As 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 moreResearcher says a whopping 2.8 million users have downloaded malicious Minecraft Android applications. There were found 30 malicious apps uploaded to the Google Play store over nine months masquerading as Minecraft cheats and tip guides.
The apps craft an SMS which sports text masquerading as an anti-virus activation request. Replying to the message results in the victim signing up to the weekly premium SMS subscription. Flash ads littered the applications pointing users to fake anti-virus warnings and other scareware sources.
Read moreIt's common sense to reset an Android phone to its factory state before selling or disposing of it. But beware, security researchers recently found that this often fails to properly wipe all sensitive user data from the device.
A test on 21 second-hand smartphones running Android versions between 2.3.x and 4.3 revealed that it's possible to recover emails, text messages, Google access tokens and other sensitive data after the factory reset function had been used. The study was done by researchers Laurent Simon and Ross Anderson from the University of Cambridge in the UK on used devices bought from eBay between January and May 2014.
Read moreA vulnerability in Android's default Web browser lets attackers spoof the URL shown in the address bar, allowing for more credible phishing attacks. Google released patches for the flaw in April, but many phones are likely still affected, because manufacturers and carriers typically are slow to develop and distribute Android patches.
The vulnerability was discovered on Android 5.0 Lollipop, which uses Chrome as its default browser, but then also confirmed it in the stock browser in older Android versions. Android 4.4 users should avoid using the stock browser to access sites that require authentication.
Read moreSome free security apps in the Google Play Store have features users are probably unaware of: network connections to advertising sites, tracking Web sites and suspected malware, according to a recent study by European researchers.
The research team's findings have led the group to develop their own Android app to monitor outgoing traffic and let users know if their devices are connecting to any suspicious destinations. Security researchers from the France-based Eurecom graduate school and research centre said they focused on Android apps as users have such an overwhelming range of choices that it can be hard to pick the right ones.
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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