Tag Archive for: finally

Android Users Could Finally Have Face ID-Like Security Tech Thanks To This Startup


Apple has offered Face ID on iPhones for a few years and its security is fool-proof enough for the company to completely stop having the Touch ID. The situation with Android phones has been different, as people tend to feel safer with the biometric finger sensor than the software-enabled face unlock feature.

But we could finally have a breakthrough thanks to this one startup which has joined hands with one of the biggest mobile brands to make the security tech affordable and ready for mass adoption.

The startup named Metalenz based in Harvard Labs has partnered with Samsung and talked about Polar ID which is likely to be the Face ID rival and finally a secure facial recognition tech for Android users. Samsung’s role in its development is the use of the ISOCELL Vizion 931 sensor from the company.

Metalenz has claimed that Polar ID is the ideal tool ready to be deployed at a mass level as the tech is said to be smaller, affordable yet secure than the face unlock feature that works on your Android phone, which is very easy to believe.

So what makes Polar ID safer than the existing tech features?

Metalenz has a facial authentication tech that is claimed to capture the unique signature of each user, something that Apple also offers with Face ID on iPhones. Having secure facial tech will be crucial because people tend to use the feature for making payments and the future of passkeys makes it an even more pivotal part of the setup.

Samsung is offering the sensor that has been paired with the security tech, and having a giant in its wing means you can have the cost of economies in play, allowing more brands to tap into the feature and bring it to more users.

It has been mentioned that Android phones could see Polar ID tech available by the second half of 2024, which might make it mainstream by next year. We’ll be eager to test the feature and see how it stacks up against Face ID. Having said that, Metalenz sees the tech going beyond security and maybe even part of the mixed reality ecosystem.

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    After years of losing, it’s finally feds’ turn to troll ransomware group


    After years of losing, it’s finally feds’ turn to troll ransomware group

    Getty Images

    After years of being outmaneuvered by snarky ransomware criminals who tease and brag about each new victim they claim, international authorities finally got their chance to turn the tables, and they aren’t squandering it.

    The top-notch trolling came after authorities from the US, UK, and Europol took down most of the infrastructure belonging to Lockbit, a ransomware syndicate that has extorted more than $120 million from thousands of victims around the world. On Tuesday, most of the sites Lockbit uses to shame its victims for being hacked, pressure them into paying, and brag of their hacking prowess began displaying content announcing the takedown. The seized infrastructure also hosted decryptors victims could use to recover their data.

    The dark web site Lockbit once used to name and shame victims, displaying entries such as "press releases," "LB Backend Leaks," and "LockbitSupp You've been banned from Lockbit 3.0."
    Enlarge / The dark web site Lockbit once used to name and shame victims, displaying entries such as “press releases,” “LB Backend Leaks,” and “LockbitSupp You’ve been banned from Lockbit 3.0.”

    this_is_really_bad

    Authorities didn’t use the seized name-and-shame site solely for informational purposes. One section that appeared prominently gloated over the extraordinary extent of the system access investigators gained. Several images indicated they had control of /etc/shadow, a Linux file that stores cryptographically hashed passwords. This file, among the most security-sensitive ones in Linux, can be accessed only by a user with root, the highest level of system privileges.

    Screenshot showing a folder named
    Enlarge / Screenshot showing a folder named “shadow” with hashes for accounts including “root,” “daemon,” “bin,” and “sys.”

    Other images demonstrated that investigators also had complete control of the main web panel and the system Lockbit operators used to communicate with affiliates and victims.

    Screenshot of a panel used to administer the Lockbit site.
    Enlarge / Screenshot of a panel used to administer the Lockbit site.
    Screenshot showing chats between a Lockbit affiliate and a victim.
    Enlarge / Screenshot showing chats between a Lockbit affiliate and a victim.

    The razzing didn’t stop there. File names of the images had titles including: “this_is_really_bad.png,” “oh dear.png,” and “doesnt_look_good.png.” The seized page also teased the upcoming doxing of LockbitSupp, the moniker of the main…

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    Apple’s Pledge to Support RCS Messaging Could Finally Kill SMS


    Good news is coming to your group chat. Today, Apple said it will add support for the RCS messaging standard to the iPhone. The website 9to5Mac broke the news that Apple will release a software update some time next year that will bring support to iOS for the messaging standard, which is already widely used by Android phones.

    RCS, or Rich Communications Standard, is a messaging service that’s a step up from the SMS and MMS messaging standards that smartphones have used since they first arrived. RCS can do more than SMS and MMS: It allows users to share higher-resolution photos and videos between their devices; it supports read receipts; and there’s more fun stuff, like the ability to easily drop emoji and GIFs into a conversation. It also adds extra layers of security that the older messaging standards lack.

    Apple has famously shunned RCS in favor of its own iMessage platform, resulting in a layer of incompatibility that anyone with an Android phone—or any iPhone user who regularly texts people with Android phones—is painfully aware of. Videos shared between iOS and Android are crunchy and low-bandwidth, and Android users are often confounded by group chats, with missed messages, absent emoji, and other glitches.

    For years, Apple has been relying on SMS and MMS to bridge the digital divide between these messaging platforms. It’s the last major holdout, as RCS is already supported by major players like Google, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. When Apple adds support for RCS, it won’t need that old bridge, and the move could signal the eventual death of SMS.

    “It’s long been time for SMS to go away,” says Anshel Sag, principal analyst at the technology analyst firm Moor Insights and Strategy. “Now SMS can die, it can be sunset. So all the viruses and all the security flaws that are due to SMS can be eliminated.”

    The move isn’t happening immediately; Apple told 9to5Mac that RCS support will come “in the later half of next year.” This timing suggests that support could arrive with the next version of iOS, which typically rolls out in September.

    So it’s a ways out, but it’s certainly closer than Apple’s previous plan for the feature, which was apparently “never.”…

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    Stronger ransomware protection finally pays off


    60% of companies are ‘very’ to ‘extremely’ concerned about ransomware attacks, according to latest research from Hornetsecurity.

    ransomware protection awareness

    Businesses acknowledge ransomware risk

    Hornetsecurity revealed that 92.5% businesses are aware of ransomware’s potential for negative impact. Still, just 54% of respondents said their leadership is ‘actively involved in conversations and decision-making’ around preventing such attacks. 39.7% said they were happy to ‘leave it to IT to deal with the issue’.

    “Our survey is a timely reminder that ransomware protection is key to ongoing success. Organizations cannot afford to become victims –ongoing security awareness training and multi-layered ransomware protection is critical to ensure there are no insurmountable losses,” said Daniel Hofmann, CEO of Hornetsecurity.

    Reassuringly, 93.2% of respondents rank ransomware protection as ‘very’ to ‘extremely’ important in terms of IT priorities for their organization, and 87.8% of respondents confirmed they have a disaster recovery plan in place for a ransomware attack.

    However, that leaves 12.2% of organizations without a disaster recovery plan. Of those companies, more than half cited a ‘lack of resources or time’ as the primary reason. Additionally, one-third of respondents said a disaster recovery plan is ‘not considered a priority by management’.

    Organizations urged to stay alert as ransomware evolves

    Since 2021, Hornetsecurity has found relatively small changes in the percentage of respondents saying their organizations have fallen victim to a ransomware attack: 21.1% in 2021, 23.9% in 2022, but a new low of 19.7% in 2023.

    Additionally, companies that reported paying a ransom are down from 9.1% in 2021 to 6.9% in 2023.

    Some of the data in this survey show positive results, with most respondents reporting they understand the importance of protection, and a drop in ransomware attack victims in 2023, showing companies are becoming more vigilant in their data protection.

    However, ransomware attacks continue to evolve, so organizations must maintain this vigilance. In 2023, 81% of respondents reported they are receiving end-user training in comparison to 2021,…

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