Samsung Galaxy A35 leaked in official renders

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Samsung Galaxy A35 leaked in official renders
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Yesterday, we gave you an exclusive look at the Galaxy A55, Samsung’s upcoming premium mid-range smartphone. The device is expected to debut alongside the Galaxy A35 in a few months, which is a slightly less premium offering. So, without wasting much time, we also bring exclusive official renders of the latter courtesy of our trusted, confidential source.

Samsung Galaxy A35 exclusive official renders

Samsung is readying the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 in the same three colors: Awesome Iceblue, Awesome Lilac, and Wesome Navy (shown in a gallery below). The two handsets sport an identical design too. This means the latter features the Key Island button design, which the company introduced with the Galaxy A15 and Galaxy A25 last month. As part of this design, Samsung has created a bulge on the frame to house the power and volume keys on the right side.

The rest of the frame is completely flat and has rounded corners. While there have been rumors about Samsung equipping the Galaxy A35 with a metallic frame, that doesn’t appear to be the case. The renders shared with us by our source don’t feature any antenna lines on the frame, hinting at a plastic build. The renders of the Galaxy A55, which is also rumored to get a metallic frame, do have antenna lines.

The switch from a U-shaped notch on the Galaxy A34 to a punch-hole design on the Galaxy A35 is confirmed, though. The display has thick bezels with the chin thicker than the rest of the bezels. On the back, there’s an identical vertical camera array with no universal housing. As expected, Samsung has equipped the phone with three cameras. The LED flash unit is next to the camera setup. There’s no change to the rear design.

A close look reveals that the Galaxy A35 is slightly thicker than the Galaxy A55. However, the latter has its camera lenses protruding further away from the rear panel. Including the camera thickness, the premium model is bulkier. The camera protrusion of the former is minimal. It would be difficult to tell the difference between the two without seeing the phone up close, though. They are so identical.

The Galaxy A35 may get a much-needed camera upgrade

Rumors say Samsung will equip the Galaxy A35 with a 50MP primary rear camera. It is a much newer sensor and a major camera hardware upgrade over the Galaxy A34’s 48MP unit. However, the rest of the cameras may remain unchanged, including the 13MP selfie shooter. Not much else is known about the new mid-range phone. We expect more leaks about it in the next few weeks, particularly after the Galaxy S24 launch.

Awesome Iceblue:

Awesome Lilac:

Wesome Navy:


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This is what Google Assistant With Bard could look like

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This is what Google Assistant With Bard could look like
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Microsoft has gone all in with AI by claiming that Edge is an AI browser. However, Google is also putting a ton of energy into AI, and we’ve been expecting it to fuse Google Assistant with Bard. Well, a leak has just revealed what Google Assistant with Bard could look like.

In case you don’t know, Google has been planning on powering up the assistant with Bard for a while. While Google Assistant does use some rather great AI, Bard adds a deeper level by using generative AI. It was the company’s flagship AI tool before it unveiled Gemini. There’s a difference between Bard and Gemini, they’re both very powerful AI tools.

A new leak shows us how Google Assistant powered by Bard could look

Since this is a leak, you’ll want to take the information with a grain of salt. We know that Google plans on bringing Assistant with Bard to the market, but there’s no telling exactly how it’s going to look. So, since we’re talking about leaked information, don’t be surprised if anything changes.

We all should be familiar with how Google Assistant looks. The Assistant pops out of a panel at the bottom of the screen. Well, looking at the first screenshot, it appears that Assistant will maintain its bottom panel, but it will look a little bit different.

At the top of the panel, we see the Bard sparkle logo. This means that the brain power behind Assistant will be Bard. You’re still likely to hear the Google Assistant voice that you assigned, but the text will be generated through Bard. In another screenshot, we see the Google app. Above the Google search bar, there seems to be a secondary search bar that also has The Bard sparkle logo. This is most likely a shortcut to access Bard without having to go to the actual website.

These leaked images show a few changes in refinements compared to previously. This could mean that Assistant with Bard is close to launching.


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T-Mobile customers can now get Hulu as a free perk

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T-Mobile customers can now get Hulu as a free perk
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Most of us remember how big T-Mobile’s “Netflix On Us” promotion was back when Stranger Things was popping off. Well, T-Mobile offers a handful of streaming services as free perks for being a member, and a company just added one more. If you are a loyal T-Mobile customer, you can get Hulu as a free perk.

Right now, prices for all three of the major carriers are pretty sky-high. These companies know this, so this is why they add other services and perks along with their phone service to help sweeten the deal. However, T-Mobile is the only company that offers free services along with one of their plans. Right now, you can get services such as Apple TV+, Netflix, and MLB.TV.

T-Mobile customers can get Hulu as a free perk

Obviously, plans like these always have a few things to take into consideration. For starters, it looks like T-Mobile is only offering Hulu on its GO5G Next plan. This is the most expensive plan from T-Mobile, costing $105/month. You can knock that down to $100/month by enrolling in auto payments.

As for which version of Hulu you’re getting, you will be getting Hulu with ads. This is the cheapest tier of the platform which costs $7.99/month. Sure, there are ads, but it’s still a great deal considering that you’re getting it for free. T-Mobile will officially offer this plan starting on January 24th. So, we are a couple of weeks away from that.

Right now, we don’t know if this plan will be affected by Hulu’s eventual merger with Disney+. In case you don’t know, Disney+ has been planning on merging with Hulu into one unified app for a couple of months. It’s currently being tested in beta, and we’re not sure how that testing is going at the moment. In any case, it’s not likely that this will affect the content you see on Hulu.


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Microsoft disables ms-appinstaller after malicious use

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Microsoft disables ms-appinstaller after malicious use
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In what might be conceived as one of Microsoft’s new year resolutions, it has disclosed that it’s turned off the ms-appinstaller protocol handler by default. The change is designed to make installing apps easier, but it also makes installing malware easier.

Typically, an app needs to be on a device before it can be installed, which normally means that a user has to download it first. To save time and disk space, Microsoft introduced the ability to install applications directly from a web server, without downloading it first. It relies on links that use the ms-appinstaller URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) scheme, which are handled by App Installer rather than a web browser. When software is installed this way users don’t see SmartScreen or browser warnings about downloaded executables.

Microsoft reports that it observed malicious activity where criminals tricked users into installing malware using ms-appinstaller links, allowing them to bypass mechanisms like SmartScreen that are designed to keep users safe.

Several cybercriminals were found selling a malware kit as a service that abuses the MSIX file format and ms-appinstaller protocol handler. They distribute signed malicious MSIX application packages using websites accessed through malicious advertisements for legitimate popular software.

The abuse was first noticed in November 2023. Several known groups were using it in different scenarios, all of which lead users to landing pages that mimicked legitimate software vendor sites, where the malware was available via ms-appinstaller links or malicious MSIX installers.

Cybercriminals used four different techniques to spread their malware:

  • SEO poisoning. Users who searched for legitimate software applications on Bing or Google were presented with search results for malicious landing pages.
  • Malvertising. Users searching for software were directed to malicious landing pages via search ads mimicking legitimate vendors.
  • Teams messages. Users were sent messages over Microsoft teams linking to malicious landing pages.
  • Social engineering. Microsoft showed an example of an employement opportunity site that tricked visitors into installing malware by saying it was a new PDF reader version that was required in order to view a document.

The criminal groups identified as using these methods were all initial access brokers (IABs). IABs are individuals or organizations that specialise in providing ransomware gangs with access to company networks.

Malicious installers can be spotted by looking at the publisher information in the ms-appinstaller prompt.

Adobe Protected PDF Viewer not published by Adobe, but by Diamondz Consulting Limited
Image courtesy of Microsoft

To manually disable ms-appinstaller on your network, set the Group Policy EnableMSAppInstallerProtocol to disabled.

How to avoid ransomware

  • Block common forms of entry. Create a plan for patching vulnerabilities in internet-facing systems quickly; and disable or harden remote access like RDP and VPNs.
  • Prevent intrusions. Stop threats early before they can even infiltrate or infect your endpoints. Use endpoint security software that can prevent exploits and malware used to deliver ransomware.
  • Detect intrusions. Make it harder for intruders to operate inside your organization by segmenting networks and assigning access rights prudently. Use EDR or MDR to detect unusual activity before an attack occurs.
  • Stop malicious encryption. Deploy Endpoint Detection and Response software like ThreatDown EDR that uses multiple different detection techniques to identify ransomware, and ransomware rollback to restore damaged system files.
  • Create offsite, offline backups. Keep backups offsite and offline, beyond the reach of attackers. Test them regularly to make sure you can restore essential business functions swiftly.
  • Don’t get attacked twice. Once you’ve isolated the outbreak and stopped the first attack, you must remove every trace of the attackers, their malware, their tools, and their methods of entry, to avoid being attacked again.

Our business solutions remove all remnants of ransomware and prevent you from getting reinfected. Want to learn more about how we can help protect your business? Get a free trial below.


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Scammers Selling Twitter (X) Gold Accounts Fueling Disinfo, Phishing

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Scammers Selling Twitter (X) Gold Accounts Fueling Disinfo, Phishing
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Scammers are peddling compromised and newly created Twitter Gold accounts, resulting in scams and disinformation.

Cybersecurity researchers at CloudSEK have published a white paper titled “Gold Rush on the Dark Web: Threat Actors Target X (formally Twitter) Gold Accounts,” highlighting the rise in scam campaigns surrounding Twitter’s new tiered verification system, Gold accounts, introduced in December 2022.

As per the company, cybercriminals are actively selling compromised Twitter accounts, specifically leveraging accounts with the platform’s prestigious “Gold” verification badge. Contrary to their intended use, these badges are typically reserved for high-profile individuals and businesses.

These badges, displayed alongside the familiar blue and grey ticks, enhance visibility and provide exclusive features. The cost to obtain a gold verification badge is $1,000 per month in the U.S. Unfortunately, this exclusivity also makes these accounts lucrative and prime targets for cybercriminals.

The paper, authored by Rishika Desai, discusses the unauthorized acquisition of Twitter Gold accounts, risks like phishing and disinformation campaigns, and the need for strong cybersecurity practices.

CloudSEK researchers discovered a rise in sales of Twitter Gold accounts with verification on dark web forums and marketplaces. These ads are traced back to online shops and their marketing partners, with most detected using Google Dork.

In a particular case, a compromised Twitter Gold account had its primary domain set as abc.com. The latest post was published in 2019. Afterwards, in 2022, a new post emerged, creating a clear link to the purchase of gold from cybercriminals occurring after 2019.

The new post directed users to an alternate domain, ‘ABC.XYZ,’ established just two months ago. Investigation into the passive DNS resolution by CloudSEK suggested the account can spread disinformation, phishing websites, job scams, and crypto scams. These accounts can also be redirected to malware or embedded Trojans.

Additionally, researchers discovered accounts with a gold tick mark subscribed, posting links to malicious domains. The price distributions varied based on the type of account, with fresh homegrown accounts costing $0.30, blue tick accounts costing $35, older accounts costing $1.5, and converted accounts costing $1200-$2000. Blue and gold affiliates cost $150 and $500 per account, respectively.

Threat actors offer 15 inactive accounts per week for conversion into gold subscriptions, resulting in over 720 accounts annually, with sales ranging from USD 1200 to USD 2000 and gold badges ranging from USD 1200 to USD 2000.

Scammers Selling Twitter (X) Gold Accounts Fueling Phishing, Disinformation
Screenshot: CloudSEK

Upon further digging, researchers identified that the compromise methods in this campaign include brute-forcing passwords and malware, while scam tactics include phishing links and disinformation campaigns. All purchases are made through a middleman, ensuring authenticity.

Sellers can boost followers of purchased accounts for as low as USD 135, and buyers can add multiple affiliates for free but must pay USD 50 per affiliate to indicate the sub-account is part or affiliated with the Prime Gold account.

Threat actors often replace unused accounts with their data, preventing the primary user from recovering. Researchers at CloudSEK collected six Twitter Gold-enabled accounts, with followers ranging from 2000 to over 72,000.

The first advertisement for Twitter Gold accounts was traced back to March 2023. The scam indicates that Twitter Gold services are not yet mature enough to handle such incidents, and cybercriminals can become guarantors of deals, creating a huge reseller market behind compromised accounts.

To minimize the risk of the Twitter Gold Buy scam, organizations should close dormant accounts if inactive for an extended period and train and educate employees on workplace cybersecurity practices. They must update password policies, educate them against cracked software, encourage using native password managers instead of web browsers, and install endpoint security software on employee devices to detect malicious software.

  1. SMS-Based 2FA Will Be Limited to Twitter Blue Users
  2. Hacker found using Twitter memes to spread malware
  3. Pink Drainer Posed as Journalists, Stole $3M from Twitter Users
  4. Prominent & verified Twitter accounts hacked to run crypto scam
  5. Scammers bought Twitter ads to run verified badge phishing scam

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Samsung may have delayed the Galaxy A55 launch by a month

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Samsung may have delayed the Galaxy A55 launch by a month
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Yesterday, we exclusively revealed the official renders of the Galaxy A55, Samsung’s next premium mid-range smartphone. We shared renders of the phone in three different colors, giving you a detailed look at its design from various angles. A new report has now shed some light on its launch date. If true, the device will arrive about a month later than expected.

Samsung Galaxy A55 to launch later than expected

According to SamMobile, Samsung plans to unveil the Galaxy A55 sometime in early Q2 2024. While we don’t have a precise date, we know that the second quarter of the year begins in April. So, at the earliest, the phone will debut in April. If the report is accurate, this would mean a delay of about a month compared to the Galaxy A54 launch. The 2023 model debuted in mid-March.

Samsung usually launches its latest Galaxy A5x model alongside the latest Galaxy A3x. We expect it to keep the trend going this year. In other words, the Galaxy A35 may also be affected by this delay. We leaked its exclusive official renders in the same three colors earlier today. It will be slightly less premium than the Galaxy A55, packing modest specs in some areas.

Most notably, it appears to miss out on the metallic upgrade the premium model is getting. As you can see in the renders we leaked exclusively, the Galaxy A55 has antenna lines on its frame. Those lines are a confirmation of a metallic frame, presumably made of aluminum. The Galaxy A35 doesn’t have antenna lines. Last year, Samsung used a plastic frame on the Galaxy A54 and Galaxy A34.

Both phones might feature a 50MP camera

While we don’t have detailed specs, leaks have revealed a few things about the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35. The latter is said to get a 50MP primary rear camera, which it could share with the former. The two devices may also pack identical batteries with the same charging speed—5,000mAh and 25W, unchanged from last year. Samsung’s Galaxy S24 flagship also charges at just 25W, so there’s little chance the mid-range models will get faster charging.

The build quality won’t be the only difference between the two, though. The Galaxy A35 should be slightly bigger. We also expect Samsung to equip them with different chipsets. The Galaxy A55 may get its in-house Exynos 1480 processor, a new 4nm solution clocked at up to 2.75GHz. It features AMD’s RDNA2-based Xclipse 530 GPU co-developed with Samsung. We should see more leaks about these phones in the coming months.


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US Galaxy A52 5G grabs Samsung’s Android 14 update

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US Galaxy A52 5G grabs Samsung’s Android 14 update
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Samsung Galaxy A52 5G users in the US, rejoice. The company has just sent a New Year’s gift your way. Your phone is getting the Android 14 update with One UI 6.0 on top. The December 2023 security patch is also part of the big update, which started rolling out recently. International versions of the phone have already picked up One UI 6.0.

Galaxy A52 5G gets Android 14 in the US

As of this writing, the Android 14-based One UI 6.0 update appears to be limited to carrier-locked variants of the Galaxy A52 5G in the US. The update is rolling out to users on a handful of carrier networks with the firmware build number A526USQUCFWL1. It will reach more users nationwide over the next few days, including those with a factory-unlocked unit.

The build number may vary but the content of the update will remain the same. Samsung has already published the full changelog on its official update tracker for the US version of the Galaxy A52 5G. One UI 6.0 brings a new button layout for the Quick Settings panel, enhancements to the notification shade, more customization options for the lockscreen, and simplified app icon labels.

Additionally, Samsung has improved system animations and enhanced multitasking with new gestures. The weather widget is now more dynamic while there are functional improvements for Samsung Keyboard. One UI 6.0 also brings new camera features, more powerful editing tools, an improved video player, improved Bixby Text Call, and more changes to the Galaxy A52 5G.

On top of this, the latest update for the 2021 premium mid-range phone from Samsung contains over 60 security fixes. The December security patch addressed seven critical Android OS vulnerabilities and dozens of high-severity issues, including a few exclusive to Samsung devices. If you haven’t already received the update, you can go to Settings > Software update > Download and install to check for it.

Your aging Samsung phone won’t get Android 15

Launched in March 2021, the Galaxy A52 5G will soon be three years old. While it might still be fairly capable, the device is approaching the end of its life. It will no longer receive major Android OS updates. Debuting with Android 11, Android 14 is the last update for the phone.

Security updates will come until around March 2025. If you plan to upgrade to a new model, Samsung has the Galaxy A55 coming up in a few months. We recently exclusively revealed its official renders. We will let you know when we have more information about it.


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Microsoft calls Edge an “AI Browser” (because AI makes everything better, apparently)

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Microsoft calls Edge an “AI Browser” (because AI makes everything better, apparently)
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Ever since OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT, Microsoft has entered a very close and expensive relationship with the company. Ever since then, Microsoft has been going all in on AI to the point where it gets to be a bit much. After injecting its Edge browser with so much AI that it’s almost a completely different program, Microsoft is now calling the Edge browser an AI browser.

Right now, AI is the main buzzword and has been for well over a year. There are thousands if not over a million apps and services that claim to bring some sort of AI prowess to make your life better. Also, existing companies are now adding AI tools to their tool belt. X (formerly Twitter), Facebook Messenger, and Snapchat all have their own AI chatbots for example.

In the case of Microsoft, the company has been doing a ton of work to make the Edge browser proper competition for Google Chrome and the Bing search engine proper competition for Google. Currently, Google owns the search engine and browser markets.

Microsoft calls Edge an AI browser

Ever since Microsoft basically adopted OpenAI as its child, the Edge browser has been getting a gigantic AI makeover for better or worse. Well, a lot of the AI made it into the mobile version of the browser. And, it looks like Microsoft really wants you to know that you’ll be getting a powerful AI experience because it says so in the title. Looking at the title on the Google Play Store, we see that it’s called Microsoft Edge: AI browser.

This is basically the company trying to capitalize on the fact that AI is a big buzzword. You can’t go anywhere online without seeing some new AI service that utilizes OpenAI’s GPT or other AI models to perform tasks. In the case of Microsoft, the company has been trying to do everything it could to make Edge a powerful and compelling AI experience.

With this new title, Microsoft didn’t change anything in Edge. At this point, it just wants you to know that it heavily utilizes AI technology. Whether or not this will drive more people to use it in lieu of Google Chrome is yet to be seen


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Investment fraud a serious money maker for criminals

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Investment fraud a serious money maker for criminals
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Europols’s spotlight report ‘Online fraud schemes: a web of deceit’, looks into online fraud schemes—a major crime threat in the EU and beyond—and one of the report’s primary themes is investment fraud.

But first I want to share some more remarkable conclusions from the report:

  • Charity scams that prey on concern about international conflicts and natural disasters are becoming more prevalent.
  • Fraudsters are evolving their techniques and increasingly re-target fraud victims.
  • The social engineering techniques used by fraudsters are growing in complexity.
  • Logical attacks on ATMs still occur in the EU, with criminal networks testing ways to exploit new vulnerabilities.
  • It also notes the increasing use of “shimming” attacks where an attacker intercepts communication between a card and card reader’s chip interface, and then relays it to another device.

Investment fraud and business e-mail compromise (BEC) fraud remain the most prolific online fraud schemes. Criminal networks involved in these schemes pose a high threat, given their level of organization and resilience. This conclusion matches that of the 2022 Internet Crime Report produced by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which attributed almost $84 million dollars to BEC and over $75 million to investment fraud.

Europol found that criminal networks involved on investment fraud show great levels of adaptability by constantly refining and improving their methods and leveraging new investment products that are in high demand.

Preying on one of the most basic human flaws, investment scams and other get-rich-quick schemes are making up an ever larger portion of the online scammers’ cake. And the scammers are very much aware that a large amount of money can be made, and they are more than willing to invest in the tools that make their fraud look more trustworthy.

Investment fraudsters look for victims on social media platforms. But they also use e-mail, advertisements on websites, and instant messaging to trigger a potential victim’s interest. When a victim starts to ask questions, the criminals come up with reasons why funds can’t be withdrawn, such as fees or state taxes. To top things off, they will tell the victim they need more money in order to release their funds.

Criminal networks involved in investment fraud make extensive use of call centers. These call centers operate in different languages and the operators are not necessarily aware of the criminal activities behind the work they do.

One of the preferred tactics of investment fraud is the pyramid scheme, where victims are encouraged to recruit more participants. But another method resembles that of romance scams where the criminal builds a relationship with the victim.

Popular investment opportunities offered by the criminals include stocks, cryptocurrencies, and pension funds. The most reported investment fraud products in the EU are cryptocurrencies. The IC3 report mentions for example:

“Cryptocurrency support impersonators: Increasingly, crypto owners are falling victim to scammers impersonating support or security from cryptocurrency exchanges. Owners are alerted of an issue with their crypto wallet and are convinced to either give access to their crypto wallet or transfer the contents of their wallet to another wallet to “safeguard” the contents.”

To re-target victims the criminals pose as lawyers or members of law enforcement claiming they can help victims to get the lost money back.

Recognizing investment scams

We are by no means financial experts, but we have seen too many good people lose money on Ponzi schemes, rug-pulls, and fake Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), so we feel it is our job to keep you safe, and warn against these types of online investment frauds.

We realize that it is hard to tell investment scams apart from some of the more legitimate offers that are thrown at us in commercials every day. But we do want to hand you a few easy-to-follow rules to keep your money in your own hands:

  • Treat calls, texts, mails, and other advice out of the blue with extreme caution.
  • Don’t judge a book by its cover. Investment scams can often afford to look good.
  • Make sure to read the fine print. Understand what you are getting into.
  • If it sounds too good to be true, it usually isn’t true.
  • Very high returns usually come with extremely high risks. Your money may sometimes even be better off in a casino.
  • When you are urged to act now, remember that while some legitimate opportunities want you to hurry, scammers always want you to hurry.
  • Don’t get turned into a money mule or money launderer.

Still not convinced? I have this piece of land on Venus, that I would be willing to part with for the right price. But you will need to act fast.

We don’t just report on threats—we remove them

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your devices by downloading Malwarebytes today.


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