Tag Archive for: returns

Sunbird returns to allow Android users to use iMessage features including blue bubbles

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Back in November, the Sunbird messaging app, which powered the Nothing Chats messaging app, shut down due to security concerns. The Sunbird app allowed Android users to use iMessage for messaging even down to having blue bubbles, high-quality images, read receipts, typing indicators, and more. While Sunbird promised users that they would have end-to-end encryption for user messages and files, users’ Apple login info was not encrypted obviously creating a huge security concern.
With 630,000 files vulnerable to this exploit, Sunbird decided to halt all of its services including its Play Store app. But Sunbird is re-launching its iMessage for Android app. In a press release, Sunbird announced that its messaging app has been relaunched and 165,000 Android users are on the waitlist. A small number of invitations have been disseminated.

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Sunbird has updated its AV1 Message system which is now AV2 and it is designed to keep messages safe. As Sunbird notes, “Unencrypted messages are never stored anywhere on disk or in a database. When messages are decrypted to be passed to the iMessage and RCS/Google Messages network, they exist in that state only within memory for a limited period of time. In the front-end app, messages are only stored in an encrypted state within the in-app database.”

The bottom line as far as Sunbird is concerned is that “Since November, the Sunbird team has worked to migrate the iMessage implementation off of AV1 to the AV2 architecture. With the adoption of AV2, we believe that we’ve not only resolved the security vulnerabilities previously identified but also provided a secure and privacy-oriented foundation for Sunbird’s iMessage integration moving forward.”

You can join the Waitlist for Sunbird by tapping on this link and pressing on “Join the Waitlist.” You might wonder why this is necessary if Apple will support RCS later this year. The answer is simple; despite Apple adding support for RCS, those using the latter will still have green text bubbles. For those Android users concerned about getting teased for being green, outside of buying an iPhone, using Sunbird might be the next best solution. 
The developers admitted that they could have used the downtime…

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Sunbird iMessage for Android Returns After Shutting Down Due to Security Issues : Tech : Tech Times

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Sunbird is returning to bring iMessage to Android after the company shut down its services due to security issues. 

The last time it was available, the company partnered with Nothing for the service known as ‘Nothing Chats,’ another iMessage for Android service that promised blue bubbles but faced massive security issues.

Sunbird iMessage for Android Returns Soon

(Photo: Sunbird )

The company promises that the experience will be returned soon for all to enjoy.

According to their latest press release, they will start with a beta release for everyone to try, which already features several fixes, enhancements, and improvements compared to its initial run. 

From its earlier AV1 iMessage architecture, the company has developed its better and new take on this implementation, the AV2. It is now focused on improving user privacy and uses an MQTTS message broker, an OASIS standard for secure messaging. 

Sunbird promises that when the decrypted message is passed to the iMessage and RCS/Google Messages Network, it will only exist in memory for a brief time.

Read Also: Nothing Chats: Security Concern over Apple ID, iMessage Login-Should You Download?

Sunbird’s Shut Down and Security Issues

In 2022, Sunbird was among the first to bring iMessage for Android and promised this experience for all, after which it was made partner by Nothing Chats to bring the same experience for its app.

However, many security issues were found, including privacy problems wherein the messages were stored in the Firebase Database, unencrypted HTTP API Calls, and more. 

Now, the company is looking to fix all this, make it more secure, and roll it out gradually to users who have signed up (with the waitlist still open for those who want to join it via this link), with Sunbird sending out invitations to accepted ones. 

iMessage for Android’s Interconnectivity

Last year, there came a massive wave of companies looking to bring the iMessage service for Android, and this was amidst the sparking conversations regarding Apple’s reluctance to adopt RCS.

Among the many companies to do this, the first was Sunbird, followed by Nothing Chats via a…

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Lockbit Ransomware Gang Returns After International Takedown, Arrests

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The Lockbit ransomware group is reportedly back online with new servers.

In a lengthy letter posted online this weekend, Lockbit claims that the international group of government agencies that infiltrated it only obtained decryption keys for 2.5% of the attacks the ransomware group has carried out since its inception.

Last week, the US Department of Justice, FBI, the UK National Crime Agency (NCA), Europol, and others announced their joint infiltration of Lockbit’s servers. The US charged two Russian nationals allegedly connected to the ransomware group, and Ukrainian authorities arrested a father-son duo believed to be Lockbit members. At the time, Lockbit administrators said that while their servers that use PHP were infiltrated, their backup servers were “untouched.”

The UK’s NCA has repeatedly asserted that Lockbit is fully compromised in statements provided to PCMag. “The NCA, working with international partners, successfully infiltrated and took control of Lockbit’s systems, and was able to compromise their entire criminal operation,” an agency spokesperson told PCMag via email Monday. “Their systems have now been destroyed by the NCA, and it is our assessment that Lockbit remains completely compromised.”

“We recognized Lockbit would likely attempt to regroup and rebuild their systems,” the NCA continued. “However, we have gathered a huge amount of intelligence about them and those associated to them, and our work to target and disrupt them continues.”

In the letter from a purported Lockbit administrator shared by malware data collector VXUnderground, the admin claims that Lockbit members became “lazy” after they stole enough money to let them live a luxurious lifestyle “on a yacht with titsy [sic] girls.”

The admin then implies that they are a US voter and says Lockbit’s new servers are running a new version of PHP, promising that anyone who reports any critical vulnerabilities for Lockbit’s new systems “will be rewarded.” Their lengthy letter makes a number of other allegations and contradictory statements, including some regarding the FBI’s supposed motives.

The admin admits, however, that even a PHP update “will not be enough” to stop the FBI and other agencies from…

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Normalcy returns to OAUTH as police disperse protesting sacked workers

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Normal activities have returned to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH) with workers and patients having free entry and exit.

This followed police disruption of the indefinite protest embarked on by the sacked workers of the hospital.

Recall that the sacked workers, numbering over 1500, shut the gates of the hospital last Thursday in protest against their disengagement. They had vowed that the protest would continue indefinitely unless the institution’s management reverses their sack.

But as the protest entered Day 5 on Monday, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that men of the Nigeria Police Force invaded the protest arena, shooting into the air and throwing tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters.

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The security personnel later forced the shut gates open and stationed their patrol vehicles nearby to prevent further protest.

Meanwhile, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi has intervened in the lingering industrial crisis.

A statement by the palace media office on Tuesday, stated that during a meeting with leaders of the sacked workers on Monday, the monarch donated a sum of N10 million and one thousand bags of rice to pacify them.

The statement added that the monarch’s gesture was to ameliorate their suffering, which was occasioned by the non-payment of their salaries for 14 months.

Ooni Ogunwusi assured the aggrieved workers that he was working with relevant stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Health, among others, to resolve the crisis.

“I am dedicating myself and the ancient throne of Oduduwa to fight this fight to a logical conclusion,” he said.

The monarch noted that the workers had the right to protest if they feel injustice has been meted out to them, but he urged them to apply wisdom in order to achieve desired results.

ALSO READ: Sacked OAUTH employees shut down hospital in protest

“I am happy that you all have demonstrated core Omoluabi ethos of descendants of Oduduwa by allowing operations to resume at the hospital upon receiving my message. You have honoured me and I pray that God will honour you all.

“Beyond that, I wish to assure you that the Palace will support your dreams and aspirations in life even beyond…

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