You Can Now Submit A Claim In The Canadian “Batterygate” Settlement

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 6, 2024 by itnerd

You can now submit a claim for the Canadian iPhone Power Management Class Action Settlement, if you owned or purchased the following iPhones:

  • iPhone 6
  • iPhone 6 Plus
  • iPhone 6s
  • iPhone 6s Plus
  • iPhone SE
  • iPhone 7
  • iPhone 7 Plus

Running iOS 10.2.1 or later (for iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, or SE) and/or iOS 11.2 or later (for iPhone 7 or 7 Plus) installed or downloaded, before December 21, 2017. According to the website:

The Claim Form requires each Class Member to provide, among other things, the Class Member’s name, mailing address, iPhone serial number and a declaration under oath by the Class Member stating that (i) their iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, or SE iPhone ran iOS version 10.2.1 or later (for iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, and SE) or iOS version 11.2 or later (for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus) before December 21, 2017, and (ii) they experienced diminished performance on that device after the relevant iOS version was installed or downloaded.

If that’s you, you need to visit smartphoneperformancesettlement.ca, click on “submit a claim”, then fill out the information. A confirmation email will be sent to you once it has been submitted. You have until September 2, 2024 to submit a claim. And if you are deemed eligible, you could receive compensation ranging from $17.50 to $150.

Apple denies any wrongdoing as part of this settlement.

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I Had To Deal With The Aftermath Of A Facebook #Scam… Here’s How You Can Avoid Being A Victim

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 6, 2024 by itnerd

Yesterday I was preparing my first coffee of the day when I got a phone call from a client who was in a panic. Here’s why she was in a panic.

The client has a Facebook account and she went to reset her password. However Facebook never sent her a verification code as per this document despite the many ways and times that she tried to get one. So as a result of that she needed help. Thus she Googled for a tech support number for Facebook. As a result she found a number and phoned it. The people at the other end said that they needed ID to prove who she was. She then sent them a photo of her drivers licence. They then said she would hear back from them in 48 hrs. When that didn’t happen she realized that she had fallen for a scam and called me.

I’m going to stop right here and dissect this.

Let’s start with the fact that Facebook doesn’t have any public facing support at all. And there is no phone number that you can phone to get help with Facebook. So what that does is it creates a vacuum where scammers can fill that void to run any number of scams. How do that do that? Well, the scammers use a technique called SEO poisoning to make sure that their results are at the top of the list of the Google search engine because they know that humans are likely to pick something that is the first six or seven items in a results list on Google. Here’s an example of what I am talking about:

Every single link in this picture leads to a scammer. I know this because I tested this myself. And all a scammer has to do next is wait for the calls to come in. And when they do, they can execute their scam.

So what was the scam in this case? Given that they didn’t according to her ask for money and simply wanted her ID, I suspect that identity theft is their endgame here. I say that because that drivers license is worth a lot of money on the dark web. And you can do all sorts of things with a drivers license. Such as get a cell phone account with any carrier in Canada for example. Or open a bank account. Or perhaps even get a loan. And it would leave the victim of this on the hook.

So this is clearly a bad situation. But before I tell you how to avoid being in this situation, let me tell you about what you should do if you find yourself in this situation. And frequent readers will find some of this information familiar.

  • You need to report it to your local police who can then give you additional directions. Beyond that, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has a website for scam reporting, while the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center is the place to go if you’re in Canada. Other counties have similar organizations for reporting scams. 
  • I strongly recommend that you sign up for credit monitoring via Trans Union and Equifax right away. That way you can get an alert if someone tries to do something like take out a loan or tries to get a cell phone in your name, and take action to protect yourself.

One thing to keep in mind is that you’re also highly likely to be the target of scams going forward as now the scammers have your personal information. Which means that they can craft scams that are more convincing and be more likely to succeed. Which means that you really need to be on guard.

So, how can you avoid getting scammed? In the case of Facebook, the only way to get help with Facebook is at https://www.facebook.com/help. As I said earlier, Facebook has no public facing support organization. Nor do they have any phone number that you can call. Also, I should mention that there are circumstances where Facebook may ask you for ID. Those circumstances are listed here. Finally, here’s an unconventional method for getting help with Facebook. Phone a tech savvy millennial. Often they can assist you with things like account lockouts and the like which will help you to avoid this situation.

Pro Tip: If they try to phone “Facebook” for help, you’ve got the wrong millennial.

Hopefully this helps you to avoid a Facebook scam. If you have any questions about this, please leave a comment below and I will do my best to get back to you.

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Samsung Launches The All-New Bespoke AI Lineup

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 5, 2024 by itnerd

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced its latest home appliance lineup at a series of special launch events, ‘Welcome to ‘BESPOKE AI’, held in New York City, Seoul and Paris. Samsung shared its vision for enhancing the holistic home experience through interconnectivity among its products, showcasing how artificial intelligence (AI) enhances the performance of appliances.

Bespoke AI Appliances Sync to Create New Experiences in Various Home Spaces

With built-in Wi-Fi, internal cameras, AI chips and compatibility with the SmartThings application, Samsung’s latest Bespoke AI appliances come with enhanced features and connectivity to lay the foundation for a truly smart home. Also, the new AI Home, a connected 7-inch LCD display that has been added to multiple products, provides intuitive, easy access and control over the whole connected ecosystem.

The AI Home includes 3D Map View, a feature that provides users with a full 3D view of the house, allowing them to easily locate and control their connected appliances Users can also receive calls coming to their phones through the AI Home, allowing them to answer calls while, for example, continuing the housework they were doing. Moreover, the AI Home makes housework more enjoyable as well. Users can play their favourite songs, watch videos on the Internet app, or refer to recipes on the screen while they are cooking.

At the BESPOKE AI event, Samsung also showcased the new feature ‘Calm Onboarding’, which makes it easier for users to join Samsung’s connected life. It frees users from having to go through the hassle of product registration, as it directly registers products purchased under a Samsung Account at Samsung.com onto the SmartThings app with the same account.

To provide assurance to users as they step into the era of hyper-connected home appliances driven by technological advancement, Samsung also highlighted its comprehensive Knox security platform that protects all user data located on the connected appliances. In fact, the 4-Door French Door Refrigerator with AI Family Hub™ has been verified to the ‘Diamond’ level by UL Solutions for its IoT security capabilities. UL Solutions is a leading global safety science company . Other Family Hub models applying the same technology, have also achieved the same verification.

AI Expands Spectrum of Features to Samsung Home Appliances

The 4-Door French Door French Door Refrigerator with AI Family Hub™ is the primary control center for all things food, connecting the refrigerator to other appliances in the home. The AI Family Hub™+, which is the large LCD screen in the front right panel of the refrigerator, is the key to intuitive AI experience, where users can view recommended recipes and play music and videos for kitchen entertainment. The 4-Door French Door Refrigerator with AI Family Hub™ comes with AI Vision Inside which uses an internal camera to identify 33 fresh food items that go in and out of the fridge. The recognized food items are listed and managed on the Family Hub™ display and can also be checked on the SmartThings app.

The Bespoke AI Laundry Combo™, is the All-in-One washer and dryer, providing the advantages of two separate appliances while freeing up valuable space. It comes with various AI features, such as remembering the periodic and seasonal needs of users and recommending the optimal cycle for the wash. With AI Opti Wash & Dry™, the Bespoke AI Laundry Combo™ intelligently adjusts the washing and drying performance for each load and senses the weight of the laundry to dispense the appropriate amount of water and detergent. It also detects the fabric and monitors the level of soiling during a cycle. If necessary, it adds more detergent and varies the washing time. It then adjusts the drying process to suit the weight and fabric type of users’ laundry. After finishing the cycle, users can monitor how much energy and water were consumed through the report provided on the Smart Things App.

Another unique appliance introduced only at the New York event was the Bespoke Slide-in Range with AI Home. This product is a multi-functional induction range that also comes with various fun factors. It comes with an Internal Oven Camera that lets users see inside the oven from remote places, like on the TV from the living room, or even from outside the home through Smart Things on their mobile phones. With this, users can even get a short time-lapse video clip with the highlight of the cooking process that they can share on social media.

Advancing the Future of Appliances

Samsung is not only dedicated to presenting a better home experience, but also committed to creating more innovative and efficient products.

It continues to upgrade Wi-fi connected appliances in the market and already in users’ homes through software updates and the further development of Smart Things. Users can enjoy new features, including energy saving features, even with the models they already own. Smart Forward, announced for the first time at the event, is a service that provides the newest features, security patches, and upgrades through regular software updates. Users will be able to check available updated information and receive notifications from the SmartThings App.

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Tips and information from Nikon Canada: How to Prepare for The Solar Eclipse

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 5, 2024 by itnerd

With parts of Canada in the path of Monday’s solar eclipse, many are excited to photograph and/or record it. However, there are important steps you need to take in order to properly protect your equipment, as well as your eyes.

Nikon Canada has a two-part video series available that includes all you need to know to properly (and safely) capture this exciting event:

How to Prepare for The Solar Eclipse – Part 1: 

In this video, Nathan from Nikon will show you what kind of lenses, filter, and other accessories you will need to capture the eclipse.
*Please note there is an option for French captioning for this video under Settings.

A few important considerations from Nikon Canada:

  • The solar filter must be placed in FRONT of any telescope, camera lens or mirror.
  • It should NEVER be used behind an eyepiece, viewfinder or lens, including any drop-in filters found on lenses.
  • Do NOT point the camera at the sun when the lens is NOT protected by a filter that is specifically designed for SOLAR VIEWING.
  • Even if you are wearing solar observing glasses, do NOT look through a viewfinder of a camera if the lens is not protected by a solar viewing filter.

You can find additional resources on how to record the eclipse on Nikon.ca here: https://en.nikon.ca/learn-and-explore/s/solar+eclipse.html  

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Car Companies Are Not Doing Enough To Stop Car Theft

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 5, 2024 by itnerd

Car theft in Canada in general, Toronto specifically, is completely out of control. It’s to the point where everyone I know either has had a car stolen, or knows someone who has had a car stolen. And the thing is, while there are calls for the police to do more, it’s really the car companies who need to do more.

Now I am pretty sure that I know what the car companies will say. They comply with laws requiring the use of engine immobilizers within their products since 2007. That’s nice. But given the fact that in 2023, a car in Toronto was stolen every 40 minutes on average, they’re clearly not working. What is clear is that key reprogramming, CANBUS attacks, relay attacks and the like are more effective than engine immobilizers. If you’re not clear on what any of that means, this will help you get up to speed.

So you’d think that car companies would say that what they’re doing isn’t working. So they have to up their game. Well, the cynic in me says that they’re not going to do anything to improve things on this front because they have a financial incentive not to. As in if your car gets stolen, they get to sell you a new car. I hate saying that, but in pretty much any other industry, if you have a security issue that affects your customers, you fix it and you make things better for your customers. I don’t see that happening with the car industry. Thus what I would argue is that the Federal Government needs to force car companies to do the right thing. Which is to replace engine immobilizers with something more secure. Maybe it’s two factor authentication? Maybe it’s making it harder for the attacks that are out there to execute? Maybe it’s higher levels of encryption? Nothing when it comes to security is perfect. But if you do things that reduce the likelihood that something bad will happen to as close to zero as possible, you’re winning. Unfortunately that’s not the world we live in because at present, it seems that any bipedal primate with opposible thumbs can steal a car. And that’s totally on the car makers. Not the owners of the car, not the police, and not the government.

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SafeBreach Labs to Present Three Pieces of Original Research at Black Hat Asia 2024

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 4, 2024 by itnerd

SafeBreach has announced original research from its SafeBreach Labs team will be featured in three separate sessions at Black Hat Asia 2024. SafeBreach’s Vice President of Security Research Tomer Bar and fellow researchers Or Yair and Shmuel Cohen are set to release a series of high-profile research pieces following a successful year at Black Hat USA 2023 and DEFCON 2023, where the SafeBreach Labs team presented an unprecedented five sessions.

The sessions at Black Hat Asia will include several significant discoveries exploring how endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions and unfixed, known software issues can be exploited to present a significant security risk to enterprises. Details about the sessions, including dates and times, are included below:

For more information about the sessions and to connect with SafeBreach at Black Hat Asia 2024 on April 16-19, visit www.safebreach.com/events.

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Truth Social Is More Of A Dumpster Fire Than Previously Thought

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 4, 2024 by itnerd

Truth Social is exactly what the title suggests. It’s a dumpster fire. I’m going to speak to two examples of this. Starting with infighting within the company that’s led to a lawsuit:

The media company that Donald Trump recently took public is suing its co-founders, accusing them of failing “spectacularly” to get the company off the ground and then trying to “thwart the deal.”

The lawsuit filed in Sarasota County, Florida, civil court seeks to bar Trump Media & Technology Group co-founders Wesley Moss and Andrew Litinsky from appointing members to the company’s board — or from owning any of its shares.

Moss and Litinsky claim that a 2021 agreement that Trump signed with a company they founded, United Atlantic Ventures, LLC, guarantees them an 8.6% share of Trump Media’s total stock, undiluted by the issuance of new shares.

At DJT’s closing price Tuesday, that share would be worth about $601 million.

In February, Moss and Litinsky sued Trump Media in Delaware Chancery Court over their stake in the company.

The Florida lawsuit was filed in late March, around the same time that shareholders in the shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp. voted to approve a merger with Trump Media, a private company behind the fledgling social media app Truth Social.

Following the special purpose merger, stock in the newly public Trump Media began trading under the ticker DJT and shot up by as much as 50% in its Nasdaq debut last week.

But the share price fell sharply Monday, after the company disclosed a $58.2 million net loss in 2023.

Trump Media’s lawsuit wants the court to award it damages for what it claims are Moss and Litinsky’s “breaches of fiduciary duty.”

In addition to Moss and Litinsky, the lawsuit names DWAC founder Patrick Orlando a co-defendant, accusing him of being involved in those breaches.

Moss and Litinsky were responsible for establishing Trump Media’s corporate governance structure, preparing the launch of Truth Social and finding a shell company for a merger to take the media company public, the lawsuit says.

This is kind of comical and illustrates the kind of chaos that exists at this company. And based on this latest event, one wonders if there will ever be a positive outcome that will result in everyone making money. My guess is not, but I am free to be proven wrong on that front.

Speaking of money. There’s a report in The Guardian that suggests that Truth Social was financially floated by someone who will raise eyebrows:

Donald Trump’s social media company Trump Media managed to go public last week only after it had been kept afloat in 2022 by emergency loans provided in part by a Russian-American businessman under scrutiny in a federal insider-trading and money-laundering investigation.

The former US president stands to gain billions of dollars – his stake is currently valued at about $4bn – from the merger between Trump Media and Technology Group and the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which took the parent company of Truth Social public.

But Trump Media almost did not make it to the merger after regulators opened a securities investigation into the merger in 2021 and caused the company to burn through cash at an extraordinary rate as it waited to get the green light for its stock market debut.

The situation led Trump Media to take emergency loans, including from an entity called ES Family Trust, which opened an account with Paxum Bank, a small bank registered on the Caribbean island of Dominica that is best known for providing financial services to the porn industry.

Through leaked documents, the Guardian has learned that ES Family Trust operated like a shell company for a Russian-American businessman named Anton Postolnikov, who co-owns Paxum Bank and has been a subject of a years-long joint federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the Trump Media merger.

The existence of the trust has previously been reported by the Guardian and the Washington Post. However, who controlled the account, how the trust was connected to Paxum Bank, and how the money had been funneled through the trust to Trump Media was unknown.

The new details about the trust are drawn from documents including: Paxum Bank records showing Postolnikov having access to the trust’s account, the papers that created the trust showing as its settlor a lawyer in St Petersburg, Russia, and three years of the trust’s financial transactions.

That all sounds more than a little suspect to say the least. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised that at some point, a three letter federal agency starts executing search warrants and/or arresting people. Which in turn will likely cause Truth Social to crash and burn.

We seriously live in strange times at the moment.

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Valimail Along With Google and Yahoo Host Roundtable On New Bulk Sender Requirements

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 4, 2024 by itnerd


Valimail, in collaboration with email giants Google and Yahoo, hosted a roundtable to discuss newly implemented bulk sender requirements aimed at enhancing email authentication and security. With the surge in threats like spam and phishing, the conversation, featuring Google’s Neil Kumaran and Yahoo’s Marcel Becker, centered on the urgent need for more stringent email authentication to protect users and improve deliverability of legitimate emails. The new rules focus on large senders initially, due to their higher risk of impersonation and potential impact, and emphasize the use of standards like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify sender identities, thereby reducing the risk of impersonation and spam. The initiative reflects a collective effort to bolster email security and deliverability, with Valimail offering tools and guidance to aid senders of all sizes in achieving compliance and enhancing the email ecosystem’s overall safety.

Here is a link to the recorded webinar and recap. I watched it and if you’re responsible for email in your organization, or your organization’s marketing efforts, you should watch it as well: https://www.valimail.com/blog/roundtable-with-google-yahoo-recap/

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IntelBroker Releases Documents Belonging To The Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance…. Yikes!

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 4, 2024 by itnerd

Notorious hacker IntelBroker has allegedly released stolen documents containing classified information belonging to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. The group claims to have breached Acuity, a technology consulting firm which provides DevSecOps, IT operations and modernization, cybersecurity and more to the state agency.

Darren Williams, CEO and Founder, BlackFog has this comment:

 “Data exfiltration continues to plague government institutions which hold invaluable information pertaining to both national security initiatives as well as those who work on national security initiatives. Those members will likely be targets of phishing and social engineering attacks for some time. Government entities should be incredibly careful of which third-party firms they work with, especially regarding IT and cybersecurity efforts. Any third-party which handles sensitive information should be vetted to ensure they invest in technology such as anti data exfiltration tools, which will prevent any unauthorized data from leaving the system.”

This is an area where I can comfortably say that most organizations need to improve upon. Because when you work with a third party, you have to be able to trust that they won’t have weaknesses that will lead to you being pwned. So I would strongly recommend that this is an area that organizations need to pay particular focus on.

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Bell Gets Its Story Out There About Their Restructuring Among Other Things

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 4, 2024 by itnerd

With events like firing a bunch of workers via video conference, execs getting big bonuses despite missing their own key performance indicators, and stopping their fibre rollout because they’re not happy with the government along will significant job cuts, Bell is perhaps not seen in the best light at the moment. Which is why it doesn’t surprise me that Bell has decided to put out their own talking points in advance of being summoned to Ottawa to explain all of this. This Tweet was posted to the Bell Twitter account today:

That Tweet leads to these talking points that puts forward Bell’s view of this. I’ll let you read them for yourself. But what this suggests to me is that the heat must be on Bell from a PR perspective for them to put something like this out. I say that because I’ve been following Bell for years. And Bell doing something like this is a rare event. And other people who I know that follow Bell agree with that sentiment.

The other thing that I note is that they’re trying to use the term “disinformation” to bolster the fact that their talking points are the ones that you should be listening to. I find that to problematic as we live in a time where this term has some really negative connotations. I’m not sure that I would have used that word in relation to what we’re talking about. But I don’t run Bell’s PR department.

I’ll make sure to see if I can find a broadcast of Bell in front of Parliament on the 11th of April. Based on the talking points that they put out, it will certainly be worth a look.

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