A research study conducted by Hewlett-Packard has found serious security issues in today's top smartwatch wearable devices. Smartwatches are part of the wearable device trend, which extends from medical devices and fitness trackers to acting as an extension of your smartphone.
The Apple Watch and Android Wear are examples of popular wearable devices on the market which can pair with smartphones and allow you to view online notifications, send messages and control apps through either the small display or through voice control. Every one of the ten devices analyzed contained significant vulnerabilities.
Read moreData stolen from Hacking Team continues to yield information about the company’s infiltration techniques. The latest find is a fake Android news app, which was used to install its flagship surveillance tool. The app is called “BeNews,” the same name as a long-shuttered news website.
Inside the app is a backdoor that appears to have been used to load the Android version of Hacking Team’s Remote Control System, also known as Galileo, a data-collecting tool the company sold to law enforcement and security agencies worldwide. That malicious component takes advantage of a local privilege escalation vulnerability.
Read moreResearchers have unearthed dozens of Android apps in the official Google Play store that expose user passwords because the apps fail to properly implement HTTPS encryption during logins or don't use it at all.
The roster of faulty apps have more than 200 million collective downloads from Google Play and have remained vulnerable even after developers were alerted to the defects. The apps include the official titles from the National Basketball Association, the Match.com dating service and the PizzaHut restaurant chain. They were uncovered by AppBugs, a developer of a free Android app that spots dangerous apps installed on users' handsets.
Read moreIf you're writing poetry, write it. Don't type it in just because you can. The classroom is changing, as new technologies dramatically alter the learning for both teachers and students. And at the heart of this change is the tablet.
You might not think of the classroom as a key market for big companies such as Apple and Google. That's indicative of a vast worldwide market. Manufacturers understandably want their share – and it comes with some significant benefits to education too. What's been clear from looking at how the tablet is currently used in the classroom is that it's had a transformational effect.
Read moreAs many as 600 million Samsung phones may be vulnerable to attacks that allow hackers to surreptitiously monitor the camera and microphone, read incoming and outgoing text messages, and install malicious apps.
When downloading updates, the Samsung devices don't encrypt the executable file, making it possible for attackers in a position to modify upstream traffic — such as those on the same Wi-Fi network — to replace the legitimate file with a malicious payload. The exploit was demonstrated at the Blackhat security conference in London by Ryan Welton, a researcher with security firm NowSecure.
Read moreIt’s common sense for Android users to check the permission list before installing an app. If the app asks for access to SMS, your contacts list or location, you know it may disclose your privacy. What if a game app only asked for the wifi_status permission?
You might install it with ease – and unknowingly have enabled 3rd parties to track your location! The Android LocationManager was considered to be the only way to acquire the location data, and required a user’s approval. However, researchers have discovered a covert channel to locate and track a user without permission by using the latent location signal disclosed by wifi scanning.
Read moreWhat Google just announced at its I/O developer conference is a bombshell for the future of the company. For years the search giant has witnessed the chipping away of its core product — search — due to the rise of mobile applications and their siloed-off experiences.
Users are engaging more and more with programs that have no attachment and often no requirement for search on the broad web, and as a result Google's position as the owner of our habits, security interests, and needs across the internet has looked increasingly at risk. But Google might have just changed its trajectory. The company demoed a new feature within its Android OS.
Read moreBiometric information is about as personal as data gets. But Google’s Android partners are still failing to protect it, as researchers will discuss this week at RSA, pointing to failures in the Samsung Galaxy S5 and other unnamed Android devices.
Though the affected phone makers have tried to separate and encrypt the information in a separate secure zone, it’s possible to grab the biometric data before it reaches that protected area and create copies of people’s fingerprints for further attacks. The issue appears startlingly straightforward: an attacker could focus on collecting data coming from the Android devices’ fingerprint sensors rather than trying to break into the trusted zone. Any hacker who can acquire user-level access can easily collect fingerprint information from the affected Android phones.
Read moreThe European Union accused Google of cheating consumers by distorting Web search results to favour its own shopping service, after a five-year investigation that could change the rules for business online.
It also started another antitrust investigation into the Android mobile operating system, a key element in Google's strategy to maintain revenues from online advertising as people switch from Web browser searches to smartphone security apps. Google has over 90 percent of the EU search market. Analysts said the EU charges were unlikely to hurt Google's evaluation because it reflected the regulatory risk.
Read moreToshiba Corp. said its humanoid robot will debut at the information desk of an upscale department store in Tokyo next week and provide audio guidance to customers. The female-looking robot will only speak Japanese.
Unlike humanoid robots that have already started careers in customer service, this one can’t make conversation or respond. Instead the robot was created to appear, talk and move as humanly as possible. Robot blinks, bows and moves its mouth and lips smoothly while speaking. It is programmed with multiple human-like expressions, and that it will offer six-minute guidance to customers with information about the department store including events.
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