News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

Security Firm Warns Android Smartphone Users
Should Update Their Phones Now

Google this week announced that users should update their Android smartphones as soon as possible due to multiple vulnerabilities that can lead to “remote code execution.”

In a bulletin issued in April 3, “The most severe of these issues is a critical security vulnerability in the System component that could lead to remote (proximal/adjacent) code execution with no additional execution privileges needed.”

Further, it warned that “user interaction is not needed for exploitation” and that “the severity assessment is based on the effect that exploiting the vulnerability would possibly have on an affected device, assuming the platform and service mitigations are turned off for development purposes or if successfully bypassed.”

The vulnerabilities currently impact Android systems that are using versions 11, 12, 12L, and 13, Google’s bulletin said.

Security experts with antivirus software maker MalwareByes warned that users should “update as soon as they can,” according to a post. “If your Android is on security patch level 2023-04-05 or later, this will address all of these issues. Android partners are notified of all issues at least a month before publication, however this doesn’t always mean that the patches are available for devices from all vendors.”

Users can find their respective Android phone’s version number, security update level, and Google Play level in the Settings app. Generally, Android pushes automatic updates to users, but one can check for updates.

‘Twitter Files’ Reporter Matt Taibbi Leaves Twitter
in Protest Over Throttling of Substack Links

Journalist Matt Taibbi, who broke the sensational “Twitter Files” story that exposed the inner workings of the social media giant’s censorship machine, has announced he’s leaving Twitter in protest of apparent changes that have made the platform unusable for him.

Taibbi, who posts his articles on Substack and is one of the most popular contributors on the platform, made the announcement in a post titled “The Craziest Friday Ever” and a series of tweets, in which he said that he had just learned that Substack links were being blocked on Twitter.

“When I asked why, I was told it’s a dispute over the new Substack Notes platform,” Taibbi wrote in a tweet.

“It turns out Twitter is upset about the new Substack Notes feature, which they see as a hostile rival,” Taibbi wrote on the Substack platform, adding that when he asked how he was supposed to market his work, he was given the option of posting his articles on Twitter rather than on Substack.

“Not much suspense there; I’m staying at Substack,” Taibbi wrote. “Beginning early next week I’ll be using the new Substack Notes feature (to which you’ll all have access) instead of Twitter, a decision that apparently will come with a price as far as any future Twitter Files reports are concerned.

Are you sure, Mr. Taibbi?
You better read this article published on March 28th right away!

How much money do we think Substack lost last year?

Substack is desperate, huh? That’s what I understand from their fundraising email, anyway. They’re now hitting up retail investors for millions of dollars after they failed to raise last year.

When we raised our last round of funding, in March 2021, we explored how we might make it possible for a large group of writers to invest alongside the traditional investors, but it ultimately proved too complex. Most importantly, it was difficult to include people who were not already accredited investors—a qualification determined largely by wealth. But the idea never left our minds.

Andreessen Horowitz led that round, which gave Substack a valuation of $650 million, and a16z has been merrily dumping on retail through their crypto investments for some time. It does not surprise me that someone might have thought Substack could expand the strategy!
...
You see, the last time Substack raised, the Fed hadn’t started its rate hikes yet. Startups — like Substack — are particularly vulnerable to being squeezed when the interest rates go up. It gets harder to raise money because conservative investors can simply invest in safer assets.

And during that 10-year period I cited with those outsize returns, interest rates were low and valuations of private companies ballooned. Now, with interest rates coming back up, those balloons are popping. Some VCs are slicing valuations by as much as 95 percent. There may be even more write-downs coming. And following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, there’s a considerable amount of uncertainty in the VC world.

Substack certainly knows this. It tried to raise last year, seeking $75 million to $100 million from investors. But it had revenue of only $9 million in 2021, and a sky-high valuation on relatively little revenue was not the vibe in 2022. The company gave up. On its Wefunder page, the company says that the pre-money valuation on Substack is now $585 million, a 10 percent decrease from 2021.

And now Substack has turned to Wefunder and retail investors. Friends, I do not like it, not least because the VCs last year got a pitch with Substack’s annual revenue, and I do not see that s*** line-itemed anywhere on the Wefunder page.

Substack makes its money by taking a 10 percent cut of the subscription fees its newsletter writers charge. (Its payment processor takes another 4 percent, according to Wefunder.) The company says it paid out more than $300 million to writers, cumulatively.

It seems that some terribly dark days loom in Substack's horizon, Mr. Taibbi.