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Snapchat Starts Charging Users For “Memories” Storage
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
The social media platform Snapchat announced new Memories Storage Plans last Friday. Users with more than 5 gigabytes of stored content in their accounts will be required to choose one of the paid plans within the next year.
In a rush? Here are the quick facts:
- Snapchat announced new Memories Storage Plans for users with more than 5GB of content in the “Memories” feature.
- The company said that the “vast majority” of users will not be affected.
- The storage plans will start at $1.99 next year.
According to Snapchat’s announcement , Memories—a feature launched in 2016 that allows users to save their images and videos—has now surpassed 1 trillion stored items. To support this growth, the company has decided to introduce paid storage options: 100GB or 250GB under the Snapchat+ plan, and 5TB under the new Snapchat Platinum plan.
“When we first launched Memories, we never expected it to grow to what it has become today,” explained Snapchat. “We want to make sure that our community can continue to store all of their Memories over the long term, so we are introducing new Memories Storage Plans to support Snapchatters with more than 5GB of Memories.”
Snapchat clarified that the change will not affect most users, since the “vast majority” do not exceed the new 5GB free storage limit, only those with significant amounts of stored content.
In May, Snapchat reported reaching over 400 million monthly users and introduced a new feature called Promoted Places to allow users and companies to interact in a new platform experience.
According to the New York Times , Snapchat has now reached 900 million monthly active users and 460 million daily active users, with most users aged between 18 and 34.
A company spokeswoman told the outlet on Wednesday that the introductory 100GB plan will cost $1.99 per month, the 250GB plan $3.99 per month, and the 5TB plan $14.99 per month, noting that prices may vary outside the United States.
The new pricing structure is similar to cloud storage models offered by companies such as Google—with Gmail and Drive—Dropbox, and Apple iCloud, though it is relatively uncommon among social media platforms.
Image by Brett Jordan, from Unsplash
Self-Propagating Malware Spreads Through WhatsApp
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
A new malware campaign is rapidly spreading through WhatsApp in Brazil.
In a rush? Here are the quick facts:
- Targets mainly enterprises, including government and public service organizations.
- Malware hijacks WhatsApp Web to send itself automatically to contacts.
- Infection starts via phishing messages or emails with disguised ZIP files.
Named SORVEPOTEL, the malware uses ZIP file attachments to infect Windows computers and then hijacks WhatsApp accounts to send itself to all contacts, as first discovered by Trend Micro Researchers.
The method enables fast distribution between users who need to perform only minimal actions.
According to Trend Micro, “SORVEPOTEL has been observed to spread across Windows systems with a message that requires users to open it on a desktop, suggesting that threat actors behind the campaign are targeting enterprises.”
The majority of detected cases amount to 457 out of 477 which have occurred in Brazil and impacted government institutions and public services and manufacturing and technology and education and construction organizations.
The infection starts when a person opens a phishing email which seems to be from their contact list. The message contains a ZIP file that masquerades as a receipt or budget document or health-related document. It encourages the user to “baixa o zip no PC e abre” (download the ZIP on PC and open it).
The attackers have used phishing emails which seem to originate from authentic email addresses with two different subject lines: “Documento de Rafael B” and “Extrato.”
The ZIP file contains a Windows shortcut (.LNK) file which executes when opened to download malware from attacker-controlled domains without user interaction. The malware creates persistence by running automatically at startup and uses active WhatsApp sessions to distribute itself to all contacts and groups which frequently leads to account bans for spam activities.
The Trend Micro analysis shows that the attackers want to spread their malware across multiple systems instead of trying to penetrate deep into the system. The Brazilian government has employed these methods in previous election campaigns to attack financial information.
Users and organizations need to disable auto-downloads on WhatsApp and manage file transfers while boosting their security knowledge. The Trend Micro team actively tracks this campaign to detect any future occurrences.
