Samsung confirms hackers compromised its systems and stole Galaxy source code

Samsung confirmed Monday that some of its data was stolen as part of a cyberattack that was first reported over the weekend. In a statement to Bloomberg, the Korean electronics giant revealed that a security breach saw “some source code relating to the operation of Galaxy devices” taken but customer and employee credentials were not impacted.

Although Samsung has not revealed the actors behind the compromise, South American hacking group Lapsus$ has claimed responsibility. The organization shared a 190GB torrent file that reportedly includes bootloader source code for all of Samsung’s recent devices, as well as code related to the biometric authentication and on-device encryption for Galaxy phones and tablets. Attackers may have also gained access to confidential data related to Qualcomm.

The admission comes less than a week after the same group said it obtained around 1TB of data, including schematics and source code, from chip giant NVIDIA. The company said it became aware of the attack on February 23rd, after which time Lapsus$ had demanded a ransom paid in cryptocurrency to prevent NVIDIA’s files from becoming public. When NVIDIA failed to respond, source code for the company’s DLSS technology and information related to as many as six unannounced graphics cards was shared online.

“Currently, we do not anticipate any impact to our business or customers. We have implemented measures to prevent further such incidents and will continue to serve our customers without disruption,” Samsung later confirmed in its statement. It is not known whether Lapsus$ issued the same cryptocurrency demands to Samsung, but we’ve contacted the company for clarification. 

The Morning After: What to expect from Apple’s Peek Performance event

Apple is holding its first virtual event of the year on March 8th, and to be honest, I’ve heard rumors about this date for weeks. And don’t get me started on the leaky product selection expected to debut tomorrow at 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT / 6 PM GMT.

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Engadget

The first major announcement is likely to be a new iPhone SE, Apple’s cheapest iPhone, packing 5G. Will it catch up, design-wise, with the rest of the iPhone family? We’re not sure, but it could still have a home button, if that’s what you’re hoping for. That might be the only throwback — we expect it to have the same A15 Bionic chip as the iPhone 13 lineup.

It’s also time for a new iPad Air, currently the oldest iPad in Apple’s lineup. Although, it’s not that old, really; it was completely redesigned back in 2020.

That’s not all we’re likely to see, however. A report yesterday suggested we could also get a new external display from Apple. Check out our full preview right here.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Netflix stops streaming in Russia

The company had previously halted production on several projects in the country.

Netflix has suspended its streaming service in Russia: “Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” a spokesperson for Netflix told CNBC. Over the weekend, even more companies have pulled services or product sales from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Activision Blizzard and Epic have both halted game sales, TikTok has suspended parts of its service in the country and PayPal has frozen payments and services, too. But it’s gone both ways: Before the weekend, Russia cut access to Facebook and Twitter for its citizens.

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Brandon Sanderson’s secret novels break Pebble’s Kickstarter crowdfunding record

The campaign has already made over $20.4 million.

After half a decade, a new Kickstarter campaign has finally eclipsed Pebble’s crowdfunding record. Fantasy auth…well-established fantasy author Brandon Sanderson set up a campaign to raise $1 million in 30 days to fund four secret books he intends to release next year. It didn’t take 30 days to blow past that goal, though — it took only 35 minutes. The author told The New York Times that one of his objectives for launching this project is to see what it would be like to challenge Amazon. It dominates the printed book and ebook market and apparently accounts for 80 percent of Sanderson’s sales.

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Nintendo’s Switch is about to hit its prime

Just maybe not its ‘Metroid Prime.’

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Nintendo

As the Switch reaches five years old, are its best times behind it? No, quite the opposite. This year is shaping up to be the biggest for Nintendo’s hybrid hit console. The company has new Pokémon, new Zelda and new Bayonetta games inbound, not to mention Switch Sports, a new Xenoblade title and a whole lot more planned for 2022.

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Hackers may have obtained 190GB of sensitive data from Samsung

The company says it’s assessing the situation.

Some of Samsung’s confidential data has reportedly leaked due to a suspected cyberattack. On Friday, South American hacking group Lapsus$ uploaded a trove of data it claims came from the smartphone manufacturer. The collective says it obtained code related to highly sensitive features, like biometric authentication and on-device encryption, as well confidential data from Qualcomm. If the contents of the leak are accurate, they could cause significant damage to Samsung.

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Nintendo’s Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit sets are just $60 at Amazon

If the announcement of 48 additional Mario Kart 8 courses has you itching for some real-life Nintendo racing, a new deal at Amazon might be right up your street. Right now, both the Mario and LuigiMario Kart Live: Home Circuit sets are down to $60 from $100 (a 40 percent savings), giving you the ability to create and zoom around custom racetracks using Switch controllers in your own home. While not all-time lows, they’re still some of the best deals we’ve seen at the retailer.

Buy Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Mario Set at Amazon – $60Buy Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Luigi Set at Amazon – $60

Both Home Circuit sets provide gates that you can place around a room to create a racetrack, plus a camera-equipped kart that is piloted by Mario or Luigi. Each set only offers one car, which can be used in single-player mode, so you’ll need more than one set if you fancy some multiplayer action. Courses typically require around a 10 x 12 foot area — but once the track is set, you can use the Joy-Cons of your Switch to control your racer.

Tracks can be moved and the game will make things interesting by setting racers in different worlds, including tricky underwater and 8-bit areas. Like in Mario Kart, in-game items will speed up or slow down your kart, meaning no two races are the same. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Sony’s best ANC headphones are up to 46 percent off right now

With both immersive sound and powerful active noise cancellation (ANC), Sony’s WH-1000XM4 are some of the most desirable wireless headphones out there — but at $350, they’re pretty expensive. If you’ve been looking for a deal, you can now pick up a pair at Amazon for $278, or a solid 21 percent ($72 off the regular price. And if that’s still too much, Sony’s mid-range and budget ANC wireless headphones are also on sale. 

Buy Sony WH-1000XM4 at Amazon – $278

The WH-1000XM4 attained an exceptional 94 score in our Engadget review for good reason. They offer great sound quality with punchy bass, plus ANC that blocks out noise better than other wireless headphones we’ve tested. They also offer multi-device connectivity and Speak-to-Chat, which automatically pauses audio when you talk, along with Sony’s 360 Reality Audio that offers a similar surround-sound experience to Dolby Atmos. You’ll get around 30 hours on a charge and you can eke another five hours from a quick 10-minute charge.

Sony WH-XB910N
Sony

Sony’s mid-range WH-XB910N headphones (above) are also on sale at Amazon for $148, near their all-time low price. They’re obviously not quite up to the level of the much more expensive WH-1000XM4, particularly with the ANC, but they still deliver excellent sound quality and look great. You get clear mids and highs, powerful bass and Sony’s 360 Reality Audio surround sound. Other features include “Precise Voice Pickup” that amplifies your voice on calls, on-board controls, an ambient sound mode and 30-hour battery life.

Buy Sony WH-XB910N at Amazon – $148

Finally, if you’re looking for a budget ANC model, Amazon has another good deal on Sony’s WH-CH710N model. They’re now available for $98 or a solid 46 percent off the regular $180 price. They earned a best alternative spot in our buyer’s guide last year, thanks to the very good sound quality with decent range and clarity. They also feature ANC that can automatically adjust cancellation based on the level of ambient noise, an ambient sound mode and 35 hours of battery life.

Buy Sony WH-CH710N at Amazon – $98

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Halo Infinite’s campaign co-op won’t be available when season two kicks off in May

The last we heard, Halo Infinite‘s campaign co-op was supposed to arrive with season two when it launched in May this year. Now, developer 343 Industries has announced that it won’t be available when season 2 debuts but will instead come “later” at an unspecified date in the second season. 

“We are still aiming to deliver campaign network co-op later in season two, and we will share a release date for that and for split-screen co-op as soon as we can,” said the game’s head of creative, Joseph Staten. “It’s going to take more time to land a high-quality, full-featured 4-player network co-op experience in the massive, wide-open world of Halo Infinite.”

It seems likely that split-screen for co-op will arrive at the same time, though the company didn’t confirm that. “We’re also committed to a great two-player split-screen co-op experience on all Xbox consoles, from the original Xbox One through Xbox Series X — the non-linear, wide-open sections of the Campaign present some big challenges for split-screen that have taken us more time to solve,” Staten wrote. 

Forge, meanwhile, is still slated to arrive with season three. It’s currently in level editor testing with a small group of players and public flights are set for “later this year,” the company said. 

Season two was supposed to come three months after Halo Infinite‘s launch on December 8th, but it was pushed back by a couple of months as 343 decided to extend season one. What you will see when it launches on May 3rd are new arena (“Catalyst”) and Big Team Battle (“Breaker”) maps. It’ll also feature new game modes known as Land Grab and Last Spartan Standing, which the company calls “a free-for-all elimination mode.”  

SpaceX sends additional Starlink terminals to Ukraine

SpaceX is sending more Starlink terminals to Ukraine, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Talked to Elon Musk. I’m grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds,” Zelensky tweeted on Saturday afternoon. “Next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities.”

SpaceX sent an initial shipment of its satellite dishes on February 26th following a Twitter plea from Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov. The delivery arrived on February 28th. Days later, Elon Musk warned Ukrainians to be careful when using the service on account of the fact that it’s the only non-Russian internet provider left in some of the more war-torn areas of the country. The warning came after John Scott-Railton, a researcher with the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, pointed out Russia has decades of experience triangulating and targeting satellite uplink transmissions with airstrikes.

Russia’s invasion has tested Ukraine’s internet infrastructure. Intense combat in cities like Kyiv and Mariupol has caused disruptions to GigaTrans, the country’s backbone internet provider. Over the past few days, internet monitoring organization NetBlocks observed multiple drops in connectivity. Among the most recent and potentially worrisome is the one affecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which left the International Atomic Energy Agency saying it could no longer get “reliable information” from the facility.

Netflix stops streaming in Russia

Netflix is taking additional action in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Sunday, the company said it was suspending its service in Russia. “Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” a spokesperson for Netflix told CNBC. 

The move comes after the company said last week it would not comply with Russia’s Vitirina TV law, which requires that audiovisual companies with more than 100,000 subscribers carry 20 free state channels, including NTV and Spa. According to CNBC, Netflix has approximately 1 million subscribers in Russia, making it one of the company’s smaller markets. That same week, Netflix said it had also “paused” all future projects it had planned to undertake within the country. The company had four original productions, including an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, underway in Russia. The fate of those projects is uncertain.  

TikTok suspends new video uploads and livestreaming in Russia

TikTok will temporarily restrict users in Russia from livestreaming and uploading new videos to its platform, the company announced on Sunday. It said it was doing so in response to the country’s recently enacted “fake news” law, which threatens up to 15 years in jail for individuals accused of spreading “misinformation” about it military and or government. 

“We have no choice but to suspend livestreaming and new content to our video service in Russia while we review the safety implications of this law,” TikTok said, noting at the same time that the safety of its users is its “highest priority” as a company. 

For the time being, TikTok users in Russia can continue to message one another and their friends in other countries. “We will continue to evaluate the evolving circumstances in Russia to determine when we might fully resume our services with safety as our top priority,” the company stated. 

The move comes shortly after TikTok said it would start adding labels to videos from some state-controlled media outlets. On Friday, the company noted it had begun working on the policy last year but had decided to expedite its rollout in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. TikTok users can expect to see the labels start showing up sometime within the next few days. In a statement to The Verge, TikTok said it would apply the labels to at least some Russian outlets. The same day TikTok announced the policy, Russia’s Roskomnadzor accused the platform of removing content from Russian media. 

Apple could announce a new external display at its ‘Peek Performance’ event

If you’re not excited about Apple’s upcoming Peek Performance keynote, you’re not the only one. According to most reports, the company will announce new iPhone SE and iPad Air models at the event. It’s not the most exciting stuff. But according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple could have a surprise up its sleeve that would make Tuesday considerably more interesting. In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman writes he “wouldn’t rule out” Apple previewing a next-generation display at the event.

He reports the company completed development on a new monitor “months ago,” and had originally planned to release it “soon after” the launch of last year’s MacBook Pro. Given there have been reports suggesting Apple will announce a new high-end Mac mini at the event, a matching display doesn’t sound out of the realm of possibility. To that point, Apple has reportedly been working on two new monitors for the past few years. A report from 9to5Mac published earlier in the week shed light on a possible 7K successor to the Pro Display XDR that will feature an A13 processor to offload some processing tasks. The monitor Gurman references would appear to be a more affordable model that would succeed the company’s long discontinued Thunderbolt Display.