the aforementioned perks, you get 60 hours of Fast Mode generations.
Concurrent fast jobs, Fast Mode, Relax Mode, Turbo Mode, and Stealth Mode
Some of the perks mentioned above require a little bit of explanation.
Fast Mode
MidJourney doesn’t generate one image at a time, but it generates four. Each time you generate a group of four images, it’s referred to as a “Job”.
MidJourney, just like most other AI companies, uses an army of powerful GPUs to generate the jobs. It takes time for these GPUs to generate them. Typically, it takes the GPUs about one minute to fully generate a job. Since MidJourney has a ton of users, there is usually a long queue of people waiting to have them generated.
In Fast Mode, your prompt is pushed past the queue of waiting users and generated as soon as possible. Depending on the subscription tier you have, you will get a certain number of hours each month that you can use in Fast Mode. Each time you generate a job, it eats away at that monthly allowance.
For example, if you have the Standard plan, you have 15 hours of fast generation time each month. So, each job you do in Fast Mode will eat away from that 15-hour allowance. Since each job takes about one minute, that equates to approximately 900 jobs each month. However, your results will vary.
Once you sign up for your subscription tier, you will automatically be put into Fast Mode. So, all of your jobs will be generated as soon as possible.
Relax Mode
People on the free trial and people on the Standard, Pro, and Mega subscription tiers will have access to Relax Mode. Fast Mode gives you priority access to GPUs so that your prompt will start generating right away. However, Relax Mode will put you in a queue waiting to have your prompt generated. You’re basically put on a waitlist until GPUs become available to generate your prompt. According to the company, if you’re in Relax Mode, your job could take up to 10 minutes to generate.
If you have a basic plan, you will only have access to Fast Mode. Once you have used all of your Fast-Mode jobs, you will not be able to generate any more images until the next month. However, with the other subscription tiers, after you’ve used all of your Fast Mode generations, you will be knocked back to Relax Mode. That may be a bummer, but you will be able to generate unlimited images in this mode.
Your place in the queue will depend on how often you use Relax Mode. If you’ve only generated a few jobs in Relax Mode, you will be further ahead in the queue compared to a person who’s generated hundreds of images. It’s a way of giving newcomers better access to the service.
Concurrent fast jobs
Certain subscription tiers will give you access to a certain number of concurrent fast jobs. Depending on your subscription tier, you’ll only be able to generate a certain number of fast jobs at the same time. Going back to the Standard plan, you can only have up to three fast jobs generating at the same time.
Turbo Mode
Turbo Mode is an even faster version of Fast Mode. Using Turbo Mode, your job will be using an experimental GPU pool. This will create the generations about four times faster than the generations created in Fast Mode. However, this will double how fast you use your Fast Mode time allowance. So, every minute that passes will eat away two minutes of your monthly allowance.
Stealth Mode
If you want to generate images, but you don’t want other people to see them, you can use Stealth Mode. However, there is a big caveat. When using stealth mode, this will only prevent people from seeing your artwork on MidJourney.com. However, people will still be able to see your work when you generate images on public channels.
Also, images that you generate in stealth mode will still be subject to MidJourney’s terms of service. This means MidJourney could still block prompts that could generate inappropriate or illegal content.
Commands
When you are generating images, you will input certain commands. Three of the commands you can use will dictate the speed of the generation. One of the commands is the “Fast” command. Putting in the fast command will put you into Fast Mode. The same goes for Relax Mode and Turbo Mode.
Can I buy more hours of Fast Mode?
Yes. If you want to purchase additional Fast Mode time, you can do so from your account page. It costs $4/hour.
How do I access MidJourney?
There are two ways to access MidJourney. Firstly, there is the MidJourney website. Using the website, you can access your account. You will mostly go to the website to see all of the images you generated and manage your account. Also, on the homepage, you will see a grid of hundreds of examples of creations that other people have made.
However, for the time being, you cannot generate images using the website. You will see a text box at the top of the website where you will be able to type prompts. But, that functionality is unavailable for now.
How do you generate images? Well, this is where the second method comes in. You can access MidJourney through the MidJourney Discord. When you join the Discord, you’ll be able to join one of the many channels dedicated to generating images.
How do I use MidJourney?
Using this image generator is pretty simple. Firstly, go to any of the newbie channels or the general Image Gen channel on the MidJourney Discord. This is where your images will be generated. When you enter one of the channels, you will most likely see a long feed of images from other people that have been generated. Also, you are likely to see images being generated in real-time.
In order to start generating images, go to a channel and click on the text field. Then, you’re going to input your command. First, type “/” into the text box. When you do that, you will see a list of the commands that you can input appear. Either type the word “imagine” into the text field or click on the option in the drop-down menu.
After that, all you have to do is describe the images you want to be created. Once you do that, you will either be put to the back of the queue (if you’re in Relax Mode) or moved to the front of the queue (if you are in Fast Mode). Upon getting a subscription, you’ll automatically be put into Fast Mode.
If you want to manually enter Relax Mode or Turbo Mode, it’s easy to do so. After you type the “/” into the text field, type which mode you want to be in. For Relax Mode, type “relax”, for Turbo Mode, type “turbo”, and for Fast Mode, type “fast”. After that, you can go ahead and type “/imagine” and start generating your image
Image generation
When you start generating a job, you will see a 2×2 grid of blurry images appear in the chat feed. This is your job being generated. Over the course of about a minute, you will see it slowly clarify.
When the job is completely generated, you will see a new chat appear at the bottom of the chat feed. This chat will hold the four versions of the prompt you generated along with the text of the prompt that you used.
If you want to view your generated images in better detail, you can simply click on them. Since this is Discord, it’s extremely easy to download your images.
Managing images after they’ve been generated
Your first time seeing the images will probably be a bit confusing. Under your images, you will see nine blocks. Four of them will have the letter “U” followed by a number. Four of them will have the letter “V” followed by a number. Lastly, the ninth one has a circular arrow icon. These are buttons that you can push to further affect your generated images.
Each one of the buttons corresponds to one of the pictures. So, the first button you see has “U1”, and this one refers to the first image generated. The same thing goes for “V1”.
The “U” stands for Upscale, the “V” stands for Variations, and the circular arrow icon stands for Regenerate. The regenerate button will completely regenerate the prompt and give you four new images. If you tap on one of the upscale buttons, MidJourney will then make a 4K upscaled version of the image you selected.
The variations button will take the image and create four new variations on that one. So, if you really like the first image generated, you can either upscale it to download a higher-quality version of it or create different variations of that image.
Upscaled image
After you’ve upscaled an image, you will see additional buttons appear below it. This may be a bit overwhelming because there are 14 buttons.
The first two buttons are the upscale buttons called Upscale (Subtle) and Upscale (Creative).
Upscale (Subtle) will double the resolution of the image that you generated. This version of the image is much better for sharing. The upscaled image will be almost an exact copy of the original. Any differences would be negligible.
Upscale (Creative) will also double the resolution of your image. However, the outcome will be subtly different. MidJourney will make slight changes to the image.
Vary images
The next two buttons are the Vary buttons. These will make variations of the image.
The first one is called Vary (Subtle). This one will create four different variations of the image with only subtle differences from the original. There will be minute changes to the image while retaining the overall structure.
Next, the Vary (Strong) button will create four variations of the original image. However, using this option will change up the images even more.
Suppose you want a variation of the image, but you only want one section of it to be edited. Well, this is where the Vary (Regional) option comes in. Using this function, you’ll be able to select a section of the image that you want to be varied. Then, it will regenerate the image leaving everything the same except for what’s inside of the region.
Zoom/move images
Under those buttons, you have the Zoom-out buttons. These are pretty self-explanatory. These options will zoom out from your image at the specified magnification and generate the content around the original image.
Under the zoom buttons, you will see a row of arrow buttons. These buttons will nudge the image in the specified Direction. Just like with the zoom-out buttons, MidJourney will generate anything outside of the border of the original image.
Finally, under the arrow buttons, you will see two more buttons. These won’t affect your image. The heart button will signal to MidJourney that you like the generation. That will help the company improve the model. The final button will open that image on the MidJourney website.
How can I use the images I generate?
This is a pretty nuanced topic. If you have an active subscription, then your images are subject to Commercial Use. This means that you own your work, and you can use it however. If you want to use it as the banner for your business or sell it, you can. You own the rights to your work.
However, this is only if you have a subscription. If you are on the free trial, then your work does not fall under Commercial Use. Also, if you are a company that makes more than $1 million/year in revenue, you will need either a Pro or Mega plan to own your work.
Can I edit other people’s work?
Yes. you’ve probably noticed that the same buttons show up for other people’s work along with yours. Well, if you want, you can click on those buttons and manipulate other people’s work. You can upscale, vary, zoom, nudge, and download other people’s generated images.
So, if someone generates an image that you like, and you want to generate your own take on it, you have the right to do so. Just use the same commands that you would use for your own image.
However
While you can edit and download other people’s work, the original work still belongs to the original generator. So, you don’t technically have the right to use or post the image without their consent.
Adversaries use stolen credentials or exploit software vulnerabilities to gain access for ransomware attacks, which impacts the initial infection method.
The study surveyed IT professionals in small and mid-sized businesses hit by ransomware within the last year.
They found that exploited vulnerabilities often lead to more severe attacks with higher costs, while compromised credentials might result in less damaging infections. They also identified the industries most impacted by these different entry points.
Attacks using ransomware that take advantage of unpatched vulnerabilities are more damaging than attacks that use stolen credentials.
Organizations hit by these attacks experienced higher rates of compromised backups, encrypted data, and ransom payments, which incurred significantly higher recovery costs and longer recovery times.
While the reasons are not fully understood, it suggests attackers exploiting vulnerabilities may be more skilled, leading to a more comprehensive compromise by highlighting the importance of patching software to mitigate ransomware risks.
Ransomware Attacks Via Unpatched Vulnerabilities
Nearly a third of ransomware attacks exploit unpatched vulnerabilities, with the percentage varying by industry, while energy, oil, and gas are hit hardest (49% of attacks), likely due to reliance on older, more vulnerable technologies with limited patching options.
Percentage of ransomware attacks that started with exploited vulnerability
Even when patches exist, over half (55%) of recent attacks involved known vulnerabilities like ProxyShell and Log4Shell, in which the risk of attacks also increases with organizational size as complex IT environments with a larger attack surface become harder to manage and patch effectively.
An analysis by Sophos shows that ransomware attacks exploiting vulnerabilities are more damaging than those using stolen credentials.
The vulnerability exploit method resulted in worse outcomes in all three aspects – compromising backups, encrypting data, and receiving ransom payments.
Attackers are just as likely to target backups in both methods but succeed more often (75% vs. 54%) when exploiting vulnerabilities, suggesting either higher attacker skill or weaker backup protection.
Data encryption also rises significantly (67% vs. 43%) with vulnerability exploits, possibly due to attacker skill or overall weaker defenses, where organizations with encrypted data are more likely to pay the ransom (71% vs. 45%) when backups are compromised, highlighting the pressure to recover critical data.
It has been found that ransomware attacks exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities are significantly more expensive and disruptive than those using stolen credentials.
While ransom amounts were similar, organizations were much less likely to have to pay the full ransom themselves when compromised credentials were the entry point.
Full recovery took significantly longer (over a month for 45% of victims) and cost four times more ($3 million vs. $750K) when vulnerabilities were exploited, likely because patching vulnerabilities and restoring damaged systems is more complex than resetting compromised credentials.
Meta is trying to please EU’s regulatory authorities and announced that will finally start labeling AI content on some of its social media platforms. The company confirmed it will make changes to the way it handles manipulated media based on feedback from the Oversight Board and its policy review process with public opinion surveys.The changes will be implemented on Facebook, Instagram and Threads and involve applying “Made with AI” labels on AI-generated video, audio and images that are detected as such by Meta’s tools.
Currently, Meta adds “Imagined with AI” to photorealistic images created using its AI feature. However, the new labels will cover a broader range of content in addition to the manipulated content that the Oversight Board recommends labeling.
If we determine that digitally-created or altered images, video or audio create a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of importance, we may add a more prominent label so people have more information and context.
According to Meta, users should start seeing labeled AI-generated content in May 2024. Also, the social network company announced that it will stop removing content solely on the basis of its manipulated video policy in July.
Roku, the popular streaming platform, is considering a novel approach to monetize your TV’s HDMI with Ad overlays. The company is exploring the possibility of displaying ads over content received from your HDMI signals.
Roku will overlay ads when you pause video playback on HDMI devices
Several smart TV services have a very low-profit margin when sold with the hope of income generating through advertisements. There is however a problem when external HDMI devices connect to televisions. Since they can bypass the built-in operating system entirely, they break Roku’s business model.
Roku’s proposal would involve monitoring video and audio feeds for pauses in the HDMI input stream so that commercials can be placed accordingly. The company cannot communicate directly with devices attached via HDMI. Nonetheless, they may utilize metadata and content detection in customizing adverts for specific content as implied by patent texts.
However, it remains speculative whether or not such ideas will interrupt traditional television-watching experiences with commercial breaks. Per 9to5Google, it is just a patent on possible technology but there is no evidence that Roku possesses the practical means to enact it.
Sticky ads over HDMI are possible since Roku has tried something similar before
The concept of smart TVs potentially being able to monitor our every move is indeed worrying, and it also raises concerns about sticky advertisements. Furthermore, even existing Roku TVs have some suggestions like “more ways to watch” offering over HDMI inputs, which means HDMI ads are more than possible.
However, even with all the speculations surrounding the unveiling of this new advertisement approach; there is no evidence that Roku has developed this feature yet. This application (sic) could eventually materialize into something more tangible especially if history is any indication.
It may be a fresh marketing technique in the form of an abstract presentation of top-layer ad compositions using HMDI integration (sic). With changes in how streaming takes place around us, these are vital issues for companies such as Roku who care about the shift towards ad-supported models.
The Russian language fan club forum for the cybersecurity giant Kaspersky has experienced a data breach, during which a hacker group known as RGB leaked the personal data of 56,798 users online.
The fan club forum, forum.kasperskyclub.ru, boasts over 62,364 posts, making it a highly active platform where users can discuss Kaspersky Labs and its products, share tutorials, and seek troubleshooting assistance.
However, despite its unofficial status, the data breach of the fan club does not exclude the presence of Kaspersky employee data. Surprisingly, nearly 200 users included in the leak have email addresses hosted on the @kaspersky.com domain.
According to the information obtained by Hackread.com, the data breach occurred on March 24, 2024, but the data was not leaked until April 4, 2024. The leaked database surfaced on RGB’s official website and later on Breach Forums and Telegram. Upon analysis, it was found to contain the personal details of forum users, including the following data:
Full names
IP Addresses
Email addresses
Password Hashes
Screenshot from the leaked data (Credit: Hackread.com)
Data Breach Confirmed
The forum administrators have officially confirmed the occurrence of the data breach. In a statement posted on both the forum and its official Telegram channel, one of the administrators, identified by the online handle “MiStr,” acknowledged the compromise of the forum’s security and announced the initiation of a mass password reset.
However, the administrator asserted that the data breach stemmed from a hack targeting the forum’s hosting services provider. Furthermore, Kaspersky Labs investigated the attack and confirmed that none of its servers, systems, or domains were affected by the breach. They emphasized that the incident was isolated to the fan club forum.
Forum administrator announcing the breach (Screenshot: Hackread.com)
The Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation HACKED?
The RGB group, self-identifying as a hacktivist collective, has asserted responsibility for breaching the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation (epp.genproc.gov.ru). To substantiate their claim, the group leaked an Excel file containing precisely 100,000 lines of information about criminal cases from 2013.
Given that the file is in Russian, conducting a thorough analysis is currently unfeasible. However, sources familiar with the matter informed Hackread.com that the RGB group likely has ties to another hacking entity known as “NLB.” According to these sources, NLB previously sold a database titled “Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation,” encompassing data from January 2013 to December 2022.
In August 2023, NLB also boasted about successfully breaching several prominent Russian platforms, including SberLogistics, GeekBrains, and DIKIDI.
Screenshot from the alleged crime information stolen from The Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation – Screenshot from the RBG Group’s website (Screenshot: Hackread.com)
Nonetheless, considering that the data is now publicly accessible, immediate action is imperative for users of the Kaspersky Fan Club forum. It is strongly advised to change your forum password without delay.
Additionally, it is crucial to update the password for your associated email address. Remain vigilant and scrutinize any emails requesting personal information or directing you to log in to unfamiliar platforms, as these could be phishing attempts.
It’s an app that tried to bring iMessage to Android before but had significant security problems. With a failed attempt early in 2022, the Sunbird beta will relaunch with newly added features and better security.
Sunbird beta (iMessage for Android) will relaunch, getting a second shot with security fixes
Through a press statement issued on its website, Sunbird has revealed its desire to reintroduce iMessage for Android. Following a barrage of criticism, the service was ironically discontinued. And immense lapses in security marred its initial phase.
Sunbird debuted in early 2022 as a way for Android users to experience iMessage functionality on their devices. However, it had several setbacks when people discovered some gaps within its system like publicly accessible shared media and real-time messages among other things. After this happened, the service stopped functioning forever.
A press release says that Sunbird is returning to the market with more focus on privacy and safety precautions. The company has made significant changes in its systems such as replacing older architecture with AV2 architecture that focuses on secure messaging protocols.
According to Sunbird, this new architecture uses an MQTTS message broker that complies with OASIS standards for secure messaging. In addition, the application will also integrate with RCS via Google Messages just as it did during their previous version under Nothing Chats branding.
The firm makes changes to its staff reorienting its stance toward security
Sunbird has made changes within its organization thus strengthening its stance regarding security matters. The firm engaged CIPHER, which is an independent cyber-security consultancy firm alongside Jared Jordan who was a former Director of Engineering at Google for Gmail as one of its official advisors.
Though admitting that there were indeed security breaches in the past years leading to a loss of faith by customers, Sunbird has chosen to focus on offering security and openness while reinitiating its services. The company’s efforts to fix its flaws and tighten security demonstrate that Sunbird is keen on ensuring secure messaging systems for its users.
Users will closely watch Sunbird’s actions as it comes back into the market and make sure that it complies with strict safety regulations related to personal data and communication privacy.
Meta is fighting the FTC about the WhatsApp and Instagram acquisition, and it has hit the agency with a preemptive strike. While the FTC claims this is a monopolistic business practice, Meta is going after the legal definitions.
The Federal Trade Commission is currently engaged in a legal battle with Meta. The company, previously known as Facebook, is accused of being anti-competitive and creating a monopoly. Meta has essentially requested a Federal Court to junk the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit.
The Instagram and WhatsApp acquisition benefited consumers, claims Meta
Meta has confirmed it has filed a motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit against the US FTC. The company is essentially asking the District Court to dismiss the case because the “FTC has failed to provide evidence to support its claims.”
There are two aspects that Meta urges the court to consider. The company believes the FTC won’t be able to prove what it claims is the relevant market in the case. In simpler terms, Meta insists that it did not become a monopoly after acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp.
On the contrary, “Meta faces fierce competition from a range of platforms – from TikTok and X to YouTube and Snapchat,” laments the company.
Consumer Watchdog Group Supports Meta’s Move for Summary Judgment in Antitrust Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Facebook parent company Meta is moving for summary judgment in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing litigation against them regarding their acquisition of Instagram and…
— Taxpayers Protection Alliance (@Protectaxpayers) April 5, 2024
Secondly, Meta insists that acquiring WhatsApp and Instagram did not hurt the market or adversely affect end consumers. The company stresses that it has painstakingly improved these social media platforms.
Meta has reportedly stated that it spent “billions of dollars” and invested “millions of hours” to make the apps, “better, more reliable, and more secure.”
Why is Meta urging the US Court to dismiss its case against the FTC?
Meta insists the FTC has no evidence establishing that the company’s conduct was “exclusionary”. What this essentially means is that Meta claims acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp did not cause harm to its competitors and consumers. In other words, Meta has implied that its actions weren’t detrimental to the competition, and they didn’t negatively affect end users.
It is important to note that back in 2021, DC District Court Judge James Boasberg had accepted Meta’s motion to dismiss FTC’s complaint. However, the judge gave the FTC a chance to file an amended one, which was allowed to move forward.
NetChoice Applauds Meta For New Motion to Halt Biden FTC’s Anti-Consumer Agenda
WASHINGTON—Today, Meta filed a motion at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, pushing back against the Federal Trade Commission for its lack of evidence in its case against the… pic.twitter.com/xVUvsgdRgV
The FTC’s amended complaint is far more substantial and detailed than its previous one. However, in its appeal, Meta has targeted the FTC’s market definitions, which it claims are “unreasonably narrow”.
The FTC has excluded platforms such as TikTok and YouTube from its market definitions. Instead, in its complaint, the agency includes only Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and MeWe, Meta claims.
Needless to say, Meta’s platforms are way bigger than the other platforms included in the FTC’s market definitions. However, if other big web platforms and companies are included, Meta’s gargantuan stature is somewhat humbled.
