The rumors were true: Valve has just taken the wraps off of Counter-Strike 2, announcing a limited beta that is available to select members of the game’s community. The studio says the sequel will overhaul every system, piece of content and part of the…
When looking back at past console generations, the conversation often turns to graphical fidelity. And for good reason. Who could, for example, forget the first time they left the confines of Kokiri Forest for the wide expanse of Hyrule Field in The Oc…
A year after first launching in the US, Amazon Luna is expanding to three new regions. Starting today, the cloud gaming service is available in Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. The expansion marks the first Amazon customers outside of the US hav…
LG is once again expanding its UltraGear line of gaming monitors with a new model. Before you ask: No, the company’s latest is not a new OLED screen. But it is interesting for a few reasons. LG is marketing the 49GR85DC-B as a fast ultrawide with class-leading HDR capabilities.
The monitor features a 49-inch VA panel with a 32:9 aspect ratio, 5,120 by 1,440 resolution, 98.5 percent DCI-P3 coverage and an aggressive 1000R curve. It also features a 240Hz refresh rate, a claimed 1ms pixel response time and AMD FreeSync Premium. To top it all off, LG says the 49GR85DC-B is DisplayHDR 1000 certified, suggesting the panel is capable of peaking at an eye-searing 1000 nits of brightness and features some amount of local dimming.
At first glance, it’s a spec list that should make the 49GR85DC-B a homerun for ultrawide gaming fans, but there are a few things to note that may not make it as appealing as it seems. First, there’s the price. LG is asking $1,300 for the 49GR85DC-B. In 2023, that’s a lot for an LCD. Additionally, in my experience, VA panels are never as fast as manufacturers say they are, so don’t be surprised if LG’s latest doesn’t live up to the 1ms response time the company has listed. It’s also worth mentioning few games support 32:9 resolutions.
The 49GR85DC-B is available to preorder starting today through LG’s website. If you decide to jump on this one early, the company will send you a complimentary UltraGear Gaming Pad. That’s a $200 mouse mat that doubles as a USB hub and features RGB lighting.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lg-made-a-49-inch-hdr-monitor-with-a-240hz-refresh-rate-222609367.html?src=rss
Microsoft is preparing to launch an Xbox store on iOS and Android as early as next year, according to Phil Spencer. The head of the company’s gaming division shared the timeline in a Financial Times interview published on Monday, noting the plan is dep…
When Google began rolling out Android’s March security patch earlier this week, the company addressed a “High” severity vulnerability involving the Pixel’s Markup screenshot tool. Over the weekend, Simon Aarons and David Buchanan, the reverse engineers who discovered CVE-2023-21036, shared more information about the security flaw, revealing Pixel users are still at risk of their older images being compromised due to the nature of Google’s oversight.
In short, the “aCropalypse” flaw allowed someone to take a PNG screenshot cropped in Markup and undo at least some of the edits in the image. It’s easy to imagine scenarios where a bad actor could abuse that capability. For instance, if a Pixel owner used Markup to redact an image that included sensitive information about themselves, someone could exploit the flaw to reveal that information. You can find the technical details on Buchanan’s blog.
Introducing acropalypse: a serious privacy vulnerability in the Google Pixel’s inbuilt screenshot editing tool, Markup, enabling partial recovery of the original, unedited image data of a cropped and/or redacted screenshot. Huge thanks to @David3141593 for his help throughout! pic.twitter.com/BXNQomnHbr
— Simon Aarons (@ItsSimonTime) March 17, 2023
According to Buchanan, the flaw has existed for about five years, coinciding with the release of Markup alongside Android 9 Pie in 2018. And therein lies the problem. While March’s security patch will prevent Markup from compromising future images, some screenshots Pixel users may have shared in the past are still at risk.
It’s hard to say how concerned Pixel users should be about the flaw. According to a forthcoming FAQ page Aarons and Buchanan shared with 9to5Google and The Verge, some websites, including Twitter, process images in such a way that someone could not exploit the vulnerability to reverse edit a screenshot or image. Users on other platforms aren’t so lucky. Aarons and Buchanan specifically identify Discord, noting the chat app did not patch out the exploit until its recent January 17th update. At the moment, it’s unclear if images shared on other social media and chat apps were left similarly vulnerable.
Google did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment and more information. The March security update is currently available on the Pixel 4a, 5a, 7 and 7 Pro, meaning Markup can still produce vulnerable images on some Pixel devices. It’s unclear when Google will push the patch to other Pixel devices. If you own a Pixel phone without the patch, avoid using Markup to share sensitive images.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-pixel-vulnerability-allows-bad-actors-to-undo-markup-screenshot-edits-and-redactions-195322267.html?src=rss
US law enforcement authorities this week arrested the person allegedly responsible for hacking the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2021. As reported by Krebs on Security (via The Verge), FBI agents on Wednesday arrested Conor Brian Fitzpatrick on suspicion of running BreachForums. As Brian Krebs notes, the website’s administrator, “Pompompurin,” is responsible for or connected to some of the most high-profile hacks in recent memory, including multiple incidents involving the FBI.
In 2021, Pompompurin took credit for compromising the agency’s email servers and sending thousands of fake cybersecurity warnings. Pompompurin is also linked to the 2022 breach of the FBI’s InfraGard network, an incident that saw the contact information of its more than 80,000 members go on sale. Separately, Pompompurin is connected to the 2021 Robinhood hack that saw the data of 7 million users compromised, and the 2022 Twitter data leak.
In a sworn affidavit, one of the FBI agents involved in the arrest claims Fitzpatrick identified himself as Pompompurin and admitted to being the owner of BreachForums. The forum rose from the ashes of RaidForums, which the FBI raided and shut down last year. For the moment, BreachForums is still up and running. “I think it’s safe to assume [Pompompurin] won’t be coming back, so I’ll be taking ownership of the forum,” said a user named Baphomet. “I have most, if not all the access necessary to protect BF infrastructure and users.” Fitzpatrick will appear before a federal court on March 24th.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-authorities-arrest-alleged-breachforums-owner-and-fbi-hacker-pompompurin-170009266.html?src=rss
If you’re in the market for a new Android phone, now is a good time to pick up one of the best at a significant discount. Google has reduced the price of the entire Pixel family, including the flagship 7 Pro. On both Amazon and the Google Store, you ca…
Disco Elysium, one of the best releases of 2019 and 2021, finally has a dedicated photo mode, but it’s not like the one you find in most games. Announced this week, the game’s new Collage Mode grants players full access to all the characters, environme…
