Archive for February 25, 2026

Samsung Unveils Galaxy S26 Series Among Other Announcements

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 25, 2026 by itnerd

Today at Galaxy Unpacked in San Francisco, Samsung has announced its newest product lineup including the highly anticipated Galaxy S26 Series. This new device lineup includes the Galaxy S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra, all of which will be available for pre-order beginning February 25th. In addition to the Galaxy S26 lineup, Samsung has also unveiled the newest Galaxy Buds4 lineup, consisting of the Galaxy Buds4 and Buds4 Pro along with the latest Galaxy Book.

Device Key Features 
Galaxy S26 Series Privacy Screen: The privacy screen is a new feature and the first of its kind in smartphone technology. Operating using the phone’s pixels, it can be activated 24/7 or only when using certain apps. Essentially, the feature ensures others around you are unable to see your screen. Users can also opt to place certain conditions on the feature, for example only adding privacy screen to text notifications popping up on one’s screen. Users can activate the feature by with a simple swipe down on the phone’s drop-down menu. Nightography Video: The phone’s wider camera aperture captures more light in low light environments. This allows for crisp and bright outputs when capturing photos or videos in dimly lit environments, ideal for concert goers. Now Nudge: Now Nudge is a new feature that serves as a personal AI Assistant and intuitively supporting users in real time. For instance, if someone texts about availability, it prompts access to your calendar directly from the keyboard. If photos are requested, it surfaces your gallery instantly, reducing friction and eliminating extra steps. Circle to Search 3.0: With the upgraded Circle to Search, users cancircle multiple items within an image, such as an entire outfit, and Galaxy AI will identify and itemize everything at once. Notification Intelligence: The latest device lineup also uses GalaxyAI to prioritize meaningful messages and notifications such as human conversations over promotional or subscription notifications. This means the notifications you value will show up higher in your incoming notifications list from the remaining notifications received.  Seamless AI Access (Multi-Assistant Ecosystem): The latest lineup also allows instant access to Gemini, Bixby, and now, Perplexity, enabling users to retrieve information, manage tasks and navigate their device through natural voice or text prompts based on their AI preferences and individual use cases.  
Galaxy Buds4 Series New Design: The Galaxy Buds4 Series have a new premium blade design, with the Pro model also having silicone tips. The new design created is optimized for a comfortable fit, and the panel on the blade enables touch and swipe gestures to help with everyday use like answering calls.  HiFi Sound: Hi-fi sound is made possible thanks to the 2-way speaker, which now contains a new larger woofer. The buds also have adaptive hearing and adaptive noise control which adjusts depending on the environment you’re in.  Seamless AI Access: Users can enjoy seamless AI access by using voice commands. Just like with the Galaxy S26 Series, users can speak to multiple AI assistance (Gemini, Bixby, Perplexity) and retrieve various info. Additionally, with the addition of head gestures, users can nod or shake their head when wearing the buds to answer/decline calls. 

In terms of pricing, here you go:

Galaxy Buds Pricing

MKT nameColourPrice (MSRP)
   
Galaxy Buds4Black$249.99
Galaxy Buds4White$249.99
Galaxy Buds4 ProBlack$329.99
Galaxy Buds4 ProPink Gold (e-Store ONLY)$329.99
Galaxy Buds4 ProWhite$329.99

Samsung Galaxy S26 Series Pricing

ModelRegular MSRP
S26 Ultra 1TB$    2,599.99
S26 Ultra 512GB$   2,179.99
S26 Ultra 256GB$ 1,899.99
S26 + 512GB$ 1,809.99
S26 + 256GB$ 1,529.99
S26 512GB$   1,529.99
S26 256GB$   1,249.99

Galaxy Book Pricing

ModelModel NumberSpecMSRP
Galaxy Book6NP740VJG-KA1CAGB6 | U5 | 512GB | 16GB | NT | 14″ | –$             1,449.99
Galaxy Book6NP740VJG-KG1CAGB6 | U7 | 512GB | 16GB | NT | 14″ | –$             1,599.99
Galaxy Book6NP740VJG-KG2CAGB6 | U7 | 1TB | 16GB | NT | 14″ | –$             1,899.99
Galaxy Book6NP760XJG-KG1CAGB6 | U7 | 512GB | 16GB | Touch | 16″ | –$             1,699.99
Galaxy Book6NP760XJG-KG2CAGB6 | U7 | 1TB | 16GB | Touch | 16″ | –$             2,099.99
Galaxy Book6 ProNP960XJG-KG2CAGB6 Pro | U7 | 512GB | 32GB | Touch | 16″ | –$             2,649.99
Galaxy Book6 ProNP960XJG-KG1CAGB6 Pro | U7 | 1TB | 32GB | Touch | 16″ | –$             2,949.99
Galaxy Book6 ProNP940XJG-KG1CAGB6 Pro | U7 | 512GB | 16GB | Touch | 14″ | –$             2,199.99
Galaxy Book6 UltraNP960UJG-KG2CAGB6 Ultra | U7 | 1TB | 32GB | Touch | 16″ | ARC$             3,499.99
Galaxy Book6 UltraNP960UJH-XG1CAGB6 Ultra | U9 | 1TB | 32GB | Touch | 16″ | NVIDIA$             4,499.99

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Targus Releases Its 2026 Global Sustainability Report 

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 25, 2026 by itnerd

Targus today announced the publication of its 2026 Global Sustainability Report, providing an in-depth update on the company’s purpose-driven progress across circular product design, sustainable innovation, and strengthened accountability.

Throughout the 2026 report, Targus outlines its annual environmental progress, actions aligned to five priority UN SDGs, and its roadmap and commitments through 2030.

Key 2026 Highlights

EcoSmart Milestones: Targus has now recycled more than 53 million plastic bottles into its EcoSmart® product line, equivalent to an estimated savings of 3 million lbs. of CO₂ emissions compared to virgin plastic. In the past year, Targus also continued to broaden its portfolio of products designed with sustainable materials, including the introduction of new EcoSmart docking stations made from 75% recycled post-consumer plastics and aluminum, alongside premium laptop bags like HeritageLuxe and an expanded range of eco-engineered tech accessories.

Sustainable Packaging: Marking an important milestone in the company’s sustainability journey, 95 percent of Targus packaging is now fully recyclable, with an average of 50 percent made from recycled or compostable materials. The company has also eliminated problematic single-use plastics from all its packaging.

Increased Global Reporting with Stronger Results: 

  • EcoVadis Bronze Rating: Targus currently holds a Bronze Sustainability Medal from EcoVadis. This achievement ranks Targus among the top 35 percent of sustainable companies, globally.
  • Walmart Project Gigaton: The company has achieved Giga Guru status for three years in a row, recognizing leadership in supply chain emissions reduction.
  • Scope 1, 2, and 3 Emissions Transparency & Reductions: The company continued rigorous reporting across Scope 1, 2, and measured Scope 3 emissions, including a reduction in location based Scope 2 from 134 Mt CO₂e (2023) to 100 Mt CO₂e (2025) through efficiency and renewable energy initiatives. 

Looking Ahead
Targus is on a mission to achieve a brighter future by driving real and meaningful change to help safeguard people and our planet. 

You can also follow Targus on their sustainability journey on the Targus blog.

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DPRK Research from Abstract’s ASTRO team: Contagious Interview: Evolution of VSCode and Cursor Tasks Infection Chains (Part 1)

Posted in Commentary on February 25, 2026 by itnerd

Abstract’s threat research team (ASTRO) just published original research documenting fresh evolutions in the Contagious Interview campaign, a North Korea-linked operation (broadly attributed to Lazarus Group) which targets software developers, specifically those in DeFi and crypto industries.

This is a follow-up to ASTRO’s prior reporting on IDE task auto-execution abuse in January, and it captures attacker behavior changes observed in the last 1–2 weeks that have not yet appeared in public write-ups.

3 specific evolutions ASTRO is breaking:

  1. URL shorteners as Vercel obfuscation. Actors are now routing malicious payloads through short[.]gy shortened URLs that resolve to the same Vercel infrastructure previously reported. The change suggests deliberate fingerprint reduction in response to prior public reporting — a direct reaction to defenders and researchers (including ASTRO’s earlier work).
  2. GitHub Gists with convincing NVIDIA/CUDA impersonation. Payloads are now being staged on GitHub Gists under a username (cuda-toolkit) and filenames (cuda_toolkit_sim_v12.4.ps1, metal_pytorch_sim_v2.3.0.sh) designed to mimic legitimate NVIDIA software. The gists were live briefly and then deleted — a rapid deploy-and-destroy pattern that makes detection harder and timeliness of publication critical.
  3. Google Drive payload delivery with a confirm= fallback bypass. A malicious NPM package (eslint-validator) pulls its payload from Google Drive, with code that specifically handles Google’s virus-scan warning interstitial by falling back to a drive.usercontent.google.com endpoint with a confirm=t parameter. This is a novel and practical bypass technique with direct defensive detection value.
    The report includes GitHub search queries defenders can run right now, full indicator lists, and a preview of Part 2 covering the recovered Gist payload chains.

You can read the research here: Contagious Interview: Evolution of VS Code and Cursor Tasks Infection Chains – Part 1 | Abstract Security

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NordStellar upgrades its attack surface management feature

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 25, 2026 by itnerd

The new attack surface management feature upgrade is designed to help combat alert fatigue by focusing on validated vulnerabilities, allowing security teams to cut through the noise and tackle critical issues first

As companies’ attack surfaces expand, security teams are finding it increasingly difficult to monitor all exposed assets and swiftly address critical vulnerabilities. To help security teams cut through the noise, NordStellar, a next-generation threat exposure management platform, has upgraded its attack surface management (ASM) feature to provide even more extensive coverage of exposed assets while prioritizing critical vulnerabilities first.

Companies’ attack surfaces are constantly expanding due to digital transformation, scaling, unmanaged devices, and user error. This growing complexity makes it challenging to monitor all exposed assets, often leading to alert fatigue as critical threats are buried under a flood of less urgent alerts.

ASM is a feature that automatically discovers security gaps by continuously monitoring and evaluating all of the organization’s internet-exposed assets. The upgraded feature now gives organizations an attacker’s view of their company, providing comprehensive coverage of their external perimeter and going beyond passive scans to actively test for exploitable vulnerabilities.

NordStellar’s ASM feature combines continuous asset discovery with active risk validation. NordStellar maps the organization’s infrastructure by identifying all internet-exposed assets, like web applications, network services, and DNS configurations, and performs “outsider-style” testing.

To ensure vulnerabilities are mitigated as soon as possible, each identified instance is accompanied by AI-powered insights that offer remediation guidance.

Key upgrades:

  • Increased coverage. The enhanced ASM feature implements scans across all key vectors — web applications, network services, and DNS configurations — to provide complete external perimeter visibility and eliminate critical security blind spots.
  • Heightened accuracy. ASM actively discovers and tests vulnerabilities across more sources, delivering prioritized alerts.
  • Enhanced flexibility. The upgraded feature allows teams to run scans on demand for immediate insights or schedule them for automated monitoring.

The enhanced ASM feature is now available to all NordStellar users. More information here.

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