Archive for June 21, 2023

Appdome Unveils Gen5 Mobile Defense Framework

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 21, 2023 by itnerd

Appdome, the one-stop-shop for mobile app defense, today announced the release of Generation 5 of its in-app mobile defense framework, the core protection framework delivered by its cyber defense automation platform. With “Gen5”, Appdome provides the most advanced cyber and anti-fraud defenses for the newest mobile platforms, more sophisticated in-app UX/UI choices and new telemetry and intelligence options for mobile brands globally. 

As mobile applications become the dominant force in the consumer landscape, mobile operating system and device manufacturers are pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a mobile device. Evolutions in the languages and frameworks used to build mobile applications, new OS and device architectures and integrated devices like watches, VR headsets and more, offer compelling new experiences for all users. At the same time, these new experiences create new engineering complexities for mobile app defense and new attack vectors for hackers and other malicious actors to exploit. Traditional mobile security and anti-fraud SDKs fall behind or end up as shelf ware, unable to be deployed due to complexity, incompatibility or compromise. 

Key highlights of Appdome’s Gen5 mobile defense framework include: 

Symbiotic Detection & Defense in Mobile Apps 

Gen5 levels up the in-app mobile experience and UX/UI choices when attacks happen with key upgrades to Threat-Events™, Appdome’s in-app threat intelligence and control framework. For example, Threat-Events now includes deeper attack and threat data as well as optional conditional detection and enforcement policies, allowing the mobile application to inform Appdome when to inspect or enforce a given defense. In Gen5, Threat-Events also includes a mobile device heartbeat, allowing Appdome to signal the mobile app about device and/or connection health before initiating a workflow (such as a transaction) in the mobile app. 

Extended Threat Intelligence and Data  

Gen5 also extends the role of Threat-Events, allowing its rich mobile application attack and threat data to be consumed outside of the mobile app. For example, Threat-Events can now feed and inform external systems, such as Appdome’s ThreatScope™ (Appdome’s mobile XDR offering), web application firewalls (WAFs) as seen in Appdome’s new MOBILEBot™ Defense* solution and other systems. To support this, Threat-Events was given its own Adhesive Network Stack, with built-in intelligence features, to allow for network handling and decision-making based on the payload and the ability to add or modify the header or traffic type in runtime. 

Better Security with the Newest Mobile Methods and Architectures 

Gen5 offers the highest performance mobile app defense on the market. Inside Gen5, mobile brands get: 

  •  Mobile App Defense Designed to Scale. Gen5 takes full advantage of modern mobile architectures, methods, frameworks and processors to maintain the highest performance defense and intelligence actions, without compromising security. 
  • New Deep Threat Detection enabling a new class of mobile malware protections, including OS remount, unlocked bootloader, custom ROMs and geo-spoofing detection, all without unnecessary permissions. 
  • New Behavioral Detection Methods to detect advanced threats such as detecting digital manipulation techniques to create fake facial images to bypass facial authentication, accessibility malware defense and more, all without unnecessary permissions. 
  • New Dynamic Encryption to ensure that every block of data uses the most secure and optimized options available – as well as the ability to change the implementation on the fly based on the data and the encryption capabilities available. 
  • New Obfuscation techniques and optimizations for Kotlin and metadata, Java decoding and faster resolution of obfuscated classes – all while minimizing file size impact. 
  • Support for Mac M-series Processors for iPhone and iPad apps available in the Mac App Store.  
  • Support for VR-headsets including Meta Quest and Apple’s Vision Pro VR Headset.  
  • Built-in crash reporting to simplify troubleshooting of deployed apps. 
  • WYSIWYG, Fully Modular Architecture to avoid unnecessary file size impacts and support the widest range of devices and operating systems.  
  • Full Support for all Mobile Languages and Frameworks including all recent updates to Obj-C, C+, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and more. 
  • No-Code, No-SDK, Fully Automated Delivery purpose built for the mobile DevOps pipeline. 

Appdome Gen5 will be available to Appdome Dev+ customers beginning July 1, 2023. To learn more about the platform and its new features, visit:  www.appdome.com. 

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Adyen And Shopify Partner Up

Posted in Commentary with tags , on June 21, 2023 by itnerd

Adyen, the global financial technology platform of choice for leading businesses, announces a new global partnership with Shopify, a provider of essential internet infrastructure for commerce, to strengthen ecommerce capabilities, simplify the customer journey and solve payment complexity for enterprise merchants. As part of a multi-year partner strategy, Adyen is supporting Shopify’s expansion into the enterprise segment through diversified commerce solutions for large-scale merchants around the globe to maximize revenue and scale faster.  

Adyen’s single platform creates integrated global and agile payment solutions, so merchants can easily provide the best, long-term customer experience without added operational complexity or resource constraints. Adyen’s payment app on the Shopify Payment Partner Platform is expected to be available later this year and enterprise merchants can expect a more flexible approach to their payments experience. 

In the future when enterprise merchants set up the components of their Shopify platform, they will be able to integrate Adyen as a payments provider. With nearly seven out of ten retailers reporting to expand into new markets this year, Adyen’s access to major payment methods combined with Shopify’s high converting checkout is a logical solution for growing enterprise businesses. Adyen’s payment app is pre-built, optimizing a seamless experience for the Shopify enterprise end user. Ultimately, this removes the burden on the system integrators, allowing large businesses to accept and process payments as quickly as possible, by eliminating previous payment hurdles. The first phase of the integration with Shopify will include a payments app that will support major cards plus wallets, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, and will be followed up by support for local payment methods (LPMs) later this year. 

Shopify continues to invest in strategic partnerships and technological innovations to help shape and define the future of the enterprise ecommerce industry. Due to this integration, enterprise retailers have increased opportunities for accelerated growth and expansion: up to 55% of businesses worldwide reported being in better fiscal conditions in 2023 because of the diversified revenue generated from various global locations. Enterprise customers have been awaiting a partnership where Adyen and Shopify will provide large-scale retailers a centralized system to manage commerce, payments and integrate with third party or custom systems. 

Adyen’s partnership with Shopify will enable robust payments features for ecommerce enterprise merchants, along with expanded capabilities to be added in the future. Merchants will be able to customize the look and feel of their checkout without sacrificing performance, scale faster by entering new countries anywhere in the world with a global infrastructure, drive operational efficiency and cost-savings by removing the need for maintenance work and reap the benefits of a fully integrated back-end.

To learn more about how Adyen can provide enterprise payments solutions for your business, visit here.

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Appdome Announces MOBILEBot Defense Solution

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 21, 2023 by itnerd

 Appdome, the mobile app economy’s one stop shop for mobile app defense, today announced the launch of its new MOBILEBot Defense solution. This groundbreaking solution offers mobile brands unparalleled bot detection, comprehensive intelligence and rapid defense against malicious bots, credential stuffing and account takeovers (ATOs) in mobile app business lines. Appdome is currently the only company to offer comprehensive anti-bot defense built specifically for mobile apps. 

As mobile applications become the dominant force in the consumer landscape, mobile bots, malware bots and other automated programs pose a significant threat to business integrity, transaction integrity, security, user accounts and business reputation for mobile app owners. Traditional anti-bot offerings are struggling to keep pace with the evolving diversity and sophistication of mobile applications, often trying to force-fit bot defense methods designed for web applications onto mobile frameworks. This mismatch often requires mobile app developers to face implementation complexities, change the mobile application network stack, remove valuable TLS protections or limit bot defense to a single host. The result, for an increasingly mobile economy, is that larger parts of the mobile infrastructure are left vulnerable to mobile bot attacks, fraud, ATOs, API abuse, credential stuffing and more.  

Appdome’s MOBILEBot Defense solution offers several advantages for mobile brands looking to stop mobile bot attacks, fraud, ATOs, API abuse, credential stuffing and more including: 

  • Higher performance mobile anti-bot defense to detect and stop mobile bots on any number of hosts, URLs and API endpoints without added cost. 
  • Comprehensive mobile device and connection risk detection, providing greater granularity, insight and choice of over 100+ on-device threats like Android and iOS malware, hacking frameworks, instrumentation frameworks, jailbreak, root, Magisk, Zygisk, jailbreak bypass, Man in the Middle (MiTM) attacks and more. 
  • Deeper mobile bot detection, providing greater granularity, insight and choice over 50+ mobile bot detection methods in Android and iOS apps like auto-tapping apps, keystroke injection, emulators, simulators, virtualization, dual space, second space, Android players, accessibility malware and more. 
  • Stronger mobile application fingerprinting using multi-layered methods to distinguish legitimate mobile apps from fake apps, trojan and malware-controlled apps and botnets.  
  • Advanced Bot Detection Intelligence allowing payloads to include the Mobile Threat-ID™, detailed threat description, Threat-Score™, attack geolocation and meta data such as DeviceID, Device Manufacturer, OS, Version and 14+ other variables. 
  • Prepackaged MiTM Attack Prevention with hardened TLS, active MITM attack prevention, mTLS pre-authentication and more to safeguard connections and the anti-bot payload in transit. 
  • Prepackaged geo-spoofing defense to catch geo-location spoofing and check for mismatches between variables such as time zone, longitude, latitude and other location attributes.  
  • Prepackaged Bot Defense Shielding to bind the Appdome’s MOBILEBot Defense code to the mobile app and prevent tampering, disabling, bypassing or spoofing anti-bot signals. 
  • Full Support for all Mobile Languages and Frameworks, including Obj-C, C+, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and more. 
  • Full Support for any industry standard WAF to ensure speedy deployment and set up. 
  • No-Code, No-SDK, Fully Automated Delivery, purpose built for the mobile DevOps pipeline – no servers or proxies. 

Appdome MOBILEBot Defense is available for Android and iOS mobile application and CI/CD pipelines under the new “Anti-Bot” tab on the Appdome Cyber Defense Automation platform. To learn more about this groundbreaking solution or to request a demo, visit www.appdome.com.   

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Nikon Canada announces NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens and NIKKOR Z 70-180mm f/2.8 Lens

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 21, 2023 by itnerd

Today Nikon Canada Inc. announced the release of the NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR and the NIKKOR Z 70-180mm f/2.8, two new super telephoto NIKKOR Z lenses for enthusiasts that combine outstanding zoom capabilities with lightweight design. The NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR has been highly requested from Z series users, especially those capturing wildlife, nature and aviation, while the NIKKOR Z 70-180mm f/2.8 completes Nikon’s trio of affordable f/2.8 zooms for enthusiasts. 

NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR – Boundless Creativity with an Extreme Focal Range 

The NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR is the thoroughly modernized follow-up to the immensely successful and popular F-mount AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6, a lens that won hearts worldwide for its powerful reach and attractive price. The new NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR improves upon this winning formula by once again delivering a lightweight, high-performance super telephoto lens with an even more versatile focal range, sure to become a favourite for those photographing birds, planes, sports and more. With fast focus, superior handling and balance that never shifts thanks to its internal zoom, this lens enables the capture of powerful, up-close shots of fast-moving subjects. It also features a minimum focus distance of 4.3 feet (1.3 meters) at the wide-angle position, which is ideal for capturing close-up shots of flowers and insects, even at the user’s feet. The broad range of focal lengths allows users to enjoy shooting a wide variety of scenes and subjects all with this single lens. 

Primary features of the NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR 

  • Super lightweight lens that is easily hand-holdable, weighing just 1955 g (4.3 lbs).
  • Covers an extremely broad focal range, from a versatile 180mm to an extreme 600mm. This is equivalent to 270-900mm when DX crop is engaged. 
  • A short minimum focus distance of 4.3 ft (1.3m) at the wide-angle and 7.9 ft (2.4m) at the telephoto position enables close-up shots of flowers, insects and more.
  • Vibration Reduction (VR) image stabilization performance equivalent to a 5.5-stop increase in shutter speed effectively reduces blurring in dimly lit surroundings and/or with handheld shooting.
  • Utilization of a stepping motor (STM) ensures fast and quiet autofocusing.
  • Internal zoom mechanism maintains balance, increases zooming stability and dust resistant performance.
  • Customizable Fn buttons at the front end of the lens barrel are easy to use when shooting handheld.
  • Designed with consideration for dust and drip resistance, in addition to an antifouling fluorine coating on the front lens element enables easy removal of dust and dirt. 
  • Ideal for video recording with a click-less control ring that supports smooth operation and minimizes operational noise, as well as the effective suppression of focus breathing. 
  • Maintains superior resolution when using the Z TELECONVERTER TC-1.4× or Z TELECONVERTER TC-2.0× to extend the maximum focal length to as much as 840 mm or 1200 mm, respectively.
  • Construction of 25 elements in 17 groups, using six ED glass elements effectively compensate for chromatic aberration, with nine aperture blades for a round, natural bokeh.
  • Extremely short ring throw of only 70 degrees to adjust from the widest to longest focal length.

The NIKKOR Z 70-180mm f/2.8: Nikon’s Trilogy of Affordable f/2.8 Zoom Lenses is Complete

The new NIKKOR Z 70-180mm f/2.8 is a truly compelling option for photographers and videographers looking to step up their lens collection with a fast and affordable telephoto zoom. The NIKKOR Z 70-180mm f/2.8 joins the recently released 28-75mm f/2.8 and 17-28mm f/2.8, rounding out the trio of ideal upgrade lenses for those looking to take their creativity to the next level. 

The new NIKKOR Z 70-180mm f/2.8 is approximately 40 per cent smaller when compared to the NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8, but offers a similar versatile focal range that’s perfect for weddings, portraits, sports and video event coverage. The combination of fast f/2.8 aperture and telephoto zoom range allows the user shoot in low light scenarios like at a reception or indoor gym, but also gives flattering compression and enticing bokeh that draws attention to the subject.

Primary features of the NIKKOR Z 70-180mm f/2.8 

  • Creative possibilities are expanded with the constant maximum aperture of f/2.8 which provides great low light ability and smooth-looking background blur.
  • Extremely compact and lightweight, weighing in at only 795 g (1.75 lbs), making it an easy lens to carry all day.
  • Excellent ability for close-ups with a minimum focus distance of 0.27m (at 70mm) and 0.85m (at 180mm).
  • Optimized for video with suppressed focus breathing and near-silent focusing. Additionally, the customizable control ring can be programmed to gradually change aperture, ISO, and focus. Because the focus position moves in accordance with the rotation angle, regardless of how fast the focus ring is turned, videographers can also control MF as intended.
  • Fast autofocus with a stepping motor (STM) that supports quick focusing on moving subjects for both stills and video. 
  • Dust- and drip-resistant design with an antifouling coating on the front-most surface of the lens.
  • Lens construction consists of 19 elements in 14 groups including five ED elements, one Super ED element, and three aspherical elements which help to suppress chromatic aberration and flaring.
  • Use of the Z TELECONVERTER TC-1.4× or Z TELECONVERTER TC-2.0× extends the maximum focal length to 252 mm or 360 mm, respectively. When the Z TELECONVERTER TC-2.0× is attached, the maximum reproduction ratio is 0.96⨯, which is close to life-size reproduction.

Price and Availability

The new NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens will be available in August 2023 for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $2,299.95, while the new NIKKOR Z 70-180mm f/2.8 lens will be available in July 2023 for an (MSRP)of $1,699.95. For more information about the latest Nikon products, including the vast collection of NIKKOR Z lenses and the entire collection of Z series cameras, please visit www.nikon.ca

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My Thoughts On Why Apple Does Not Care About Supporting RCS On iPhones

Posted in Commentary on June 21, 2023 by itnerd

For the last little while, Google has been aggressively trying to Apple to adopt RCS or Rich Communication Services in iMessage. RCS is the standard that some, but not all Android users use to text each other using “rich text” which can include multi-media using either the Google Messages app or another compatible app. If that sounds familiar, that’s because RCS is similar to what is known as iMessage on the iPhone. The problem is the RCS and iMessage don’t play nice with each other and Google wants to fix that. For example, Google has set up this website to encourage Apple to “fix” messaging by adopting RCS in Apple’s Messages app. Apple meanwhile from what anyone from the outside can tell doesn’t seem interested in adopting RCS. And even Tim Cook has been known to throw some shade on RCS:

Back to the central question. Other than that snarky remark, why does Apple seem not to be interested in adopting RCS? The reason I think is simple. Let me give the the long explanation first.

if Apple did adopt RCS, that would fix Android users texting non-Android users, which is another way of saying Apple iPhone users, instantly. But there’s no gain there for Apple. So that’s not a reason. And adopting RCS won’t attract and keep users on iPhones. So there’s no reason there either. And most importantly, not all cell phone carriers support RCS. Meanwhile iMessage is independent of the carrier. Something that I know that carriers hate because they have no control over it. Thus there’s another reason for Apple not to support it as they have complete control over iMessage without those pesky carriers getting in the way of their plans for world domination. Or more seriously, getting in the way of controlling the feature set of iMessage. Even Apple doing the right thing by stopping the teenage bullying that goes on between the blue bubble (iPhone users) crowd and the green bubble (non-iPhone users, A.K.A. Android users) crowd is not an incentive for Apple to support RCS. Even if Google has tried to call Apple out on profiting from the bullying in question.

Here’s the TL:DR version. Apple has nothing to gain by supporting RCS. They are perfectly fine with the status quo as it works for them. And until there’s a real incentive to change course, they won’t. Google needs to sell them something other than “You could fix texting for Android users and to stop teenagers from bullying each other!” Because Apple won’t ever care about Android users. Except the ones that the can switch to an iPhone. Which apparently is a thing. And when it comes to teens, this story suggests that a lot of them get iPhones to fix that green and blue bubble problem. So until Apple sees a real need to support RCS on iPhone that benefits them, RCS won’t be showing up on iPhones anytime soon. If ever.

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Subreddits Are Now Posting Porn To Protest Reddit API Changes

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 21, 2023 by itnerd

There’s a variety of methods that people are using to protest the API changes that Reddit wants to make. But this one that is being highlighted by The Verge is a new one:

A handful of subreddits have classified themselves as not safe for work (NSFW) to protest Reddit’s recent treatment of the platform’s volunteer moderators, and as a result, some non-porn communities are starting to get a lot of porn.

And:

Subreddits that have made the NSFW switch include r/interestingasfuck, r/TIHI (Thanks I Hate It), r/formula1, r/videos, r/HomeKit, and r/HomePod.

  • The only subreddit-specific rule in r/interestingasfuck is that “any content you submit must be something you consider interesting as fuck.” The subreddit is now filled with porn. 
  • r/TIHI removed a rule that forbids “extreme NSFW content,” according to a pinned post on the subreddit. “We feel we have been too restrictive with our content, especially on the NSFW side of things, so we have removed this rule. As long as it’s legal under U.S. law, and you hate it, we encourage you to post it.” As you can imagine, the subreddit has some gross stuff now.
  • r/formula1 reopened on Tuesday. “Formula 1 is known for, both in the past and today, to include certain risque imagery that fall within the NSFW space,” a mod wrote in a post. “Switching our classification means Reddit’s age verification shields underage users from being exposed to content considered harmful.”
  • r/videos is now an NSFW subreddit, and like a few other huge communities, it only allows content about comedian John Oliver. (I can’t believe I am writing this statement: so far, I have not seen porn about John Oliver on the subreddit.)
  • r/HomeKit and r/HomePod each have pinned posts pointing to r/Apple’s statement about why it reopened. As far as I can tell, both subreddits otherwise haven’t changed things, and the posts I’ve seen appear to be on topic.

Other subreddits that aren’t explicitly NSFW have loosened their rules such that users are posting porn and inappropriate content anyway, including r/iOS, r/simpsonsshitposting, and r/Wellthatsucks.

Here’s the core reason why they are doing this:

And switching to NSFW might also create some pain for Reddit itself, as NSFW subreddits are not eligible for advertising.

They’re taking money out of Reddit’s bank account. That’s pretty crafty. Now it might be a little money, or a lot. It really doesn’t matter as Reddit isn’t revenue positive at the moment. So anything that takes money out of their bank accounts will hurt. I guess that’s why Reddit decided to do this:

Reddit has started removing moderator teams managing subreddits that switched the labeling on their communities to Not Safe For Work (NSFW) in the latest protests against the site.

While some of these moderators have been reinstated, it’s clear to me that this latest salvo does hurt Reddit. It will be interesting to see how things escalate from here.

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Guest Post: 42% of Executives suffered from a serious cyberattack within the last 2 years

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 21, 2023 by itnerd

Atlas VPN discovered a recently released and first-of-its-kind survey revealing that 42% of executives or their family members experienced a cyberattack, the consequences of which were as severe as a data breach of the whole company. 

In May 2023, a research report jointly conducted by BlackCloak and the Ponemon Institute showed an increasing severity of cyber attacks on executives’ digital lives. However, the majority of companies lack the preparedness to prevent or mitigate the potential damage inflicted upon their organizations.

Surveying more than 500 cybersecurity professionals from various industries, the study found that 42% of companies had already encountered cybercriminal attacks targeting executives or their families, leading to severe negative consequences. 

These consequences encompassed the loss of customers or business partners (66%), theft of sensitive financial data (47%), theft of valuable corporate assets like intellectual property (36%), reputation damage (33%), loss of customer or employee data (27%), business strategies (24%), or research and development data (18%).

Dr. Larry Ponemon, Chairman and Founder of the Ponemon Institute, was most concerned that 62% of organizations lack a dedicated team to prevent or respond to cyber attacks on executives and their families. 

Furthermore, 79% of respondents believe that future cyber attacks on these executives are likely, highlighting the urgency of addressing this problem rather than ignoring it.

Dr. Chris Pierson, CEO and Founder of BlackCloak, emphasized that the study’s findings align with the firsthand experiences of their team in discussions with senior cybersecurity leaders. 

Corporations are ill-prepared to confront cyber threats targeting executives’ private lives. Astonishingly, only 9% of cybersecurity professionals expressed high confidence in their CEO or executives’ ability to protect their personal computers from viruses, and merely 22% were confident in leaders securing their personal emails. 

This paints a bleak picture of the digital security hygiene of company executives.

Types of threats targeting leaders

Researchers have observed a diverse range of cybercriminal threats actively targeting executives’ personal digital lives. 

Most commonly, hackers are able to expose the home address, personal cell, and personal email of executives, with 57% of respondents having experienced this within the last two years. 

Other threats experienced include malware infections on personal or family devices (56%), email compromise (42%), online impersonation (34%), ransomware (31%), and even physical attacks like swatting (25%).

To read the full article, head over to: 

https://atlasvpn.com/blog/42-of-executives-suffered-from-a-serious-cyberattack-within-the-last-2-years

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