Ragnarok Group Releases Decryption Keys And Quietly Disappears

Ragnarok, the infamous hacker group, has seemingly and quietly gone off into the night. The ransomware group has reportedly shut up shop and, on top of that, released a master decryption key.

Evidence of the group’s disappearance was discovered by several sites, chief among them being BleepingComputer. Specifically, several elements of the site seemed to have been stripped bare of all visuals. If anything, it seems as if the group did not have any plans on shutting down this fast, indicating that something or someone may have reached key members of the group.

Unsurprisingly, any evidence of the threat actors behind the group no longer exists, save except for the aforementioned decryption key.

The good news is that the master key works and unlocks all files that were encrypted by the group’s ransomware, along with a list of its victims, several of which were also victims of its double extortion tactic; on top of encrypting files and demanding a ransom, the group would also steal data that threaten to post it on a “leak” site.

Ragnarok isn’t the first ransomware to have seemingly vanish this year. Darkside, the hacker group that claimed responsibility for both the Colonial Pipeline and Toshiba’s European business, had apologised and quit the scene after the attacks, although the sincerity of such actions is questionable and rightly so.

Samsung Releases New Walkie-Talkie App For Galaxy Watch4

Already pre-ordered the new Galaxy Watch4? Well, you’ll be glad to know that Samsung has recently released a new Walkie-Talkie app for you to play around with when you receive the new smartwatch. As implied by its name, the app allows you to chat with a friend or two directly via the device a la Dick Tracy or a retro fictional super spy.

Communicating through the Walkie-Talkie app with another person isn’t that straightforward, however. You are first required to search for your recipient’s Galaxy Watch4 via Bluetooth and then pair with it by using a pin code – meaning that both you and your friend need to be in the same room or location in order to establish the connection and to communicate via the app. All new pairings will be added to the app’s contact list for ease of reference.

Once paired, simply hold down the microphone button to transmit your voice over to the other device. Meanwhile, all incoming transmissions on the receiving end will be displayed on the watch, also detailing the sender’s identity. Samsung recommends that your Galaxy Watch4 is connected to your smartphone when running the Walkie-Talkie app for the first time. After that, the feature can be used independently of your handset. There’s also the option to disable the app entirely if you do not wish to be disturbed.

Unfortunately, the new Walkie-Talkie app does have one caveat. At this current time, the feature is only exclusively available for Galaxy Watch4 series, and so far there are no plans of introducing it to older Samsung wearables or other devices running on the new Wear OS platform.

That aside, a walkie-talkie app for short-range communication isn’t particularly new. In fact, the feature itself has been made available for the Apple Watch since 2018, although there were instances where the company mulled on taking it down due to potential privacy concerns. Hopefully such issues won’t be affecting Samsung’s version of the application down the line.

Battlefield 2042 Is Now Official; Releases On 22 October

Electronic Arts has finally revealed Battlefield 2042 as it promised to. But the game is bad news for fans of the series who would like to see singleplayer content. As during the reveal, the publisher said it will be a multiplayer only game.

But for those who like large-scale PvP games, Battlefield 2042 may be one of the biggest out there once it gets released. It will feature maps big enough to hold 128 players in a match. And to keep things from being too monotonous after a while, the maps will also feature dynamic weather and other environmental hazards.

Battlefield 2042 will have three main game modes. The first is called All-Out Warfare, which is a fancier name for the older Conquest and Breakthrough, but on a much larger scale. Hazard Zone is the second, which is likely where the environmental hazards come into play. EA has not revealed what exactly the third one is, opting to only reveal it on 22 July.

As for the game’s release, Battlefield 2042 will be out on 22 October 2021. Pre-orders are already open, and those who do so will get access to an open beta. Buy any of the non-standard editions, and you’ll be able to play the game a week early, on 15 October instead.

Rainbow Six: Extraction Officially Revealed; Releases On 16 September

Following a couple of name changes, Ubisoft has finally revealed the next Rainbow Six: Extraction. It was previously known by names like the probably-inappropriate Quarantine, and then Parasite.

As part of the official reveal, Ubisoft also released a gameplay trailer that shows what Rainbow Six: Extraction will be about. From the looks of it, it is very easy to draw comparisons with Valve’s Left 4 Dead. One very noticeable similarity is the air-locked room that’s reminiscent of the latter’s safe room. This serves as a checkpoint of sorts, as operators go through three sub zones.

Rather than four characters who do generally the same thing, Rainbow Six: Extraction has up to three operators from Siege in a team. They seem to retain most of their abilities from that title too, for a more strategic approach. Stealth is also an effective strategy, at least at the early moments of each sub zone. Which is nice for players who don’t like to always run in guns blazing.

Since we mentioned operators, there will be a total of 18 to choose from, nine of which has been revealed. Rainbow Six: Extraction releases on 16 September on both console generations and on PC. As the icing on top, it also supports crossplay.

Battlefield 2042 Is Now Official; Releases On 22 October

Electronic Arts has finally revealed Battlefield 2042 as it promised to. But the game is bad news for fans of the series who would like to see singleplayer content. As during the reveal, the publisher said it will be a multiplayer only game.

But for those who like large-scale PvP games, Battlefield 2042 may be one of the biggest out there once it gets released. It will feature maps big enough to hold 128 players in a match. And to keep things from being too monotonous after a while, the maps will also feature dynamic weather and other environmental hazards.

Battlefield 2042 will have three main game modes. The first is called All-Out Warfare, which is a fancier name for the older Conquest and Breakthrough, but on a much larger scale. Hazard Zone is the second, which is likely where the environmental hazards come into play. EA has not revealed what exactly the third one is, opting to only reveal it on 22 July.

As for the game’s release, Battlefield 2042 will be out on 22 October 2021. Pre-orders are already open, and those who do so will get access to an open beta. Buy any of the non-standard editions, and you’ll be able to play the game a week early, on 15 October instead.

NVIDIA Releases GeForce Driver 466.27 With New Anti-Ethereum Limiter

NVIDIA released its latest GeForce driver version 466.27 just yesterday. The driver ahead of next week’s launch of Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, but more importantly, it marks the brand’s second attempt at implementing its anti-Ethereum limiter for the GeForce RTX 3060.

As a quick recap, NVIDIA announced that the RTX 3060 family of graphics cards would feature a limiter that would dampen the card’s mining performance for the cryptocurrency. By doing this, it hoped that it would deter cryptominers from buying the card in bulk and leaving bonafide gamers empty-handed, as a result.

Unfortunately for NVIDIA, the GPU maker made a boo-boo less than a month after the RTX 3060 was launched, when it released a GeForce driver without the anti-Ethereum code, thus allowing miners to mine the cryptocurrency with total abandon. Among other creative methods, that is.

With the new driver version, NVIDIA is breathing new life into its anti-Ethereum miner code and based on its rather ambiguous blog post, it sounds as though driver version 466.27 is expected to be the minimum driver version for all GeForce RTX 30 series cards that ship out from mid-May onwards.

As to whether or not the new driver update will actually turn miners away from NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 30 series cards and, alternatively, turn them towards the brand’s CMP lineup, only time will tell.

OnePlus Releases More Images Of OnePlus 9 Pro; Standard Variant Officially Revealed

OnePlus has recently shared new images showcasing its upcoming OnePlus 9 Pro smartphone that is slated to debut globally next week. Along with the set of photos is a new launch teaser, which also officially revealed the flagship’s standard model for the first time.

As seen from the latest images provided by the company, the actual design of the OnePlus 9 Pro is exactly how it was depicted in the earlier leaks. In front of the device is a curved screen with an in-display camera located on its upper left corner, while on its back is a quad camera setup housed in a vertical bump, which also features Hasselblad’s branding. The volume rocker is visible on the left side of the phone, and on the right is where the state slider and lock button are located. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau notes that the silver colour option showcased in the images is referred to as “Morning Mist”.

Unfortunately, the only glimpse of the standard variant reveals its rear camera bump, which almost looks identical to the Pro version, but with two noticeable differences. The first being the lack of a fourth camera sensor, and the second is the Hasselblad branding which is orientated vertically. The violet colour option shown on this model is referred to as “Winter Mist”.

In terms of specifications, Lau has confirmed that the Pro variant will sport a Sony IMX789 and a IMX766 for its main and ultra-wide sensors, respectively. It is not revealed if the standard model of the OnePlus 9 will also feature the same sensors as part of its camera setup. And as implied by the branding, the imaging system on both models of the upcoming flagship series will feature enhancements by renown Swedish camera brand Hasselblad. As revealed by the company last year, the OnePlus 9 series will be powered by Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line Snapdragon 888 chipset.

OnePlus will launch the new flagship smartphone series via a virtual launch on 23 March at 10pm local time, which will be streamed live through its official website and social media channels. As previously reported, there is a possibility that the company may launch its first ever smartwatch during the event as well.

Samsung Releases One UI 3.1 Update For Galaxy S20 FE; Pulls It Not Long After

Samsung released the One UI 3.1 system – which debuted along with the Galaxy S21 series – for its Galaxy S20 FE smartphone in European regions, according to SamMobile. The website later reported that the company had pulled back the update a few days after, and it is no longer available for users through OTA (over the air) or Smart Switch.

The company has not revealed any official statement on the matter at this time, but it is believed that this may be related to new issues introduced by the firmware update. According to several discussions on Reddit, users have reported that One UI 3.1  for the Galaxy S20 FE has caused performance issues, faster battery drainage, buggy SMS notifications, as well as missing certain features. Keep in mind that these may also be isolated issues as not many users have reported facing similar instances.

Based on the firmware update’s documentation, One UI 3.1 introduces several new additions to the Galaxy S20 FE such as Google Discover integration on the home screen, Google Home device controls in quick settings, cross-app video call effects, and many others. However, Reddit users noted that not all of the new features introduced by the firmware update along with the Galaxy S21 – such as Director’s View mode for the camera app – are ported over to the FE.

Other than that, the new update also promised various improvements to the smartphone’s performance and battery usage, which ironically isn’t the case as pointed out earlier. It is not known when Samsung is planning to re-release a fixed version of the update, and the same can be said for its expected rollout to other regions including Malaysia.

Besides the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, the company has globally rolled out One UI 3.1 to its Galaxy Tab S7 series. However, much like for the FE, the update’s expected local availability for the tablet has not been made known at this time.