security

AirDroid has been a popular service on Android for years, allowing users to easily and wirelessly access the files on their smartphone from a PC, mirror notifications, and send/receive text messages. However, security company Zimperium has been tracking some major security vulnerabilities in the app for a few months now, and they’re still not fixed…

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There are a lot of fantastic budget smartphones on the market today, but there are always concerns with smartphones that are super cheap. One of those is security, an increasingly important part of any smartphone. Now security firm Kryptowire has uncovered an alleged backdoor hidden within some budget Android smartphones.

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One of the stigmas Android has long had to live with is its alleged lack of security. Despite patches deployed directly by Google every month, the slowness of intermediaries such as carriers and OEMs has put the whole platform in a position of uncertainty, especially when compared with the more vertically integrated iOS.

Of course, however, Android’s director of security Adrian Ludwig disagrees…

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Using a login party like Google, Twitter, or Facebook is much more convenient than remembering a username and password for individual services. To improve security for this type of sign-in, Google is deprecating third-party app logins from web-views in favor of the native browser.

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With the way security currently works, Google alerts users of new sign-ins to their account via email. The measure is a means of keeping users secure by informing them of what’s happening with their accounts in real-time. Starting today, users will be alerted of new sign-ins through notifications sent directly to their Android device.

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While quantum computing is still in its infancy, it has the possibility of solving problems — like secure digital communications — dramatically faster than current technology. In order to begin securing against future quantum computers, Google is experimenting with post-quantum cryptography connections to its websites.

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Gmail is experiencing downtime this afternoon as some users are having issues with receiving messages and accessing their account. Google confirmed the issue on its apps status page and said it was investigating reports as of 1:56PM EST.

The company provided a later update at 2:46PM EST today noting that it’s continuing to investigate and confirming it’s discovered that “some messages sent to consumer Gmail accounts are being rejected due to authentication enforcement.”

Google plans to provide another update by 3:46PM EST with more details on when it expects to resolve the issues.

We’ll keep you posted here with further updates and let us know in the comments below if you’re still having problems with your account.

There are a ton of deals on tech and more right now in the lead up to Father’s Day. Together with 9to5Toys & Canary, we’re keeping track of all the best deals and we’ve collected all the handy links in the hub below.

Bookmark this page and keep checking back for more as we add the latest from 9to5Toys ahead of Father’s Day on June 19.

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Last year’s particularly virulent Stragefright bug allowed attackers to perform a number of actions on an infected device through remote code execution. While Google has addressed those issues with monthly security patches, Android N will play a larger role in making sure a similar issue does not happen again.

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Update: Samsung has issued a statement to us, which just expands on its earlier response. You can read it below the video.

Computer science researchers from the University of Michigan have shown how malicious apps could take control of Internet of Things devices in Samsung’s SmartThings platform – including the ability of an attacker to unlock a front door to gain physical access to a home.

The main weakness identified is that way that the SmartThings platform grants apps more privileges than needed to perform their stated functions, reports The Verge.

The researchers demonstrated this finding with a proof of concept app promising to monitor battery life on various devices. If the user agreed to let the malicious — but seemingly innocuous — app access their smart lock, the researchers could then not only monitor its battery, but perform the lock’s other functions, including unlocking the door. The researchers found 42 percent of 499 analyzed SmartApps are currently over-privileged in a similar way … 

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ProtonMail has announced the official launch of their mobile apps for iOS and Android today. ProtonMail brings seamless PGP end-to-end encryption to emailing, making it significantly more secure for those looking for an extra layer of privacy.

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Danish security firm Heimdal has detected a nasty piece of malware that spreads via SMS and tricks users into downloading a malicious app. The text message containing the download link has already been sent to 100,000 phones in Denmark, though common sense security practices should keep users safe.

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Google and the rest of the tech industry take security very seriously. As part of this year’s Safer Internet Day, Google is offering users 2GB of Drive storage if they perform a security check on their account. In another security minded update, Gmail will now flag emails sent to and received from non-encrypted sources.

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Over the years, Google has expanded what its Safe Browsing feature protects against. Last December, Safe Browsing was fully rolled out to Android users as part of an update to Chrome and Google Play services. Today, they are expanding it to protect against deceptive download buttons increasingly found around the web.

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