Galaxy S24 series grabs March update on the first day

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Galaxy S24 series grabs March update on the first day
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Samsung is rolling out the March security update to the Galaxy S24 series. The update is available for all three models in Europe and Canada. It doesn’t bring anything more than the latest security fixes. Users in other regions, such as the US, should get it soon.

The Galaxy S24 series gets the March update

In mid-February, Samsung released the first software update for the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra. It brought the February security patch and a few other changes, including a screen vividness slider and camera improvements. The update debuted in the firm’s homeland, South Korea, and gradually made it into other markets.

As it reached users globally, Samsung recently pushed a second February update to the new flagships in South Korea. We expected the new release to arrive in more regions. While a second update is now rolling out in Europe and Canada, it surprisingly comes with the March SMR (Security Maintenance Release).

This update comes with the firmware build number S92*BXXS1AXBG in Europe and S92*WVLS1AXBG in Canada. The OTA (over-the-air) package weighs 285MB for the European version of the Galaxy S24+. It weighs 441MB and 428MB for the Ultra in the two regions, respectively. The official changelog supplied by Samsung says the update brings the latest security patch.

This isn’t surprising since the new flagships picked up a feature update just about a week ago. That said, the February build failed to fully address the camera complaints Galaxy S24 users have had. Samsung seemingly didn’t optimize the update properly. We are optimistic that the latest release will bring further camera improvements, though we can’t confirm anything yet.

March security patch details are not known

As far as the new security fixes are concerned, neither Samsung nor Google has published the patch details for March 2024. As usual, the latest SMR for Galaxy devices should bring dozens of Android OS fixes and a handful of exclusive fixes directly from Samsung. We expect the companies to reveal the details early next week.

If you are using a Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, or Galaxy S24 Ultra on the February patch, the March update should be available to you soon. Watch out for a notification in the coming days. You can also manually check for updates on your phone. Open the Settings app, go to the Software update menu, and tap on Download and install.


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Meta pulls the plug on Facebook News in the US & Australia

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Meta pulls the plug on Facebook News in the US & Australia
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After Europe, Facebook News is shutting down in the US and Australia. Starting in April, the News tab will no longer be available in these markets. Meta says this change is part of its ongoing effort to better align its investments. The company plans to focus on products and services that its users value the most.

Facebook News is shutting down in the US and Australia

Facebook News is a dedicated section for news within Facebook. Launched in the US in October 2019, the social media behemoth paid publishers to show their news stories. It signed multi-million-dollar deals with major media houses to bring the latest news from all industries directly to the app. Things got off to a great start and Meta (still called Facebook back then) expanded news to other regions.

It arrived in the UK in August 2020 before gradually making its way to other European countries, including France and Germany. Facebook News also arrived in Australia. However, the hype was short-lived, likely because very few people used Facebook as their primary source of news. As such, Meta decided to discontinue News. The section was pulled down in the aforementioned three European markets last December.

Now, Meta has announced that it will deprecate Facebook News in the US and Australia. The deprecation will begin in “early April.” The company will honor existing agreements with publishes until they expire. The section will slowly disappear from the app once all agreements expire. You can still see news and news links posted directly on the feed of a Facebook account, be it a publisher or an individual.

According to Meta, “news makes up less than 3% of what people around the world see in their Facebook feed.” The company made the same statement last September when it announced the deprecation of Facebook News in the UK, France, and Germany. It appears the situation hasn’t improved. “The number of people using Facebook News in Australia and the US has dropped by over 80% last year,” Meta said in its official press release.

Meta is done with news content and news-related products in these countries

With Facebook News shutting down, Meta’s experiment with news content and news-related products is coming to an end, at least in these five countries. It no longer plans to sign “new commercial deals for traditional news content.” The company will also no longer develop “Facebook products specifically for news publishers.” The social media giant says it will invest more in products and services that drive user engagement.


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BEAST AI Jailbreak Language Models Within 1 Minute

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BEAST AI Jailbreak Language Models Within 1 Minute
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Malicious hackers sometimes jailbreak language models (LMs) to exploit bugs in the systems so that they can perform a multitude of illicit activities. 

However, this is also driven by the need to gather classified information, introduce malicious materials, and tamper with the model’s authenticity.

Cybersecurity researchers from the University of Maryland, College Park, USA, discovered that BEAST AI managed to jailbreak the language models within 1 minute with high accuracy:-

  • Vinu Sankar Sadasivan
  • Shoumik Saha
  • Gaurang Sriramanan
  • Priyatham Kattakinda
  • Atoosa Chegini
  • Soheil Feizi

Language Models (LMs) recently gained massive popularity for tasks like Q&A and code generation. Techniques aim to align them with human values for safety. But they can be manipulated.

The recent findings reveal flaws in aligned LMs allowing for harmful content generation, termed “jailbreaking.”

BEAST AI Jailbreak

Manual prompts jailbreak LMs (Perez & Ribeiro, 2022). Zou et al. (2023) use gradient-based attacks, yielding gibberish. Zhu et al. (2023) opt for a readable, gradient-based, greedy attack with high success. 

Liu et al. (2023b) and Chao et al. (2023) propose gradient-free attacks requiring GPT-4 access. Jailbreaks induce unsafe LM behavior but also aid privacy attacks (Liu et al., 2023c). Zhu et al. (2023) automate privacy attacks. 

BEAST is a fast, gradient-free, Beam Search-based Adversarial Attack that demonstrates the LM vulnerabilities in one GPU minute. 

Beam Search-based Adversarial Attack (BEAST) (Source – Arxiv)

It allows tunable parameters for speed, success, and readability tradeoffs. BEAST excels in jailbreaking (89% success on Vicuna-7Bv1.5 in a minute). 

Human studies show 15% more incorrect outputs and 22% irrelevant content, making LM chatbots less useful through efficient hallucination attacks.

Compared to other models, BEAST is primarily designed for quick adversarial attacks. BEAST excels in constrained settings for jailbreaking aligned LMs.

However, researchers found that it struggles with finely tuned LLaMA-2-7B-Chat, which is a limitation.

Cybersecurity analysts used Amazon Mechanical Turk for manual surveys on LM jailbreaking and hallucination. Workers assess prompts with BEAST-generated suffixes. 

Responses from Vicuna-7B-v1.5 are shown to 5 workers per prompt. For hallucination, the workers evaluate LM responses using clean and adversarial prompts.

⁤This report contributes to the development of machine learning by identifying the security flaws in LMs and also reveals present problems inherent in LMs. ⁤

⁤However, researchers have found new doors that expose dangerous things, leading to future research on more reliable and secure language models.

You can block malware, including Trojans, ransomware, spyware, rootkits, worms, and zero-day exploits, with Perimeter81 malware protection. All are incredibly harmful, can wreak havoc, and damage your network.

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Release date, specs, price & more

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Release date, specs, price & more
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The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is one of the two phones the company will announce during its second Unpacked event of the year. It will arrive alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 6. Based on everything we’ve seen thus far, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 won’t be a major change compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 5. Things could change, though, as more and more information arrives on our way to the launch. In this article, we’ll go over what we know about the device thus far, think of it as a rumor/leak roundup post of sorts. Having said that, let’s get to it.

This article will be regularly updated with new information on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 (this is a preview article) — both official teasers and credible leaks, rumors, and insider claims — as it becomes available in the run-up to the release of the upcoming Android smartphone. This is the original posting of this article.

When will the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 be released?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is coming in the first part of July, based on the latest information. The phone is said to launch before July 15, and the likely date is July 10, as that’s a Wednesday. Samsung allegedly wants to announce the phone before the Summer Olympics start on July 26. That date would actually be ideal for Samsung’s second Unpacked event of the year, as that’s the exact date the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 arrived last year. It’s understandable why the company doesn’t want to do the event on the same date as the start of the Olympics, though.

Furthermore, the company’s Unpacked event will allegedly take place in Paris, as will the Olympics, so… it’s not exactly all that surprising Samsung wants to do it earlier. As a reminder, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 launched in August, and Samsung usually hosted its second Unpacked of the year in August. Last year the company moved up the launch event for whatever reason. Samsung still hasn’t confirmed anything, though, and we likely won’t get a confirmation until late June / early July.

What models are coming?

Unlike what the rumors have been saying about the Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 is coming in a single variant. There is no ‘Ultra’ model to speak of, at least we haven’t heard anything about it thus far. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 will arrive as a direct successor of the Galaxy Z Flip 5. At the moment, we don’t know what RAM and storage variants will Samsung offer. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 offered 8GB of RAM and two storage options. Something similar could happen this time around too, but we’re expecting the Galaxy Z Flip 6 to include more RAM. If we had to guess, we’d say it’ll ship with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and come in two storage variants, 256GB and 512GB UFS 4.0 flavors.

How much will the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 cost?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6’s price tag did not appear just yet. Chances are that the phone will have a similar price tag to its predecessor, however. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 launched with a $999 price tag in the US, for its 256GB storage model. We’re confident that Samsung will want to keep the price of the Galaxy Z Flip 6 below the $1,000 mark too. If we had to guess, we’d say that the price tag would be identical. It remains to be seen, though. Who knows, perhaps Samsung can lower it a bit more, or it plans to add more features and bump it up a bit. We do expect more specific info to surface in the coming weeks/months.

What will the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 look like?

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 did surface in CAD-based renders already. Those renders do give us a very good idea as to what to expect in the design department. As we presumed, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 won’t be all that much different than the Galaxy Z Flip 5 from the design standpoint. The curvature from the frame to the backplate will be a bit different, but not much else. Samsung is sticking with its current design language. The phone will utilize aluminum and glass as its build materials.

If you check out the images in the gallery below this paragraph, you’ll see the device in the flesh. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 features flat sides, though the very edges of those flat sides do curve towards the front and back, just a little bit, for comfort’s sake. The corners of the phone are rounded, while the back and front sides are flat. The main display once again includes a centered display camera hole, and the bezels around it are quite thin.

The shape of the cover display will not change

The cover display has a folder shape once again, as did the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s cover panel. That display will retain the same size, allegedly. The two cameras on the back sit in the same spot, above the cover display. They’re horizontally aligned, and they do protrude a little bit. The power/lock and volume rocker buttons are placed on the right-hand side. The phone’s power/lock key will also double as a fingerprint scanner, as expected. That is also unchanged compared to the current-gen model.

The phone is said to have very similar measurements to its predecessor. It’s tipped to measure 165 x 71.1 x 7.4mm. It will be a bit thicker than the Galaxy Z Flip 5, though, it seems. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is 6.9mm thick. That’s barely a difference, but there you go. We do hope that the crease will be less noticeable than on the Galaxy Z Flip 5, though. Also, the phone will fold flat, in case you were wondering, as does the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Do note that there was some talk that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will include a slightly larger cover display than the Galaxy Z Flip 5. A 3.9-inch panel was tipped, instead of a 3.4-inch one. We’re not sure that will be happening considering the dimensions CAD-based renders suggested, but keep it in mind.

What specs will the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 have?

We don’t really have a lot of information about the Galaxy Z Flip 6 specifications thus far. Some info did surface, though, so let’s check that out and try to fill in the blanks. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 will be fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor. That much is a given. Both of Samsung’s foldables that will launch during the second Unpacked event will use that processor. We’re presuming that Samsung will update the RAM count this year, from 8GB to 12GB LPDDR5X RAM. That’s just a guess, though, as no specific info appeared. The company will likely offer 256GB and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage models of the phone.

A 6.7-inch fullHD+ main Foldable Dynamic AMOLED display is expected. Do note that one rumor did suggest larger displays are a possibility, so… we’ll see. The cover display will likely be a 3.4-inch panel, even though one rumor said a 3.9-inch display is coming. Regardless, that will also be an AMOLED panel. It will likely be a 60Hz panel, unlike the main display, which will utilize a 120Hz refresh rate.

A larger battery will be used

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 could include a larger battery pack than last year. The phone’s batteries did get certified, and it will once again include two of them. Instead of a 3,700mAh battery pack overall, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 could include a 4,000mAh capacity. That could also point to larger displays, even though that doesn’t seem as likely considering the dimensions reported by CAD-based renders. Either way, more battery juice is a good thing. Samsung likely won’t offer faster charging here, though. We’ll most likely get 25W wired charging once again, along with 15W wireless, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging.

Samsung’s next flip phone could include better cameras. The current-gen model has a 12-megapixel main camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide unit. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is said to be tested with a 50-megapixel main camera. The same camera used in the Galaxy S23. That rumor is rather old at this point, but there you have it. If that ends up being the case, a 50-megapixel main camera with an f/1.8 aperture will be used, and a 24mm lens will also be a part of the package. That camera will also support OIS and Dual Pixel PDAF. The second camera will likely be a 12-megapixel ultrawide unit.

Android 14 will come pre-installed and stereo speakers

The phone is expected to ship with Android 14, and Samsung’s One UI skin on top of it. Stereo speakers will be a part of the package, and so will some sort of water resistance. The device will likely be IPX8 certified, just like its predecessor. Don’t expect an audio jack to be a part of the package, though.

Should you wait to buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6?

The question is, should you wait to get the Galaxy Z Flip 6, or get the Galaxy Z Flip 5 now? Well, if you really need a new phone, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 launch event is not that near at this point. Based on what we’ve heard thus far, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 also won’t be a huge upgrade over the Galaxy Z Flip 5. So, you should be fine getting that phone. If you’re not in a hurry, however, be patient, and see what exactly will the Galaxy Z Flip 6 offer. Samsung will also have some great trade-in deals in the US, that’s for sure.


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The smartphone market grew a bit in Q4 2023

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The smartphone market grew a bit in Q4 2023
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With the current state of the global economy, many companies have to face a lot of bad news. One example has to do with smartphone marketing as a whole. However, despite being on a decline, the smartphone market saw some pleasing growth in Q4 2023.

It’s important to note that these numbers don’t include phones released after December 2023. So, they’re not going to take into account phones like the Galaxy S24 series. Since it’s early March, we will see numbers for devices released after December last year starting in April. That is when Q1 2024 will officially end.

The smartphone market grew a bit in Q4 2023

Companies have been weathering the turbulent economic state, and things have been going up and down. Overall, Q4 2023 saw 323.2 million units sold. That’s a 7% growth compared to Q4 2022. It’s also an 8% growth compared to Q3 2023. That’s good to see, and we can expect that the holiday season had much to do with that. Companies sold their phones at diminished prices to capitalize on all the Christmas cheer.

As for the actual companies, Apple saw a minor growth YOY with a 2% increase in shipments. However, in the last quarter of the year, it was able to overtake Samsung as the largest smartphone company. Samsung, on the other hand, actually saw a 9% decline.

That’s pretty surprising because the Galaxy Z 5 foldables were rather popular. Apple launched its newest devices later in the year, so it was possible that they had a bigger influence on the fourth quarter than Samsung’s devices. However, Samsung was still able to maintain the top spot as the largest smartphone company throughout the entire year.

Moving down the line, Xiaomi saw significant growth in the market. The Chinese company had a pleasing 23% growth YOY. The company was able to push 40.7 million units. One of our favorite underdog companies, Honor, saw a healthy 27% growth.

Huawei, the company that was the most handicapped throughout the entire year, is slowly crawling its way back up to prominence. The companies actually saw triple-digit growth according to the report. It has been working on rebuilding its smartphone brand after being heavily hindered by sanctions from the US government. The company is working its way around the sanctions, and it was able to start implementing some pretty powerful chips into its devices.

Market share

In terms of the overall global market share in Q4 2023, Apple took home the top spot, of course. It maintained 23% of the global market. Samsung followed behind rather closely with 16% of the market. Next up, we have Xiaomi with 13%. These are the only three companies with more than 10% of the market. Below these companies, we have Vivo and Oppo at 7% and Honor at 5%.

Looking at the North American market, we see a few more companies sharing the spotlight. Apple has a whopping 62% of the North American market while Samsung has a much less significant 18%. In third, we have Motorola with 8% of the market. Google is trailing with 3% of the market. T-Mobile and HMD finish off the list at 2%. This marks a significant milestone for Google, as the Pixels series of phones was able to break the 3% mark. Reports state that it shipped 10 million units in 2023. It’s the fourth most popular phone in North America.

Pretty soon, we’re going to start seeing data for the beginning of 2024. So, we will see if Samsung’s Galaxy S4 series was able to make a dent. The Galaxy S24 Ultra (Review) was the most popular model, while the Galaxy S24+ (Review) was the least popular model. However, the Galaxy S24+ is still a fantastic phone.


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Google Gemini on Android can’t identify currently playing songs like the Assistant does

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Google Gemini on Android can’t identify currently playing songs like the Assistant does
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Google unveiled its rebrand of the Bard AI chatbot earlier last month, and with it launched a new Android app, thus completing the transformation to “Gemini.” From the start, it was pretty obvious that Gemini was still not a complete Google Assistant replacement on Android phones, as it lacked some of the basic features that Assistant users were accustomed to. Now, a new Gemini shortcoming has surfaced that further justifies this idea.As documented in a Techcrunch article, Gemini on Android also lacks the ability to identify songs, something that the Google Assistant could easily accomplish. Queries to identify a song that’s playing, as performed by yours truly on a Samsung S24 Ultra and a Google Pixel, return an error message stating “I can’t assist you with identifying the song directly, but I can help you find it,” further offering suggestions for other ways in which I could do this — including using a third party song identification app.
Google Gemini on Android can't identify currently playing songs like the Assistant does

Results of a query to identify a song on a Samsung and Pixel phone | Image credit: Phone Arena

To be perfectly honest, in my own experience, this isn’t such a huge hurdle to get over. As an alternative, you can always use the Google search widget to tap on the microphone and then tap on the option to identify a song that’s playing; however, this requires a couple more taps than necessary. Similarly, on a Google Pixel phone with the “Now Playing” feature on, you could see the song that’s playing right on the home screen or find it after the fact by looking at your “Now Playing” history. This method is less intrusive but still requires manual interference from the user, which defeats the point of having a voice assistant.
Google Gemini on Android can't identify currently playing songs like the Assistant does

Song identification alternatives on Android: Google search widget (left) and “Now Playing” history (right) | Image credit: Phone Arena

It should be noted that I am currently subscribed to the AI Premium plan, which grants me access to Gemini Advanced, which is supposed to be more advanced than the standard free version. At this time, I am on the free two month trial that the company offered at launch, however, that free trial expires in April, at which point everyone who opted to give Gemini Advanced a chance will be charged $20 a month if not cancelled.

The question remains if Google will get Gemini to work in a way that will make a monthly paid subscription worth keeping. While the lack of song identification doesn’t personally bother me as much, this might not be the case for others who use this functionality on a regular basis. Gemini has already had its share of issues since launch, including the now paused human image generation feature due to the intense backlash it underwent.

At this point, Gemini does feel like a rushed product, lacking the polish and fundamental features of its predecessor. While innovation is certainly welcomed, Gemini currently feels like a beta test. Hopefully, Google swiftly addresses these shortcomings, but for now, it’s tough to recommend Gemini as a true Google Assistant replacement on Android.

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CWE Version 4.14 Released: What’s New!

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CWE Version 4.14 Released: What’s New!
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The Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) project, a cornerstone in the cybersecurity landscape, has unveiled its latest iteration, version 4.14, introducing significant updates and enhancements to bolster the security of both hardware and software systems.

This release underscores the collaborative effort of industry giants and academic institutions, marking a pivotal advancement in identifying and categorizing security weaknesses.

New Entries and Views

Microprocessor Vulnerabilities in the Spotlight

CWE 4.14 introduces four new entries specifically targeting hardware microarchitectures.

These entries address vulnerabilities related to transient execution, a critical aspect of modern CPU design that has been exploited in notable side-channel attacks such as Meltdown and Spectre.

The new weaknesses are

  • CWE-1420: Exposure of Sensitive Information during Transient Execution
  • CWE-1421: Exposure of Sensitive Information in Shared Microarchitectural Structures during Transient Execution
  • CWE-1422: Exposure of Sensitive Information caused by Incorrect Data Forwarding during Transient Execution
  • CWE-1423: Exposure of Sensitive Information caused by Shared Microarchitectural Predictor State that Influences Transient Execution

These additions highlight the importance of addressing hardware-level security to prevent sensitive data exposure through sophisticated cyber-attacks.

Strengthening Industrial Automation Security

CWE 4.14 also introduces a new view, CWE-1424, focusing on “Weaknesses Addressed by ISA/IEC 62443 Requirements” for industrial automation and control systems (IACS).

This view aligns with the ISA/IEC 62443 standards, providing a framework for identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure systems.

Including this view demonstrates the CWE project’s commitment to enhancing the security posture of industrial systems against emerging threats.

A notable enhancement in this release is the introduction of vulnerability mapping labels on all CWE entry web pages.

These labels categorize CWEs as approved, discouraged, or prohibited from vulnerability root cause mapping, offering users quick access to detailed mapping notes.

This feature aims to streamline the process of identifying and understanding the implications of specific weaknesses, facilitating more effective vulnerability management.

Collaborative Effort and Acknowledgments

The development of CWE 4.14 was a collaborative endeavor, with contributions from industry leaders such as Intel, AMD, and ARM, as well as academic institutions including Texas A&M University and Technical University of Darmstadt.

The CWE Program extends its gratitude to these organizations, as well as the members of the CWE ICS/OT Special Interest Group (ICS/OT SIG) and Hardware CWE Special Interest Group (HW CWE SIG), for their invaluable input and support in preparing this new version.

The release of CWE version 4.14 represents a significant step forward in the ongoing effort to secure digital infrastructure from evolving threats.

By addressing both hardware and software vulnerabilities, enhancing the usability of CWE entries, and aligning with industry standards, this update provides a comprehensive resource for cybersecurity professionals.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the CWE project remains a critical tool in the fight against cyber threats, ensuring that our systems are more resilient against attacks.

You can block malware, including Trojans, ransomware, spyware, rootkits, worms, and zero-day exploits, with Perimeter81 malware protection. All are incredibly harmful, can wreak havoc, and damage your network.

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Pig butchering scams, how they work and how to avoid them

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Pig butchering scams, how they work and how to avoid them
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Pig butchering scams are big business. There are hundreds of millions of dollars involved every year. The numbers are not very precise because some see them as a special kind of romance scam, while others classify them as investment fraud.

The victims in Pig Butchering schemes are referred to as pigs by the scammers, who use elaborate storylines to fatten up victims into believing they are in a romantic or otherwise close personal relationship. Once the victim places enough trust in the scammer, they bring the victim into a cryptocurrency investment scheme. Then comes the butchering–meaning they’ll be bled dry of their money.

And they usually start by someone sending you a message that looks like it’s intended for someone else.

Scammers trying to initiate pig butchering scams

The accounts sending the messages often use stock photographs of models for their profile pictures. But even though you won’t know these people, a simple reply of “I’m not Steve, but…” is almost exactly what the scammers want—an initial foothold to talk to you a bit more.

After some small talk, the scammer will ask if you’re familiar with investments, or cryptocurrency. They’ll then do one of two things:

  • Direct you to a genuine cryptocurrency investment portal, and send you some money to invest or have you do it on your own dime. Eventually you’re asked to transfer all funds and/or profit to a separate account which belongs to the scammer. At that point, your money has gone and the proverbial pig has been butchered after a period of so-called “fattening up” (in other words, gaining your trust and convincing you to go all out where investing is concerned).
  • Direct you to a fake cryptocurrency site, often imitating a real portal. The site may well have its numbers tweaked or otherwise deliberately altered to make it look as though your suggested investments are sound bets. The reality is that they are not, and by the time you realize it, your money has gone.

Once you are satisfied with the profit on your investment and decide to cash out, the problems come at you from different directions. A hefty withdrawal fee, a huge tax to be paid, will need to be paid to get your money back. Which you won’t, but this is the last drop the scammers will try to wring out of you.

John Oliver talked at length about Pig Butchering scams in the latest episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), lifting the lid on some shocking examples of people who got scammed, and the role that organized crime plays behind the scenes. (Note that you’ll need to be in the USA to watch it, or have a good VPN 😉

As John Oliver put it:

“You may have an image of a person who might fall for pig butchering, but unless you are looking in a mirror, you might be wrong.”

So here are some pointers.

How to avoid becoming the pig

The good thing about pig butchery scams is that they mostly follow a narrow pattern, with few variations. If you recognize the signs, you stand a very good chance of going about your day with a distinct lack of pig-related issues. The signs are:

  • Stray messages for “someone else” appear out of the blue.
  • The profile pic of the person you’re talking to looks like someone who is a model.
  • Common scam opening lines may involve: Sports, golfing, travel, fitness.
  • At some point they will ask you about investments and/or cryptocurrency.
  • They will ask you to invest, or take some of their money and use that instead.

As you can see, there is a very specific goal in mind for the pig butcher scammers, and if you find yourself drawn down this path, the alarm bells should be ringing by step 4 or 5. This is definitely one of those “If it’s too good to be true” moments, and the part where you make your excuses and leave (but not before hitting block and reporting them).

If you want to find out how much of your own data is currently 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 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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ASUS ROG Phone 8 series is finally available in the US

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ASUS ROG Phone 8 series is finally available in the US
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The ASUS ROG Phone 8 and ROG Phone 8 Pro smartphones are finally available to purchase in the US. Both of those devices were announced almost two months ago, so it’s nice to see them arrive to the States at last.

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 series is now available to pre-order in the US

The thing is, even if you purchase one, you’ll have to wait about a month in order to get it. So you’ll essentially be pre-ordering one. Both phones are available directly via ASUS’ online store and various retailers in the States. You can get them from Amazon, Newegg, and Mobile Advance.

Both devices come in Phantom Black and Rebel Gray colors. The ASUS ROG Phone 8 is priced at $999.99, which gets you a $100 pre-order discount. The ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro will set you back $1,999.99. That model comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro Bundle (24GB of RAM & 1TB of storage) costs $1,499.99.

It’s worth noting that the ‘Bundle’ gets you a free AeroActive Cooler X. Both devices are compatible with GSM networks in the US, including AT&T, T-Mobile, and all MVNOs from both carriers. The purchase links are available below the article.

These are very powerful gaming smartphones

The ASUS ROG Phone 8 and ROG Phone 8 Pro are gaming smartphones, as many of you know. The two phones are actually quite similar. Both are fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and they look the same. They have the same dimensions, and weight too.

Their displays are also identical, you’re getting a 6.78-inch fullHD+ LTPO AMOLED panel on both phones. That panel has a 165Hz refresh rate for gaming, and 120Hz for regular use. The display gets up to 2,500 nits of peak brightness.

ASUS used LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 flash storage on both phones. The ROG Phone 8 comes with more RAM and storage, while the cameras are the same on both phones, globally. The Chinese ROG Phone 8 is inferior to the ‘Pro’ model in the camera department.

We did review the ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro back in January. So if you’d like to know more about it, feel free to check out that article.

Buy the ASUS ROG Phone 8 (Pro) from ASUS

Buy the ASUS ROG Phone 8 (Pro) via Amazon


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If your phone is rooted, you can forget about using RCS with Google Messages

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If your phone is rooted, you can forget about using RCS with Google Messages
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RCS stands for Rich Communication Services; however, in this case, it stands for “Rooters Can’t Send.” According to several reports from Reddit, it appears that Google is blocking RCS messages for people with rooted phones. What makes things worse is that all of this is happening without the user knowing.

RCS is the latest messaging technology that has taken over the mantle after SMS. It provides several advantages over the old technology including larger video messages, better security, Etc. Depending on the messaging app you use, RCS will come on your Android device.

However, Google seems to be blocking RCS messages on rooted phones using Google Messages.

Google doesn’t really like people using rooted devices. This makes sense, as rooted devices typically are less secure than unrooted devices. For example, if your device is rooted, you will not be able to use banking apps.

Well, it appears that Google has taken this to the next step, as RCS messaging is very broken on rooted devices. What really makes this bad is the fact that messages would flat-out refuse to send. People reported that when sending messages to recipients, the message would just disappear rather than be sent. So, it isn’t a matter of RCS being unavailable; the messages just won’t send. That’s a major bummer.

Messages not sending are bad enough, but what makes it worse is the fact that the users are not getting any sort of error message when the messages don’t send. So, people have been experiencing this issue without knowing the cause.

When asked to comment, Google said that it blocks RCS messaging on rooted devices. The company said that it is to ensure security. Also, it said that rooted devices should be knocked back to SMS messages rather than lose message capabilities altogether. However, that does not seem to be the case.

People using Google devices are losing capabilities via Google messages altogether. So, either the company is fibbing, or there is some issue going on.

In any case, if you are experiencing this issue, then you’re going to have to use a messaging app other than Google Messages.


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