The popular Google Chrome browser has some of the best security tools baked in with features such as Safebrowsing which protects users from malicious websites. By extension, ChromeOS which powers the affordable Chromebooks is indeed one of the safest systems one can get these days.
Even though the surface of attack is smaller than that of a typical Windows PC, online crooks will always find a way to abuse the system. One of the main points of entry is via rogue browser extensions which are increasingly becoming a problem and are being leveraged in various types of attacks ranging from data theft, spying, pop up ads and more.
Read moreThirteen more malicious apps were struck from Google's Play Store at the end of 2015 after having been discovered to be stricken with the Brain Test malware.
Named for an app discovered on the Play Store by Check Point, the Brain Test malware gains root privilege to Android devices and downloads application packages to the infected phone, allowing the adversary a free ride with the unlucky victim's device. Brain Test was discovered by cyber-security researchers at Check Point in September. They noticed that not only did the malware cling remora-like to Play Store apps but basically made the infected device its own once the malware was securely in place.
Read moreMost of today's top mobile payment apps are not protected enough to handle the amount of scrutiny and effort cyber-criminals are normally willing to put into compromising payment systems.
The company studied ten of the most popular mobile payment apps, ranging from mobile wallet apps to one-click payment merchants, and from peer-to-peer payment apps to regular apps that link themselves to banking accounts. According to Bluebox, three big issues were identified. The first is related to improperly protected communication channels that would allow attackers to redirect payments to an attacker's desired location.
Read moreAccording to a document prepared by the New York District Attorney’s Office, older versions of Android can easily be remotely reset by Google if compelled by a court order, allowing investigators to easily view the contents of a device.
The document says that devices running Android 5.0 (and newer) are unable to be remotely reset as they use full disk encryption – it’s not switched on by default for many devices, however. Anything using an older version is vulnerable to remote reset. “Forensic examiners are able to bypass passcodes on some of those devices using a variety of forensic techniques.
Read moreWhite House and congressional staffers have asked Silicon Valley executives for new talks in Washington, D.C., to resolve a standoff over encrypted communication tools in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks.
The approaches are among the most concrete signs of how last week’s bombings and shootings have put a new spotlight on the debate about whether American companies should be allowed to offer ultrasecure messaging tools. There is no evidence the Paris attacks have changed technology companies’ view that strong encryption protects consumers, and that providing a way for police to eavesdrop would open the door to exploitation by criminals.
Read moreSiri may be your personal assistant. But your voice is not the only one she listens to. Siri also helpfully obeys the orders of any hacker who talks to her — even, in some cases, one who’s silently transmitting those commands via radio.
A pair of researchers have shown that they can use radio waves to silently trigger voice commands on any Android phone or iPhone that has Google Now or Siri enabled. Their clever hack uses those headphones’ cord as an antenna, exploiting its wire to convert surreptitious electromagnetic waves into electrical signals that appear to the phone’s operating system to be audio coming from the user’s microphone.
Read moreBoth Apple's CarPlay and Google's Android Auto can turn regular vehicles into connected cars, but according to Porsche, one has a distinct advantage over the other.
The German car manufacturer went with Apple's infotainment system over Google's in its new 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera S because the Android Auto agreement demanded too much data be sent to the search giant. Android Auto tracks variables including vehicle speed, throttle position, fluid temperatures, and engine revs, information that is collated and then sent back to Google. Apple's CarPlay only checks with the car's powertrain control module to ensure that the vehicle is moving.
Read moreYouTube is getting ready to start selling tickets. Google’s video site appears to be finalizing launch plans for its long-in-the-making subscription service, and industry sources say they’ve been told to expect a launch near the end of October.
A blast email from YouTube to content owners who share ad revenue with the site, telling them they have to agree to new terms by Oct. 22 or their “videos will no longer be available for public display or monetization in the United States,” helps support that timeline. But YouTube, which floated the idea of a new subscription service nearly a year ago, has never publicly committed to a timeline.
Read moreWithin the past month, malware disguised as an Android game twice made its way into the Google Play store and each time had between 100,000 and 500,000 downloads – making for a potential total infection rate of one million users.
The threat is a working game called Brain Test and it was identified by researchers with Check Point. Currently it has only been observed pushing advertisements, but the malware is quite advanced – it uses tricks to bypass app vetting system Google Bouncer, it uses privilege escalation exploits to gain root access on the device, and it takes steps to maintain persistency so it cannot easily be deleted.
Read moreIn an investigation involving guns and drugs, the Justice Department obtained a court order this summer demanding that Apple turn over text messages between suspects using iPhones.
Government officials had warned for months that this type of standoff was inevitable as technology companies like Apple and Google embraced tougher encryption. The case, coming after several others in which similar requests were rebuffed, prompted some senior Justice Department and FBI officials to advocate taking Apple to court, several current and former law enforcement officials said.
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