NCSC Released an Advisory to Secure Cloud-hosted SCADA – GBHackers on Security

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NCSC Released an Advisory to Secure Cloud-hosted SCADA – GBHackers on Security

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Operational Technology (OT) is a technology that interfaces with the physical world and includes Industrial Control Systems (ICS), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), and Distributed Control Systems (DCS). 

OT is different from IT in that OT prioritizes safety, reliability, and availability, while IT focuses on information confidentiality, integrity, and availability. 

The convergence of OT and IT increases system vulnerabilities, which can be addressed by adopting sound risk management principles. 

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The NCSC published cyber security design principles to help architects and designers produce secure, resilient OT systems.

Cloud-hosted supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)

Critical considerations for OT organizations migrating Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems to the cloud while acknowledging the growing adoption of cloud-based SCADA solutions for various functionalities, from data processing to full control of physical assets. 

It emphasizes the importance of a risk-based decision-making process, highlighting cybersecurity as a core concern. 

SCADA systems are critical for monitoring and controlling physical infrastructure, making them prime targets for cyberattacks, especially for organizations managing Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).

Legacy SCADA systems were isolated (air-gapped) from external networks. At the same time, current solutions rely on logical separation and controlled access, whereas cloud-based SCADA requires maintaining and monitoring these limitations in the new environment.

It further aids in decision-making: understanding business drivers and cloud opportunities, assessing organizational readiness for cloud migration, and evaluating technology and cloud solution suitability for the specific use case. 

Understanding the business drivers and cloud opportunities

It emphasizes understanding the different deployment models (full migration, hybrid with/without cloud-based control, cold standby) to assess the unique risks associated with each.

By recommending leveraging cloud-native services for a more secure architecture and to gain a centralized view of hosted services, it highlights the importance of using Software Defined Networking (SDN) and monitoring it for unauthorized changes.

The cloud offers features like automated scaling, failover, and disaster recovery for resiliency, which emphasizes the importance of considering break-glass recovery solutions for critical functions.

Centralized remote access and identity/access management are seen as opportunities offered by cloud-hosted SCADA while  integrating a Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution and using cloud-native secrets management. 

It also discourages relying on lower-trust domains for authentication and recommends using the cloud’s Key Management Service (KMS).

Readiness of Organizations

Before migrating OT to the cloud, organizations need to assess their cloud readiness, including having the proper skills, people, and policies in place.

Cloud migration requires a skill set different from that of on-premises OT management, where organizations can build these skills internally or leverage a managed service provider (MSP).

Migrating to the cloud often involves increased connectivity, so OT security policies need to be reviewed to ensure they can handle this new landscape.

Shared services and third-party integrations used with cloud-hosted SCADA systems need careful consideration to maintain data integrity and security.

Using an MSP introduces another attack surface, so organizations must understand the MSP’s security controls and how they will provision the cloud environment (limited services, tenancy, or separate environment).

Cloud environment ownership and root administrator privileges are crucial, and if the MSP owns the underlying cloud accounts, a compromise could impact multiple customers.

The technical considerations for migrating SCADA systems to the cloud emphasize the importance of understanding software suitability and legacy hardware limitations.

Legacy monolithic architectures and protocols may require additional security measures, like containerization and VPNs. 

The cloud migration decision should consider latency requirements and data sensitivity whereas edge computing and zero-trust architecture principles are also potential solutions.

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Tax scammer goes after small business owners and self-employed people

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Tax scammer goes after small business owners and self-employed people

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While most tax payers don’t particularly look forward to tax season, for some scammers it’s like the opening of their hunting season. So it’s no surprise that our researchers have found yet another tax-related scam.

In this most recent scam, we’ve not seen the lure the scammer uses, but it is likely to be an email telling the target to quickly go to this site to apply for your IRS EIN/Federal tax ID number.

fake site to apply for IRS EIN Federal Tax ID Number

fake site to apply for IRS EIN Federal Tax ID Number
fake site to apply for IRS EIN Federal Tax ID Number

EIN is short for Employer Identification Number. The IRS uses this number to identify taxpayers who are required to file various business tax returns. EINs are used by employers, sole proprietors, corporations, partnerships, non-profit associations, trusts, estates of decendents, government agencies, certain individuals, and other business entities.

Given the flow of the scam it’s very likely that the targets are self-employed and/or small business (SMB) owners. It’s possible that the phisher has obtained or bought a collection of email addresses from a data broker that fit a certain profile (for example, self-employed US residents).

To start this operation, the scammer doesn’t need a lot of information about their targets. A valid email address for a self-employed US resident could cost just a few cents on an underground forum on the dark web. However, the scammer might not even need to venture that far, as Senior Director of Technology and Engineering and Consumer Privacy at Malwarebytes, Shahak Shalev told us:

“I don’t think one would have to go to the dark web to get information like this as there are regular companies selling this information. They would probably qualify it as “lead generation”. According to our sources, pricing for one million self-employed US citizens usually goes for $1USD per contact, but for such a large amount it would probably be $0.1 per contact.”

The information the phishers are after is quite extensive and includes a person’s social security number (SSN).

Step 1 form to fill out LLC and personal information

Step 1 form to fill out LLC and personal information
Step 1 form to fill out LLC and personal information

A compromised social security number poses a major problem. A SSN stays with you for a lifetime, and is closely tied to your banking and credit history. Adding a person’s SSN to the scammers’ data could create far more opportunities for identity theft and fraud.

And if that wasn’t serious enough, the scammers here have the audacity to charge you for the tax ID number, even though applying for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a free service offered by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Payment options and pricing on the fake site

We also found the scammer made a mistake when setting up their fake website. By looking at the privacy policy of the scammer’s site it became apparent that they forgot a small edit when they copied the privacy policy from someone else, but neglected to edit the original domain in one place.

privacy notice and cookie policy site shows the original domain

If you’ve received a mail or other invitation including a link to the domain irs-ein-gov.us, please let us know in the comments. We would love to have a copy so we can complete this attack profile.

How to avoid falling for a tax scam

Before acting on an email’s request, stop and think about the following:

  • Remember: The IRS doesn’t ask taxpayers for personal or financial information over email, text messages, or social media channels. This includes requests for PINs, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks, or other financial accounts.
  • Do not interact with the sender, click any links, or open any attachments.
  • Send the full email headers or forward the email as-is to phishing@irs.gov. Do not forward screenshots or scanned images of emails because this removes valuable information.
  • Delete the email.

If you are unsure if a certain communication is from the IRS, you can go to IRS.gov and search for the letter, notice, or form number. If it is legitimate, you’ll find instructions on how to respond. If there’s a form to fill in the verify that it is identical to the same form on IRS.gov by searching forms and instructions.

Malwarebytes Premium customers are protected against this particular scam if they have Web Protection enabled.

Malwarebytes blocks the site of the tax scammer

IOCs

Domains

ustaxnumber.org

ustaxnumber.com

irs-ein-gov.us

If you want to find out how much of your data has been exposed online, you can try our free Digital Footprint scan. Fill in the email address you’re curious about (it’s best to submit the one you most frequently use) and we’ll send you a free report.

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Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using Malwarebytes Identity Theft Protection.

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The Motorola Edge 50 Pro might have a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3

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The Motorola Edge 50 Pro might have a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3

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Motorola is gearing up to launch its next bundle of exciting phones under its Edge line. Last year’s Edge phones were great devices, and we are hoping that the company continues that trajectory.  Well, we kind of have our doubts now, as we learned the possible processor for its next flagship phone. According to a new leak, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro’s processor might be the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3.

If you’re curious about the 2023 line of Edge phones, we at Android Headlines did reviews on both models that came to the US. The Motorola Edge 2023 (Review) was an excellent phone for its price with smooth performance, a gorgeous display, some of the best speakers we ever reviewed on a phone, and an amazing design. Also, the Motorola Edge+ 2023 basically took that entire experience and boosted it with a more powerful processor.

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro’s processor might be the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3

If you’re a person looking to get this phone for its power, then you might be a bit disappointed. Right now, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is powering the most powerful phones on the market including the Galaxy S24 series of phones. However, Qualcomm has a less powerful processor known as the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. It’s one step behind, but it’s still a very capable player.

According to Geekbench scores, it appears that this is what the Motorola Edge 50 Pro will use. Looking at the chart, this phone got a single-core score of 1,097 and a multi-core score of 3,114. Those scores aren’t great, but we can’t take Geekbench scores as an indicator of a phone’s day-to-day performance.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro Geekbench

In any case, there are people who will be disappointed with this phone because of the processor. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 is a very capable processor. However, it’s definitely going to fall behind the top competition on the market this year in terms of raw processing power. So, it’s going to be behind phones like the OnePlus 12 (Review) and the Galaxy S24 series.

Other rumored specs

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is still an enigma at this point. However, we do have some rumored specs that have been floating around. For starters, and this might not be as much of a rumor, as the Geekbench listing confirmed this, but this phone is set to have 12GB of RAM.

The Motorola  Edge 50 Pro is rumored to come with a 6.7-inch pOLED display with a 1.5K resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. This display may reach a whopping 2,000 nits of peak brightness and support HDR10+. Also, the company claims that this will be the world’s first Pantone-validated display.

Moving on to the camera, it appears that this phone will use a 50-megapixel primary camera. Lastly, we have word that this phone will have 3 colorways which are black, purple, and white.

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Hackers Selling GlorySprout Malware in Underground Fourm for $300

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Hackers Selling GlorySprout Malware in Underground Fourm for $300

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GlorySprout stealer, advertised on the XSS forum in early March 2024, is a C++ stealer sold for $300 with lifetime access and temporary payload encryption, that includes a loader, anti-CIS execution, and a non-functional grabber module. 

Taurus Stealer, a C++ stealer with a Golang panel, emerged for sale on XSS in April 2020 and shared similarities with Predator Stealer in encryption, bot ID format, anti-VM features, and code naming conventions. 

There is mention of anti-VM and keylogging functionalities, but their existence has not been confirmed. Additionally, the stealer enables log backup and the ability to ban certain countries or IPs. It has been recognized as a clone of Taurus Stealer.

Taurus Stealer panel

It also reportedly ended development in 2021, but cracked versions and possibly leaked source code have surfaced on Telegram, potentially explaining the continued circulation. 

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Technical Analysis of the GlorySprout 

According to RussianPanda, a Senior Threat Intelligence researcher, eSentire, GlorySprout dynamically resolves APIs by hashing them using operations like multiplication, addition, and XOR and shifting target system libraries like shell32.dll and wininet.dll. 

GlorySprout panel

It uses specific offsets to access these hashed API values and implements anti-analysis techniques by checking for specific language identifiers and obfuscating strings using XOR and arithmetic operations. 

 hashing process involves operations such as multiplication, addition, XOR, and shifting

GlorySprout creates persistence via a scheduled task named “\WindowsDefender\Updater” that executes a secondary payload dropped in the %TEMP% folder. 

It also uses a function to generate random strings for various purposes, including filenames and RC4 keys, but this function might not be truly random, whereas the C2 address for communication is retrieved from the resource section of the unpacked payload.  

An infected machine communicates with the C2 server on port 80 disguised as a browser and sends a POST request with an encrypted BotID and a predefined user agent. 

The RC4 key for encryption is generated with a constant initial state value, resulting in the same key for every check-in and the server responds with an encrypted configuration detailing data to steal (browser history, wallets, etc.) and further actions (downloading secondary payload, self-deletion). 

The machine harvests data, encrypts it with the received RC4 key and sends it back to the server. Upon receiving a success message, the machine signals completion and potentially downloads another malicious payload. 

Indicators Of Compromise

GlorySprout, a stealer program written in Golang, utilizes SQL databases likely processed through the sqlx library and the analysis of the database reveals mentions of “taurus,”  suggesting GlorySprout is a clone of the Taurus Stealer code. 

Decrypted browser passwords are found in logs stored in General/forms.txt, indicating server-side decryption. 

GlorySprout differs from Taurus Stealer in that it does not download additional DLLs and lacks anti-VM features, which suggests GlorySprout may not achieve the same level of popularity as other stealers. 

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Ukraine Arrests Hackers for Selling 100 Million Email, Instagram Accounts

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Ukraine Arrests Hackers for Selling 100 Million Email, Instagram Accounts

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Ukraine Arrests Hackers for Selling 100 Million Email, Instagram Accounts

Ukrainian police seized a massive trove of 100 million stolen email and Instagram accounts – Three individuals were arrested for hacking and selling the data on the dark web – This major cybercrime bust highlights the importance of strong passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA) to protect your online accounts.

The Ukrainian Cyber Police, working alongside investigators from the national police, have pulled off a major win in the fight against cybercrime. They successfully arrested three individuals accused of hacking and selling a staggering 100 million email and Instagram accounts on the dark web.

Authorities believe the group used a brute-force attack technique, essentially bombarding accounts with numerous password combinations until they cracked the login credentials. These stolen accounts were then compiled into a database and offered for sale on dark web marketplaces and hacking forums, where malicious hackers could purchase them for fraudulent activities.

It is worth mentioning that currently, some of the most active and popular hacker and cybercrime forums include Breach Forums and a Russian language platform called XSS. Cybercriminals utilize these forums to sell stolen data through escrow deals, while others opt to leak it for free. Additionally, Telegram serves as a significant platform for criminals to announce data breaches and either leak or sell data.

According to Cyber Police’s press release, the buyers used the stolen accounts to launch various scams, including the notorious “Friend Asks for a Loan” scheme where compromised accounts are used to target the victim’s friends and family with fabricated requests for money.

Additionally, law enforcement officers conducted 7 searches at the residences and registered addresses of individuals involved in Kyiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia, and Ivano-Frankivsk, as well as in the regions of Kyiv, Donetsk, and Kirovohrad. During these searches, over 70 pieces of computer equipment, 14 phones, bank cards, and cash, totalling more than $3,000, were seized. A petition has been submitted to the court to request the seizure of the confiscated property.

Law enforcement officers conducted 7 searches at the residences and registered addresses of individuals involved in Kyiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, as well as in the regions of Kyiv, Donetsk, and Kirovohrad. During these searches, over 70 pieces of computer equipment, 14 phones, bank cards, and cash, totaling more than $3,000, were seized. A petition has been submitted to the court to request the seizure of the confiscated property.
Seized equipment (Image credit: Ukraine Cyber Police)

The ages of the arrested suspects range from 20 to 40. They now face charges of unauthorized interference in information systems and networks, a serious offence in Ukraine punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The investigation isn’t over yet, however. Authorities suspect the group may have collaborated with foreign entities, particularly those with interests aligned with Russia. Investigators are looking into the possibility that some of the stolen accounts were used specifically to benefit Russian interests, though the exact nature of this potential collaboration remains unclear.

Commenting on this, Jamie Akhtar, CEO and Co-Founder at CyberSmart said: “Following the takedown of LockBit in February, this is another heartening story. It demonstrates that cybercriminals can be caught and brought to justice. However, we shouldn’t rest on our laurels, for each of these groups that is shut down another will spring up in its place and those still at large will learn from how their peers were caught.”

This arrest goes on to show the importance of taking cybersecurity measures. Using strong and unique passwords for all online accounts is crucial, and enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) whenever possible adds an extra layer of security. The Ukrainian cyber police also recommend these practices to help protect yourself from falling victim to similar account hijacking schemes.

While the full extent of the data breach remains under investigation, it’s a significant development and a win for law enforcement. The stolen accounts could have been used for a wide range of malicious activities, and their seizure disrupts a major operation within the cybercriminal underworld.

  1. Two hackers arrested after a decade of selling malware
  2. 10 years prison for hacking 200 firms, sold data on Dark Web
  3. Ukraine Busts Hackers Who Stole 30M Accounts of EU Citizens
  4. 360m WhatsApp Records Shared Freely on Telegram, Dark Web
  5. DeepDotWeb admin pleads guilty to money laundering, kickbacks



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Some Galaxy Z Flip 6 models could include an Exynos SoC

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Some Galaxy Z Flip 6 models could include an Exynos SoC

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According to a new report, some Galaxy Z Flip 6 models could include an Exynos SoC, instead of a Snapdragon one. In other words, Samsung could use the Exynos 2400 in some variants, instead of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Some Galaxy Z Flip 6 models could end up using the Exynos 2400 SoC

This information comes from Revegnus, a tipster. He doesn’t seem to be fully convinced it’ll happen, however. He said that he wouldn’t “be surprised even if the Exynos is included in this year’s Flip 6”.

So, it’s not set in stone. Samsung has a tendency to stick to Snapdragon processors in its Fold and Flip models. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Flip 5 are both fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 are expected to ship with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy SoC. If this rumor ends up being true, however, units in Europe, for example, could end up sporting the Exynos 2400.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 was not mentioned in this report

The tipster did mention the Galaxy Z Flip 6 in specific, not the Galaxy Z Fold 6. So the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will hopefully avoid the same fate. The Exynos 2400 is a much better SoC than its predecessor, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 reigns supreme.

Both the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 are expected to launch in July. July 10 has been tipped as the launch date, as the two phones are expected to launch in Paris, France.

Samsung usually launches its ‘Fold’ and ‘Flip’ foldables later on, but due to the Olympic Games that kick off on July 26 in the same city, the company decided to move up the launch of its new foldables.

Samsung did not officially confirm that date just yet, however. We’ll have to wait to be sure.



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DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman now leads Microsoft AI

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DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman now leads Microsoft AI

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In the world of artificial intelligence, big brands are searching for people to head their AI divisions. For example, Apple recently purchased a company called Darwin AI and brought over some of its workers to head its AI division. Well, Microsoft just established Microsoft AI, and it hired DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman.

This is another example of large companies hiring top minds from their competitors. Back in 2010, Suleyman founded DeepMind. After leaving the company several years later and joining Google, he then co-founded Inflection AI in 2019.

Microsoft hires Mustafa Suleyman to head Microsoft AI

With AI being such a major subject with big companies, many Enterprises are finding themselves shuffling their business structures and adding full AI divisions where none existed. It’s obvious that Microsoft has gone all in on AI. So, it has a large team dedicated to pushing AI forward. Now, according to a new report, the company has a new AI division called Microsoft AI.

It brought on Suleyman as the CEO of Microsoft AI. So, he will oversee Copilot, Bing, and Edge. He will definitely be a higher-up, as he will be reporting directly to Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft. So, the future of  Microsoft’s AI Endeavors will rest In His Hands.

However, he will not be alone. Fellow inflection AI co-founder Karén Simonyan will also join the team. He’ll take on the role of Chief scientist. Suleyman stated that several Inflection AI employees have also joined Microsoft. However, it appears that that might not be the case. Reports say that Microsoft may have hired the majority of Inflection AI’s staff, which doesn’t sound great for the company.

Inflection AI made a blog post explaining what the company wants to do going forward. The company is going to focus more on its AI Studio business. It appears that Inflection AI wants to focus more on this product as a business tool rather than a consumer tool. The company’s work so far makes it “uniquely well placed to be the AI platform for businesses around the world.”

Also, the company is currently searching for a new CEO. So, hopefully, Inflection AI doesn’t suffer any significant losses because of the shake-up. If you are a person who follows Inflection AI, you’ll be happy to know that it will host Inflection 2.5 on Microsoft Azure sometime down the road.

As for Microsoft, we are still in the dark as to what will change, what will improve, and what will be made worse. So, we’re just going to have to wait to find out what this new Microsoft AI division will bring.

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WordPress Plugin Flaw Exposes 40,000+ Websites to Cyber Attack

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WordPress Plugin Flaw Exposes 40,000+ Websites to Cyber Attack

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A popular WordPress plugin, Automatic (premium version), developed by ValvePress, has been found to harbor critical security vulnerabilities that put over 40,000 websites at risk.

This plugin, known for its capability to create posts from various sources, including YouTube, Twitter, and virtually any website through scraping modules, has been identified as a gateway for potential cyber-attacks due to these flaws.

Unauthenticated Arbitrary SQL Execution – CVE-2024-27956

The first of the two vulnerabilities, CVE-2024-27956, allows unauthenticated users to execute arbitrary SQL queries on the affected WordPress sites.

This flaw was found in the inc/csv.php file, where an arbitrary SQL query could be supplied to the $q variable and executed.

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Despite checks involving user password trimming and MD5 hashing, attackers could bypass these by simply supplying a whitespace character, enabling full-scale SQL query execution.

Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Download and SSRF – CVE-2024-27954

The second vulnerability, CVE-2024-27954, pertains to arbitrary file downloads and Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks.

This flaw in the downloader.php file allows attackers to fetch arbitrary URLs or local files using the $_GET[‘link’] parameter.

Initially, this could be exploited without any authentication, posing a significant risk to the integrity and confidentiality of the WordPress site data.

PatchStack has recently published a technical article highlighting the critical vulnerabilities fixed in the latest version of WordPress Automatic Plugin through security patches.

The Patch

In response to these vulnerabilities, ValvePress has issued updates to mitigate the risks. For CVE-2024-27956, the inc/csv.php file was removed entirely.

To address CVE-2024-27954, a nonce check was introduced, requiring a value only obtainable by privileged users, alongside a validation check on the $link variable.

These measures aim to secure the plugin against unauthorized SQL executions and file downloads.

FofaBot recently tweeted about a critical update to the WordPress Automatic plugin.

The discovery of these vulnerabilities underscores the critical need for rigorous security measures in plugin development, especially those that involve SQL query execution and URL fetching capabilities.

Developers are advised to avoid providing full-scale SQL query features, even to high-privilege users, and to implement permission and nonce checks for URL fetching actions.

For enhanced security, it is recommended that users fetch URLs using WordPress’s wp_safe_remote_* functions.

This incident serves as a reminder of the ever-present risks in the digital landscape and the importance of maintaining up-to-date security practices to protect against potential cyber threats.

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The ‘AT&T breach’—what you need to know

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The ‘AT&T breach’—what you need to know

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Earlier this week, the data of over 70 million people was posted for sale on an online cybercrime forum. The person selling the data claims it stems from a 2021 breach at AT&T.

Back in 2021, a hacker named Shiny Hunters claimed to have breached AT&T and put the alleged stolen data up for sale for $1 million for a direct sell. Fast forward three years and another threat actor calling themselves MajorNelson has leaked what they say is the same data.

However, AT&T denies (both in 2021 and, now, in 2024) that the data came from its systems, telling BleepingComputer that it’s seen no evidence of a breach. No response was received to a follow-up question on whether the data could come from a third-party provider.

The data posted online includes names, addresses, mobile phone numbers, date of birth, social security numbers, and other internal information. Almost the same set was offered for sale in 2021, but the encrypted date of birth and social security numbers have since been decrypted and added to the set as supplemental files for most records.

Several sources have verified the dataset (or parts thereof) contains valid data.

What to do

AT&T still hasn’t confirmed that the data came from its systems, nor from a third party. However, there are some general actions you can take if you are an AT&T customer:

  • Watch out for people posing as AT&T. Data breaches are great for scammers because they can contact you pretending to be from the (in this case alleged) breached company. If you receive an email, phone call or something similar from someone claiming to be from AT&T be cautious and contact AT&T directly to check it’s real.
  • Take your time. Scammers often use themes that require urgent attention to hurry you into making a decision, filling in a form or giving away personal data. Take a step back and don’t give away any personal or financial information.
  • Set up identity monitoring. Identity monitoring alerts you if your personal information is found being traded illegally online, and helps you recover after.

Check if your data has been breached

Our Digital Footprint records now include the AT&T data so you can check if your information has been exposed online. Submit your email address (it’s best to submit the one you most frequently use) to our free Digital Footprint scan and we’ll send you a report.

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 Malwarebytes Identity Theft Protection.

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Samsung tops the list of best research & innovation brands in 2024

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Samsung tops the list of best research & innovation brands in 2024

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Samsung has its branding spread across almost everything in the electronics world. Whether it be normal home appliances or smartphones, Samsung has its presence and is even dominating some of the areas. They already secured the tag of the best brand in aspects such as design and innovation in the past. With no surprise, they have now secured the top position in the list of best research and innovation brands for the year 2024.

Samsung is the best research and innovation brand once again

According to Clarivate’s latest list of Top 100 Global Innovators Brands of 2024, Samsung is the best brand for research and innovation. The report lists top one hundred brands for their huge contribution to the field of research and innovation. In the top 5 brands, followed by Samsung, brands such as Canon, Honda, Toyota, and Seiko Epson have secured their positions respectively.

As we look further into the report, we can spot multiple tech brands like Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, Toshiba, Ericsson, Qualcomm, Toyota, Tencent, Daikin Industries, Zeiss, and a lot more. HONOR has secured the seventh position on the list. Moreover, as many as 38 Japanese-origin brands are there too. It shows how well the Japanese firms are doing in the field of research and innovation.

The United States ranks as the second country with the most contributions, having 17 brands, followed by Taiwan with 11 brands and South Korea with 8 brands, which also includes Samsung.

This is not surprising considering how much Samsung invests into R&D

Well, Samsung being at the top is a very good thing for the brand, but it is not very unexpected either. Samsung boasts a huge team of research and development which focuses on doing innovations each day. The overall portfolio of the brand whether it be patents or standalone research is very huge. Samsung first introduced all, whether it be the first foldable smartphone or innovations such as the first under-display camera in a foldable smartphone i.e., Galaxy Z Fold 3. This shows their research team’s enthusiasm.

The list focuses on tech and electronics as a whole rather than specifically on smartphone research. Samsung Electronics has dominated the list and not any particular division. But when we talk about Samsung Electronics, all the sub-divisions are already included in.

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