From The Blog
-
NetSPI’s Offensive Security Offering Leverages Subject Matter Experts to Enhance Pen Testing
Written by Sean KalinichBlack Hat 2023 Las Vegas. The term offensive security has always been an interesting one for me. On the surface is brings to mind reaching…Written on Tuesday, 12 September 2023 17:05 in Security Talk Read 1244 times Read more...
-
Black Kite Looks to Offer a Better View of Risk in a Rapidly Changing Threat Landscape
Written by Sean KalinichBlack Hat 2023 – Las Vegas. Risk is an interesting subject and has many different meanings to many different people. For the most part Risk…Written on Tuesday, 12 September 2023 14:56 in Security Talk Read 752 times Read more...
-
Microsoft Finally Reveals how they Believe a Consumer Signing Key was Stollen
Written by Sean KalinichIn May of 2023 a few sensitive accounts reported to Microsoft that their environments appeared to be compromised. Due to the nature of these accounts,…Written on Thursday, 07 September 2023 14:40 in Security Talk Read 1131 times Read more...
-
Mandiant Releases a Detailed Look at the Campaign Targeting Barracuda Email Security Gateways, I Take a Look at What this all Might Mean
Written by Sean KalinichThe recent attack that leveraged a 0-Day vulnerability to compromise a number of Barracuda Email Security Gateway appliances (physical and virtual, but not cloud) was…Written on Wednesday, 30 August 2023 16:09 in Security Talk Read 920 times Read more...
-
Threat Groups Return to Targeting Developers in Recent Software Supply Chain Attacks
Written by Sean KalinichThere is a topic of conversation that really needs to be talked about in the open. It is the danger of developer systems (personal and…Written on Wednesday, 30 August 2023 13:29 in Security Talk Read 992 times Read more...
-
Leaked Data from Duolingo incident Shows US is most Impacted
Written by Sean KalinichDuolingo, is a language learning site (not to be confused with an LLM) and has a very large base of users. The site is a…Written on Tuesday, 29 August 2023 19:12 in Security Talk Read 1404 times Read more...
-
We talk about the Ransomware Threat Landscape with SecureWorks at Black Hat 2023
Written by Sean KalinichBlack Hat 2023 – Las Vegas, NV – One of my personal focuses is understanding the “Why” behind changes in the threat landscape. In simple…Written on Tuesday, 29 August 2023 18:26 in Security Talk Read 1001 times Read more...
-
Now Patched Flaw Leverages Abandoned Reply URL found in Entra ID allows for Privilege Escalation
Written by Sean KalinichMicrosoft has not been having the greatest of months. First it was identified that a stollen MSA signing key was used by a Nation State…Written on Monday, 28 August 2023 15:39 in Security Talk Read 1627 times Read more...
-
Qrypt Looking to Attack the Inefficiencies in Quantum Encryption to make Quantum Secure Communication a Reality Today
Written by Sean KalinichBlack Hat 2023, Las Vegas – At Black Hat one of my favorite things to do is see what the latest buzzword(s)/phrases are. One of…Written on Monday, 28 August 2023 12:53 in Security Talk Read 1117 times Read more...
Recent Comments
- Sean, this is a fantastic review of a beautiful game. I do agree with you… Written by Jacob 2023-05-19 14:17:50 Jedi Survivor – The Quick, Dirty, and Limited Spoilers Review
- Great post. Very interesting read but is the reality we are currently facing. Written by JP 2023-05-03 02:33:53 The Dangers of AI; I Think I Have Seen this Movie Before
- I was wondering if you have tested the microphone audio frequency for the Asus HS-1000W? Written by Maciej 2020-12-18 14:09:33 Asus HS-1000W wireless headset impresses us in the lab
- Thanks for review. I appreciate hearing from a real pro as opposed to the blogger… Written by Keith 2019-06-18 04:22:36 The Red Hydrogen One, Possibly One of the Most “misunderstood” Phones Out
- Have yet to see the real impact but in the consumer segment, ryzen series are… Written by sushant 2018-12-23 10:12:12 AMD’s 11-year journey to relevance gets an epic finish.
Most Read
- Microsoft Fail - Start Button Back in Windows 8.1 But No Start Menu Written on Thursday, 30 May 2013 15:33 in News Be the first to comment! Read 115694 times Read more...
- We take a look at the NETGEAR ProSafe WNDAP360 Dual-Band Wireless Access Point Written on Saturday, 07 April 2012 00:17 in Pro Storage and Networking Be the first to comment! Read 85956 times Read more...
- Synology DS1512+ Five-Bay NAS Performance Review Written on Tuesday, 12 June 2012 20:31 in Pro Storage and Networking Be the first to comment! Read 80335 times Read more...
- Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 Design And Feature Review Written on Sunday, 19 August 2012 22:35 in Enthusiast Motherboards Be the first to comment! Read 79031 times Read more...
- The Asus P8Z77-M Pro Brings Exceptional Performance and Value to the Lab Written on Monday, 23 April 2012 13:02 in Consumer Motherboards Be the first to comment! Read 69185 times Read more...
Displaying items by tag: Sprint
15 new companies support Samsung's mobile OS contender, Tizen
Early February was not good for Samsung's mobile operating system Tizen, namely Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo has dropped out of the upcoming supply of smart phones powered by this OS. This seemed like the beginning of a bad trend.
Sprint releases the Samsung Note 2
![]() |
If you have been waiting for the Samsung Note 2, wait no more! Sprint and T-Mobile are now both offering the 16GB version of the Titanium Gray or White Note 2. Both of these providers technically have unlimited data, and they are both the only way to get the Note 2 at this time.
Sprint Users, Rejoice!
![]() |
Sprint has been purchased by the Japanese firm Softbank, as announced in a joint press meeting with the CEOs of both companies. Softbank will be purchasing 70% of the shares of Sprint for the staggering sum of $20.1 Billion dollars. This large chunk of change will directly revitalize Sprint, the underdog, when compared to Verizon or AT&T. Softbank, one of the larger mobile communication firms in Japan will gain access to the American market, which is less mature than the Japanese mobile market.
Sprint's Star Star Me – What is it?
![]() |
Sprint is staying competitive by debuting a brand new service ahead of Verizon, AT&T or T Mobile. This new service, known as “StarStar Me”, allows users to essentially do away with conventional phone numbers. In addition to letting users replace their number with a handle, it allows for easy auto-reply text messages. Through the Apple/Android app that can be downloaded, users can also screen or block incoming calls, or edit the auto-reply text messages. The only downside? This feature only works from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, or T-Mobile phones.
Unlocked iPhone 5 prices available
![]() |
So if you are still nervous about the new iPhone, and want to buy it ASAP here are the official prices of unlocked models. 16GB version will go for $649, 32GB one for $749 and last one 64GB for $849. All of the devices are unlocked so you won’t have to sign a 1 or 2 year contract with any carriers. This is desirable if you want to swap to another network in case they just popped up a new super attractive offering. Also this means that you will be able to use iPhone on the T-mobile network who is working on deploying the 1900 MHz spectrum which should help iPhone achieve some of the fastest mobile broadband speeds.
US Version of the Samsung Galaxy S III will only have a Dual Core SoC...
We have heard through numerous sources that the when the Samsung S III Galaxy hits the US it will be hobbled. This move by Samsung to offer a smart phone to the US with a reduced set of specification is something that will hurt them in the long run. Although many claim that there is no need for a quad core SoC inside the product and that it can get along perfectly well with the dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon that will eventually reside in the US based version of the phone it will set a tone with consumers.
Asus Annoucnes new Transfomers includes a 4G LTE model...
So Asus has released the specifications of their next generation Transformers and as we told you they are not getting rid of the Tegra 3 for their HD version of the popular tablet. The original rumor was that Asus was replacing the Tegra 3 for a Qualcomm SoC. In truth we find that Asus is entering the realm of cellular tablets.
Senator Al Franken says CarrierIQ "has a lot of questions to answer"
With everything going on in the world and the noise about SOPA the last thing we need is another scandal. Unfortunately that is exactly what we have with CarrierIQ, a tracking and metrics software that is reported installed on a majority of smartphones in the US. The news came to light after a software researcher named Trevor Eckhart stumbled across this on his HTC phone. Eckhart has even gone so far as to show that this software is capable of capturing key strokes (stored as key press events many with unique Key IDs), location data, and a great deal of other information from you as you use your phone.
iPhone 4S woes from speed to battery
In the weeks since the iPhone 4S announcement and then launch we have read all kinds of articles and heard all kinds of stories. It has been somewhat difficult to sort through much of what is out there and come to a conclusion general or not. The iPhone 4S launched to a less than underwhelmed crowd. Normally the press gets all lathered up when a new Apple product launches, but this time things were not the same. Even with this lukewarm reception the consumers line up to buy them. The after seeing the reception from the consumers the press worked overtime to make up for its stance on the iPhone 4S. They came out with articles about Siri, The new UI, the Speed of the new Dual Core A5 and more. Still there are issues with the iPhone and due to the much wider audience and customer base they are coming out faster than ever.
This is what we know so far. On launch day the iPhone 4S hit the market and within days the troubles began…
The first up is poor 3G speeds when on the Sprint network. Both Apple and Sprint have acknowledged the issue with Sprint being the first one to come out about the issue a promise a fix. We are fairly certain that Apple was not pleased with this, but are also just as sure that Sprint did not want to lose any new customers to that 30 money back policy they have. So the issue was out on the table and now a solution needs to be found. Comparing even an older Android Phone to an iPhone on the Sprint 3G network shows a remarkable difference. Apple wants to say it is iOS5, but the issue is not present in every phone so this one may actually be related to a bad lot of 3G radios. I guess we will find out once Sprint and Apple release their findings.
On top of (and possibly related to) the 3G speed issue are the reports of exceptionally poor battery life. These reports are possibly exaggerated, but some are claiming as few as 4 hours of life. One thing that we have found in common with all of the reports of poor battery life are reports of overheating, signal scanning (when the device continues to try and find a signal even if it has one) and, as listed above, poor 3G and WiFi speeds.
Now, at this point it is important to note that Apple has made some small overtures to the effect that this is an issue with iOS5 and have released iOS 5.0.1 to developers for testing. Here is my problem with this, the symptoms of this all point to a problem with the Radio on the phone. It is either defective and cannot complete the connection to the cellular or WiFi networks it is trying to talk to, or there is a MAJOR flaw in the baseband coding in iOS5 that is causing the system to continually drop the connection instead of keeping it alive.
Personally our feeling is that this is a bad lot of 3G/WiFi radios that managed to get through Q/C (quality control). It might be possible to “fix” this with software, but in the end the device will still have the flaw and its lifespan will probably be shorter than it should be. We are waiting to see if the new iOS update will do anything for this issue and will let you know what we find.
Discuss this in our Forum
Sprint's First Day as an iPhone Provider got off to a Rocky Start
So Sprint got the iPhone 4S, and they are selling them like crazy… There is just one tiny little problem. No one seems to have trained their support staff on how to deal with them. Let me tell you about the 3.5 hour ordeal that we personally went through and after talking with more than a few other excited iPhone 4S owners ours was not a one off event.
The call started around 12PM Eastern Time as the phone had just arrived and we were excited to get things going. Previous to our return to Sprint we were with AT&T through the introduction of the iPhone 4. Unfortunately with the iPhone 4 we had issues, from a four hour battery to the grip of death. It was not a fun time and prompted us to move to Sprint. However, we knew that there are always activation issues when a new phone comes out. What we did not expect was to have activations issues with the personnel instead of the activation or iTunes servers.
After about a 30 minute wait (which we thought was quite short considering the circumstance) an activation rep picked up the line. Our first indication that all was not as it should be was when the rep told us to remove the back of the iPhone and take out the battery. We explained that this was impossible on the iPhone and that the IMEI and Serial numbers on the box as well. The rep then told us that without the numbers from under the battery she could not activate the phone for us. As you can imagine we were more than a tad annoyed by this point, but we pressed on. After some time we were able to convince the tech that we could not remove the battery and that the serial on the box was indeed valid. Just as we saw light at the end of the tunnel… we were disconnected at just about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
We called again and at 1 hour and 45 minutes into our ordeal we were back on the phone; again we had to explain that the serial was on the box, but at least this rep did not ask us to remove the battery. The next hurdle was running the activation wizard on the phone. This completed successfully but did not apply the phone number to the phone. The rep then tried to manually program the phone but the iPhone would not recognize any of the programing codes that he tried. We were advised to wipe the phone completely and start over. At 2 hours and 30 minutes we still had not been able to activate the phone and were grasping at straws, doing everything from activating over WiFi, iTunes and more than one wipe of the phone. Finally one of the wipes must have done something (or the system caught up) as we saw the new number displayed on the phone. Our attempt at running the iPhone 4S on Sprint’s network was finally running and it only took 3.5 hours out of our Friday afternoon.
We would suggest to Sprint that they update their activation steps or give better training as they are only going to get more iPhone customers in the coming months. If everyone has to go through 3 hours to get activated they might have more than a few that will turn to other companies that do understand the iPhone instead of waiting for Sprint to catch up.
Let us know your iPhone 4S activation stories either on Facebook or on our Forum