Android Google Chrome exploit: what to do about it

Posted on by Joe Levi

Chrome is the web browser at the center of Google’s empire – both on desktops as well as mobile devices. In addition to being just a standalone app (which may or may not be preloaded on your smartphone), the Chrome engine also drives the component that displays web content inside apps. As you might expect, a vulnerability in that engine could cause significant problems for the device running it. Such is the case with a particularly troublesome Android Google Chrome exploit.During the recent PacSec conference in Tokyo, Qihoo 360 developer Guang Gong showed off a vulnerability ...

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Android Google Chrome exploit: what to do about it

Posted on by Joe Levi

Chrome is the web browser at the center of Google’s empire – both on desktops as well as mobile devices. In addition to being just a standalone app (which may or may not be preloaded on your smartphone), the Chrome engine also drives the component that displays web content inside apps. As you might expect, a vulnerability in that engine could cause significant problems for the device running it. Such is the case with a particularly troublesome Android Google Chrome exploit.During the recent PacSec conference in Tokyo, Qihoo 360 developer Guang Gong showed off a vulnerability ...

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Latest scary Android vulnerability can compromise any handset through Chrome

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Is 2015 destined to go down in history as the year we all started developing a healthy sense of fear about the state of smartphone security? Exploits like Stagefright have exposed an unprecedented number of handsets to possible attack, and every time the powers that be patch one vulnerability, it feels like we’re hearing about a new one popping up. The latest to come ...

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Despite swift Apple action, XcodeGhost threat lingers

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

We first heard of the XcodeGhost malware back in September as reports identified hundreds of iOS apps built with unauthorized copies of Apple’s Xcode IDE that managed to introduce some sneaky, unwanted code. Infected apps had the potential to seriously compromise system security, so Apple was understandably quick to remove offenders from the App Store. Now, over a month later, is XcodeGhost finally something Apple can put behind it? Maybe not, warn security researchers, as signs of XcodeGhost infections persist, and ...

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App Store malware attack compromises hundreds of titles

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

There’s a short list of advice any smartphone user should heed if he or she wants to keep their device as safe as possible from nasty mobile malware, and right up there at the top is “get your apps from trustworthy sources.” While Android users have the freedom to turn to the distributor of their choice, making that decision very important, things are much more straightforward at iOS (jailbreakers notwithstanding), ...

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AT&T sues illicit phone unlocking schemers

Posted on by Jules Wang

Phone unlocking, to be clear, is legal in the United States if the phone in question is out of a service contract. Even though some companies have a hard time of coping with this reality, it’s codefied law of the land here. But what AT&T accuses three former employees, one owner of an unlocked phone resale company and 50 unnamed people of doing definitely raises some eyebrows.In the case filed in Seattle ...

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AirDrop exploit allows installation of iOS malware (but your fix is incoming)

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

For the past couple years now, Apple’s allowed iOS and OS X devices to easily share files with other units in their proximity, thanks to the company’s AirDrop protocol. Unfortunately, users who have AirDrop enabled may have inadvertently put their systems at risk, as news of a new exploit arrives – one capable of bypassing normal system protections and allowing for the installation of possibly malicious apps.The hack is triggered when an attacker sends an AirDrop payload to the target device – ...

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The case against automatic updates on Android

Posted on by Joe Levi

None of us “like” out-of-date things. Updates to apps and operating systems bring us new features, improved functionality, better user interfaces, and (most importantly) bug fixes.We all hate bugs, but bugs vary in severity from mildly frustrating to zero-day security holes that can be exploited to do all kinds of nasty stuff. Depending on their type and scope, patches and updates aren’t things that arrive on our smartphones and tablets all that easily. Each bringing its own set of challenges and frustrations.AppsApplications get updated with whatever frequency their ...

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Should you use antivirus software on your Android?

Posted on by Joe Levi

A while back, Jesper Jensen from Denmark wrote in to the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast with a question about antivirus software for Android, specifically, whether or not he needs it on his new Xperia Z3 Compact.I have just received my Sony Xperia Z3 Compact and I am infatuated with this little beauty. Coming from a Nokia Lumia 620 it is quite a leap ahead, though I do find I miss a few things about Windows phone. One of the things I didn’t miss about Android is the … more or less useful (apps that come pre-installed from Sony, such as) ...

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New “Fake ID” exploit allows new types of malware on Android?

Posted on by Jaime Rivera

Malware issues and Android have been a mix of repeated controversy over the last couple of years. We do know of the existence of malware for Android, and we do know of the security risks involved, but it’s hard to remember the last time we’ve ever heard of a virus attack that’s rendered Android smartphones useless, or at risk. Malware on mobile devices is surely possible, but sadly not as popular as it was a decade ago on Windows ...

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Android launcher security vulnerability raises concerns over phishing

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Heartbleed may be dominating the headlines when it comes to security topics lately, and while that one does pose some specific risks for smartphone users, it’s far from alone among all the vulnerabilities out there. Today we hear about Google’s efforts to address one that’s new to us, an oversight in how Android manages permissions that could set the stage for malicious software to orchestrate a phishing attack. The problem stems from a pair of unprotected permissions tied to the Android launcher’s configuration ...

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Google steps-up Android malware scanning efforts

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Back at the tail end of February we heard about an improvement Google was working on to the way Android helps protect users against malicious software, building off the existing Verify Apps framework that evaluated apps at the time of installation to introduce a system that continually monitored apps to check for ne’er-do-wells, even after the software was already loaded on your phone. Today Google confirms that report and announces the introduction of this newly enhanced scanning service. While this is largely a ...

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WhatsApp chat log security vulnerability: what you need to know

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Thanks to last month’s big Facebook acquisition, WhatsApp has been attracting a lot of attention lately. While that should only help grow its already impressively large 450-million-person-strong user base, that extra attention also means that more people are placing the app under a critical light. Today we learn of a potential security vulnerability in how WhatsApp saves logs of your conversations; what exactly is the problem here, and is it one you need to be ...

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Should you be worried about Android malware pre-installed on phones you buy?

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Malware can do a lot of scary things: your money, your documents, even your identity can be taken from you. But on Android smartphones the threat posed by malicious apps has largely seemed manageable, so long as users take certain precautions, like not sideloading apps without trusting the devs behind them, and sticking to mainstream app stores. But now we’re hearing about a troubling new wrinkle in the war on malware, with reports suggesting that some phones are ...

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