Right now, Meta is working on bringing WhatsApp to Meta Verified. The company has been testing several changes in the app that point to this. According to a new report, WhatsApp will eventually let you add your verification badge to your new channels.
If you don’t know what Meta Verified is, here’s a quick rundown. Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. All three of these platforms have their own set of features and perks. However, if you want to unlock additional perks, you can get a Meta Verified subscription. This adds additional perks to these platforms like a verified badge confirming your authenticity, a boost in the algorithm, and more. You can read everything you need to know about Meta verified to get more information.
WhatsApp could let you add your verified badge to your new channels
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that WhatsApp wasn’t initially offered with Meta-verified, as it has a premium business subscription tier. However, back in September, Meta announced that it was working on bringing WhatsApp over. The company is currently testing this capability. When WhatsApp does eventually land on Meta Verified, it will only be for business accounts. So, personal accounts will not be verified.
While WhatsApp is not currently part of the verified crew, the company will eventually let you show your verification status in your channels. You can’t imagine, this only applies to channels created by business accounts.
As spotted in the latest beta version of WhatsApp for Android, WhatsApp will let you show your verification badge on your channels. Since this is a leak from a beta version of the app, you may want to take this news with a grain of salt. There’s no telling if WhatsApp will introduce this feature.
Being able to show your verification status for your channels is a great feature because, if you are following a business accounts Channel, you will want to trust that the business is legitimate. Well, a verification badge is a way of showing legitimacy. Verified accounts are much more trusted than unverified accounts.
At this point, we don’t know when Meta will roll this feature out, but we imagine that it will launch when WhatsApp officially lands on Meta Verified. So, we will just have to wait and see
23andMe even goes as far as to claim that this wasn’t a data breach at 23andMe at all. The reasoning:
“… unauthorized actors managed to access certain user accounts in instances where users recycled their own login credentials—that is, users used the same usernames and passwords used on 23andMe.com as on other websites that had been subject to prior security breaches, and users negligently recycled and failed to update their passwords following these past security incidents, which are unrelated to 23andMe.”
In other words, it was their own fault since they re-used their passwords for services that were breached in the past. Accessing accounts on a website by using lists of usernames and passwords exposed on another is known as “credential stuffing”, and it’s both common and effective. It works because users often use the same password for multiple websites.
What 23andMe seems to have forgotten is that only 14,000 accounts were breached by credential stuffing. Afterwards, the attackers used those accounts to access a much larger trove of data via 23andMe’s feature called DNA Relatives which matches users with their genetic relatives.
So, in what was only made possible by 23andMe, customers who didn’t re-use their passwords and even had 2FA enabled still saw their data stolen. This resulted in the data of as many as seven million 23andMe customers being offered for sale on criminal forums.
We spoke about the breach in our most recent Lock and Code podcast episode. You can listen to that wherever you get your podcasts, or below:
This is the second time the company has attempted to downplay the incident. In its first communication about the incident, 23andMe claimed the stolen data did not include genomic sequencing data. Later, the company acknowledged that for a subset of these accounts, the stolen data might indeed contain health-related information based upon the user’s genetics.
The data in a file found by BleepingComputer contained information including 23andMe users’ account IDs, full names, sex, date of birth, DNA profiles, location, and region details.
As a result, at least four class action complaints were submitted in California seeking relief for the damage done by 23andMe’s failure to protect customer data. The lawsuits focus on different failures on 23andMe’s side to guard the safety of sensitive data, communicate appropriately about the incident, and monitor its network for abnormal activity.
In its defense, 23andMe reasons that customers re-used their passwords, gave permission to share data with other users on 23andMe’s platform, and that the medical information was non-substantive.
I put the emphasis on “other users” in order to point out a flaw in 23andMe’s reasoning—agreeing to share with other users is hardly the same as agreeing to share with a data thief. Without knowing the exact details of what happened, we feel that monitoring would indeed have raised alerts about abnormal activity and allowed them to stop the breach earlier. As it seems now, 23andMe only became aware of a problem when someone offered the data up for sale.
Whatever the judges may decide in the end, it’s looking like 23andMe has shown a lot of disregard for its customers’ privacy and the level of sensitivity of the data.
Data breach
There are some actions you can take if you are, or suspect you may have been, the victim of a data breach.
Check the vendor’s advice. Every breach is different, so check with the vendor to find out what’s happened, and follow any specific advice they offer.
Change your password. You can make a stolen password useless to thieves by changing it. Choose a strong password that you don’t use for anything else. Better yet, let a password manager choose one for you.
Enable two-factor authentication (2FA). If you can, use a FIDO2-compliant hardware key, laptop or phone as your second factor. Some forms of two-factor authentication (2FA) can be phished just as easily as a password. 2FA that relies on a FIDO2 device can’t be phished.
Watch out for fake vendors. The thieves may contact you posing as the vendor. Check the vendor website to see if they are contacting victims, and verify any contacts using a different communication channel.
Take your time. Phishing attacks often impersonate people or brands you know, and use themes that require urgent attention, such as missed deliveries, account suspensions, and security alerts.
Set up identity monitoring.Identity monitoring alerts you if your personal information is found being traded illegally online, and helps you recover after.
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.
Days ahead of their official unveiling, Samsung’s Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 Ultra have surfaced in new benchmark entries on Geekbench. While the listings don’t reveal any new information, the benchmark scores can be a talking point. The scores of both devices have improved over the past couple of months or so, particularly in the multi-core CPU tests. It appears Samsung has optimized the software ahead of the market debut.
Galaxy S24 benchmark scores surge ahead of launch
We have long known that Samsung will ship the Galaxy S24 phones with two different chipsets. The Ultra model will arrive with an overclocked version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor globally. The other two models will also get the Snapdragon chip in the US, Canada, China, and a few other markets. However, they will be powered by Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2400 processor in the rest of the world.
Well, there are rumors of the Plus mode getting the Snapdragon in more markets than the vanilla Galaxy S24. But the gist is that they won’t exclusively feature the Qualcomm chip. Geekbench listings have already confirmed Samsung’s dual-chip strategy for these phones. While benchmarks never tell the full story, some early entries suggested a sub-par performance for the Exynos-powered Galaxy S24+ and Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S24 Ultra.
In one previous instance, the Plus model scored 2,067 in the single-core CPU test and 6,520 in the multi-core test. The Ultra scored 2,234 and 6,807, respectively. These scores aren’t the best in the segment. Thankfully, the devices are capable of delivering a better performance than that. In recent Geekbench runs, the Galaxy S24+ scored 2,193 and 6,895 while the Galaxy S24 Ultra scored 2,297 and 7,104, respectively.
As you can see, the scores have increased substantially, particularly the multi-core scores. If anything, this suggests Samsung’s continuous work on optimizing the software ahead of the launch. The Snapdragon chip still outperforms the Exynos but we are comparing two different phones. The Ultra is bigger and must have a more robust cooling system than the Plus. It’d be better to compare the Exynos and Snapdragon versions of the Galaxy S24+.
The new Samsung flagships are just around the corner
These benchmark entries for the upcoming Samsung flagships come just ahead of their official unveiling. The Korean behemoth has scheduled the launch event for January 17. All three models will debut on the same day and will be available for pre-order shortly, at least in most major markets. Samsung hasn’t announced pre-order benefits but we expect a free memory upgrade and some discount coupons.
A vulnerability in the encryption algorithm used by the Black Basta ransomware has led researchers to develop a free decryptor tool.
Active since April 2022, the Black Basta ransomware group employs a double extortion strategy, encrypting the vital servers and sensitive data of their victims and threatening to reveal the sensitive information on their public leak site.
Since the beginning of 2022, the criminal group has received at least $107 million in Bitcoin ransom payments. Over 329 victims have been affected by the ransomware gang, according to the experts.
A free decryptor has been offered by independent security research and consulting company SRLabs to assist victims of the Black Basta ransomware in getting their files back.
How Can the Files Be Recovered?
Researchers claim that if the plaintext of 64 encrypted bytes is known, data may be recovered. The size of a file determines whether it may be recovered entirely or partially. Files with less than 5000 bytes in size cannot be restored.
Complete recovery is achievable for files ranging in size from 5000 bytes to 1GB. The first 5000 bytes of files larger than 1GB will be lost; however, the remaining bytes can be restored.
“The recovery hinges on knowing the plaintext of 64 encrypted bytes of the file. In other words, knowing 64 bytes is not sufficient in itself since the known plaintext bytes need to be in a location of the file that is subject to encryption based on the malware’s logic of determining which parts of the file to encrypt”, the researchers said.
It is possible to know 64 bytes of plaintext in the correct location for several file types, particularly virtual machine disk images.
Researchers developed various tools to aid in analyzing encrypted files and determining whether decryption is feasible.
The decrypt auto tool may recover files containing encrypted zero bytes. Manual review may be required depending on how often and to what extent the malware has encrypted the file.
Decrypting file with the decryptauto.py tool
Researchers say a magic byte sequence that is not included in the encrypted file is left by the malware at the end. The file only has zero bytes after the tool has finished running. Thus, the file has been successfully decrypted.
The file successfully decrypted
Depending on the file size, the first 5000 bytes are used correctly by the keystream. Stated otherwise, those bytes—aside from the initial 64—will be lost.
Researchers say, “Virtualized disk images, however, have a high chance of being recovered because the actual partitions and their file systems tend to start later.
So the ransomware destroyed the MBR or GPT partition table, but tools such as “testdisk” can often recover or re-generate those.”
In what seems like yet another attempt to adapt its platform to prepare for new regulations, Facebook has started rolling out a new feature called Link History.
Link History allows users to view and re-visit links they have visited with their Facebook browsing activity.
Obviously Facebook will tell us that the new feature is for its users’ benefit, but we can see several ways in which this benefits Meta even more. The only positive for me is that it could be a handy option for finding that thing that you saw on Facebook that one time, but you can’t quite remember the details. This gets defeated partially by the fact that users that have Link History enabled report they were unable to see the Link History page at all when looking at Facebook on their laptop.
However, as Facebook tracking goes at least this is an option that you have some control over. On most, if not all, popular websites you’ll find Meta’s and other’s tracking pixels. With an ongoing battle against cookies and other trackers, this may be a new way for Facebook to track its user’s behavior.
With Link History, Facebook now has another separate place where it stores details about the websites you visit along with the settings to control that data. Settings that are, deliberately or not, hard to find and easy to misinterpret.
The company itself says:
“When you allow link history, we may use your information to improve your ads across Meta technologies.”
Translated, this means that they will use the information to provide you with targeted ads.
Recently Meta got sued over coercing users to pay to stop tracking. Organizations concerned about our privacy say that by doing this, Meta has changed the user’s choices from “yes or no” to “pay or okay.”
Research in 2022 showed that in-app browsers inject JavaScript code into third party websites that cause potential security and privacy risks to the user. This resulted in a class-action complaint against Meta in San Francisco’s federal court, alleging the company built a secret workaround to Apple’s safeguards that protect iPhone users from tracking.
So this may be another attempt to follow users around on the web. Unlike on your desktop, clicking a link in Facebook, or Instagram, will open a special browser built into the app, rather than the default browser of the device.
For now, a limited number of Android and iPhone users will see this option appear in the Facebook Mobile Browser. But the company says it will roll out the option globally over time.
How to turn link history on or off
Link history is turned on by default so you will have to opt-out if you don’t want it.
Tap any link inside the Facebook app to open Facebook’s Mobile Browser.
Tap the three dots (more actions) in the bottom right, then tap Go to Settings.
To turn link history on, tap the slider to on (blue) next to Allow link history, then tap Allow to confirm.
To turn link history off, tap the slider to off (grey) next to Allow link history, then tap Don’t allow to confirm.
Note: When you turn link history off, this will immediately clear your link history, and you will no longer be able to see any links you’ve visited. Facebook promises to delete the link history it’s created for you within 90 days.
We don’t just report on privacy—we offer you the option to use it.
Privacy risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep your online privacy yours by using Malwarebytes Privacy VPN.
After confirming the Galaxy S24 launch for January 17, Samsung has gotten down to the business of hyping up the new flagships. It is teasing new AI capabilities of the phones, including AI-powered cameras. The company touts unprecedented clarity in zoom shots thanks to artificial intelligence, particularly on the Ultra model. A fresh leak has shed more light on what Samsung has up its sleeves. The new zoom camera can record 8K videos.
Galaxy S24 Ultra can capture 8K videos at 5x zoom
Samsung has made a major change to the camera hardware of its Ultra flagship this year. In place of a 10MP 10x zoom camera, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 50MP 5x lens. Thanks to the new high-resolution sensor, the zoom camera can now record 8K videos at 5x magnification, X tipster Ahmed Qwaider revealed. The Galaxy S23 Ultra can only record 4K videos with its zoom camera.
While the 200MP main camera of the 2023 model can capture 8K videos, you lose quality when zooming in unless you settle for 4K resolution. So, this change seems to have brought improvements to the overall camera experience of Samsung’s top-of-the-line flagship. If you are worried about shorter optical zoom capabilities (5x instead of 10), Samsung is using AI to match 10x optical zoom quality with in-sensor crop from the 5x lens.
This is something we have heard from another reputed leakster, Ice Universe. In fact, they say the Galaxy S24 Ultra captures better 10x zoom shots than the Galaxy S23 Ultra. “Many people are pessimistic about the quality of 10x photos taken by S24 Ultra… I was pessimistic [too]… until I saw the comparison of samples,” the tipster said. The new flagship “definitely” takes better pictures at 10x zoom, they added.
The same X post from Ahmed Qwaider adds that Samsung’s Single Take function will work even at 10x zoom. Single Take captures multiple photos and short videos of a scene at once. You can check the results and keep the best shots. Additionally, the Galaxy S24 Ultra‘s 5x zoom camera will be available in Portrait Mode. So, if you want to capture a close-up portrait, the new Samsung flagship can do it for you.
Older Samsung flagships might get some new AI features
Camera enhancements aren’t the only applications of Samsung’s Galaxy AI built into the Galaxy S24 lineup. The company has also readied AI-powered photo and video editing tools, AI call translation in real-time, AI wallpapers, AI lockscreen effects, and more. Some of these features will be available offline, while others work online and require an internet connection. You may also have to sign in with a Samsung or Google account.
Samsung has baked these AI features into One UI 6.1, the new version of its custom software that will debut with the Galaxy S24 series. It will push the latest version to older flagships via a software update. It remains to be seen if the new AI features make it into those phones. The company may start rolling out the updates once the new flagships arrive on the market. Rumors suggest Samsung will open general sales of the Galaxy S24 lineup on January 30.
Dell has been at the forefront of the PC market for decades and with good reason, because it’s consistently bringing top products to market, such as the new UltraSharp 40 curved display that it just announced at CES today. This new 40-inch ultrawide monitor is one of two new UltraSharp displays that Dell is introducing. The other is the UltraSharp 34. It’s a smaller display so it’s intended for those that are looking for something a little more compact, but not too compact. At 34 inches it’s big enough to fit all of your work on-screen without taking up too much space on your desk.
Both monitors are set to be released globally on February 27 of this year in the US. Both should also be available directly from Dell as well as various retail partners. They’ll come at a cost though. The Dell UltraSharp 40 will start at $2,399.99. And for a 40-inch monitor that’s certainly a bit of a steep price. The smaller UltraSharp 34 will retail for a starting price of $1,019.99 making it a little more manageable for the everyday consumer.
Something to consider though, is that both of these monitors are geared towards content creators and professionals. Specifically, those that want a monitor that delivers high color accuracy and vibrant, clear picture quality.
The Dell UltraSharp 40 announced at CES is the first monitor to come with a new screen health certification
Dell’s latest UltraSharp monitors are introducing a range of new improvements over past iterations. Such as a better refresh rate on the UltraSharp 40, which has been doubled, bumping up from 60Hz to 120Hz. This makes it a little more viable as a gaming monitor. If gaming is something you would do in your downtime. In addition to the boosted refresh rate, the UltraSharp 40 and the UltraSharp 34 come with a new ‘Eye Health’ certification from TÜV Rheinland.
This new industry standard, Dell says, aims to combat eye fatigue. If you’ve ever sat in front of a computer for long periods of time, day after day, then you may have experienced eye fatigue. These new monitors are designed to help reduce the signs of it. While not getting rid of eye fatigue altogether, the Eye Health-certified monitors should help lower the strain. And that should sound good to anyone who needs to work in front of a computer all day.
The Dell UltraSharp 40 is also a 5K monitor with a 5120 x 2160 resolution. Promoting enhanced clarity and detail with highly accurate color contrast. Additionally, it supports DisplayPort 2.1 and Thunderbolt 4. The Thunderbolt 4 port can even be used as a single cable for 140W power delivery.
Dell’s smaller UltraSharp 34 offers many of the same features
It won’t have the larger display or the 5K resolution panel (opting for a 2K panel instead), but it does come with the same Eye Health certification making it a good alternative. It has the benefit of taking up less surface area. But it also costs more than $1,000 less than its larger counterpart. Dell is also implementing the same Thunderbolt 4 support for single-cable power delivery up to 90W.
The latest stable channel update for Google Chrome, version 120.0.6099.199 for Mac and Linux and 120.0.6099.199/200 for Windows, is now available and will shortly be rolled out to all users.
Furthermore, the Extended Stable channel has been updated to 120.0.6099.200 for Windows and 120.0.6099.199 for Mac.
There are six security fixes in this release. Three of these flaws allowed an attacker to take control of a browser through use-after-free conditions.
Use-after-free is a condition in which the memory allocation is freed, but the program does not clear the pointer to that memory. This is due to incorrect usage of dynamic memory allocation during an operation.
Use after free in ANGLE in Google Chrome presents a high-severity vulnerability that might have led to a remote attacker compromising the renderer process and using a crafted HTML page to exploit heap corruption.
Google awarded $15,000 to Toan (suto) Pham of Qrious Secure for reporting this vulnerability.
This high-severity flaw was a heap buffer overflow in ANGLE that could have been exploited by a remote attacker using a crafted HTML page to cause heap corruption.
Toan (suto) Pham and Tri Dang of Qrious Secure received a $15,000 reward from Google for discovering this vulnerability.
A high-severity use after free in WebAudio in Google Chrome might potentially allow a remote attacker to exploit heap corruption through a manipulated HTML page.
Google awarded Huang Xilin of Ant Group Light-Year Security Lab a $10,000 reward for finding this issue.
A remote attacker may have been able to exploit heap corruption through a specifically designed HTML page due to high severity vulnerability in Google’s use after free in WebGPU.
The details about the reporter of this vulnerability were mentioned as anonymous.
The use after free conditions existed in Google Chrome before version 120.0.6099.199. To avoid exploiting these vulnerabilities, Google advises users to update to the most recent version of Google Chrome.
How to Update Google Chrome
Open Chrome.
At the top right, click More.
Click Help About Google Chrome.
Click Update Google Chrome. Important: If you can’t find this button, you’re on the latest version.
Many Android users can relate to the frustration of dealing with poor resource management caused by bloatware or unwanted pre-installed apps. These preinstalled apps not only clutter the device but also impact the system performance and ultimately the user experience. It becomes especially noticeable in entry-level devices as they often get more pre-installed apps than the pricier models and have fewer system resources.
The good news is that Android 14 seems to address this longstanding resource management issue by introducing a dedicated feature designed to manage it efficiently, potentially enhancing both battery life and overall system performance. Back in October last year, Dave Burke, the VP of Engineering for Android talked about some significant performance gains that came as a result of a smart control on cached processes. This is also expected to be one of the reasons for the improved thermal management of the Google Pixel 8 Pro.
Mishaal Rahman delves into the details of this Android 14 feature (via Wccftech), highlighting its ability to reduce memory and battery usage specifically for pre-installed applications. The operating system conducts a scan of system partitions during the device’s boot-up process. If Android 14 detects an app with “exported launcher activity” in this scan, it will place the app in a “STOPPED” state until the user actively opens it. This mechanism ensures that preloaded apps remain dormant, consuming minimal system resources until the user initiates their launch.
The success of the resource management feature in Android 14 will depend on the inclusion of apps in the allowlist
Described by Google as a feature that “significantly reduces the system resource usage,” this innovation has the potential to address long-standing concerns about bloatware’s impact on device performance. Google plans to incorporate this feature into the Android Open Source Project, allowing all Android Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) the option to opt-out. OEMs can even create an allowlist, designating specific preloaded apps that are necessary for a proper system operation to consume system resources while the rest remains “STOPPED”. Rahman notes that certain stock Google apps are already part of the allowlist in the Google Mobile Services bundle provided to various OEMs.
While the implementation of this feature depends on how OEMs choose to integrate it, its potential benefits could bring about significant improvements in the behavior of Android phones running Android 14 and future versions. Nonetheless, the success of this feature depends on widespread adoption and the inclusion of apps by OEMs in the allowlist.
Dell is introducing a refresh of its XPS laptop lineup at CES today and there’s one central theme that seems likely to connect all of the laptops that will release in 2024, and that’s AI.
AI is at the heart of the new Dell XPS laptops thanks to the inclusion of Intel’s new Core Ultra processors. These new CPUs come with a neural processing unit that helps to offload some of the work that would generally be placed on the CPU or GPU. The end goal here is that the user gets a smarter PC that works just as efficiently if not more. All while sipping power compared to the previous generations. In short, more powerful laptops that have a longer-lasting battery.
All of the laptops in Dell’s 2024 XPS portfolio come with Intel Core Ultra CPUs. This includes the XPS 16 and the XPS 14 which are new screen sizes for the laptop family. As well as the XPS 13, which Dell rebranded from the XPS 13 Plus that it launched in 2022. You’re looking at similar features and specs across the board but each laptop also offers something a little different. For instance, the Dell XPS 16 can come with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU for graphics. The XPS 14 meanwhile comes with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, and the XPS 13 is running with Intel Arc graphics.
All three of the laptop models can come with up to 64GB of RAM too. With loads of storage at up to 4TB of space on a PCIe Gen4 SSD (this will be available post-launch for the XPS 13). Dell is also sticking with the large seamless glass haptic touchpad.
New Dell XPS laptops are powered by AI
Whether we like it or not, AI is becoming more prominent in today’s tech. Laptops and desktops are not exempt from these advancements. With the new XPS portfolio, the Intel Core Ultra CPU’s neural processing unit isn’t where the AI stops. It’s certainly a big part of the AI influences. However, users will see more AI features laced throughout the hardware. For Dell, this manifests in the form of Microsoft’s Copilot feature being baked in with Windows 11. And to make interacting with this as simple as possible Dell has added a dedicated Copilot key to the keyboard on each laptop.
In terms of the display, Dell is offering a few options with each model. The XPS 13 will get FHD+, QHD+, and 3K+ display options with the 3K+ display being an OLED panel. The XPS 14 meanwhile will have options for both FHD+ and 3.2K+ resolution displays. The top-end display resolution will once again be OLED. Dell follows the same formula with the XPS 16. Offering an OLED panel at the top-end resolution of 4K+, while also offering an FHD+ option for those that want to spend a little less money.
Dell plans to launch all three new XPS laptops sometime soon. It hasn’t announced launch dates yet, but it has announced pricing. The XPS 13 will start at $1,299, while the XPS 14 will start at $1,699 and the XPS 16 will start at $1,899.
