Google is on the roll again. This time, it reportedly took down 29 suspicious Google apps from the Play Store. And the surprising thing was the fact that these applications had already been downloaded over millions of times. Read on to find out more.
What Do These Apps Do?As reported, several apps which are downloaded from the Play Store tend to display objectionable links and content on their screens. The links and clickable content then redirects the users to ‘scam’ websites, where information is misused. Supposedly, these ‘fake’ apps can access remote ad configuration servers for performing their phishing attacks. Previously, Google banned some [...]
The mythbusters are back, and this time one of the all time popular myths regarding iOS has been busted. According to a new study, it turns out that iOS isn’t as malware-proof as people have come to believe. In fact, reports suggest that Android is safer and more secure than iOS.
The study carried out by Checkmarx and AppSec Labs claim that Apple’s ‘wall garden’, that is the App Store, is filled with apps that have greater percentage of critical or high severity security vulnerabilities when compared to Android apps.
According to the report, a critical vulnerability is defined as one “that exposes a major security risk with a direct exploit (not [...]
It’s a myth that your Mac is the most malware-free PC out there. That perhaps used to be the case, and one reason behind it was that hackers were more attracted to Windows due to their larger presence in the market. But not anymore. Over the years there has been a change. Apple’s share of the PC has grown and, of course, hackers are all too aware of that.
There has been an increase in malware specifically targeting Apple’s Mac platform. What’s more is that the malware is a lot more dangerous and sophisticated than one would think. According to reports from BleepingComputer, 2015 was the most malware-ridden year for the Mac. The reports [...]
Stagefright, Android’s media playback system, was found with a bug earlier this year in July. The bug allowed hackers to break into any device by simply sending a specifically structured text message. However Google promptly responded to this and fixed the bug.
You ask how is this news relevant now, in a world of iPhone launches and Google events, about half a year away from Stagefright’s illness? The answer lies with a similar discovery made by Zimperium, the same company which had earlier found this bug. Stagefright is open to two such similar bugs and requires no more than a certain kind of multimedia message this time.
This basically means that a hacker [...]
In developing times like now, we live under the constant threat of computer viruses and malware that reach your system through emails or any external devices like a pen drive. We have multiple Anti-Virus programs available and it is critical to keep updating them. But the key to a virus-free environment is beyond using an anti-virus program. Safe computing practices and policies should be used to safeguard your PC from such threats.
Let’s take a look at some user friendly, yet efficient methods of dealing with viruses, other than using Anti-Virus programs:
Do not open suspicious email attachmentsInternet in India is slow, we all know that. In fact, it’s the slowest amongst all its contemporaries. It’s a shame that even with an economy as big as India, internet, the basic necessity to compete in the 21st century market is available at dismal speeds. A new report from F-Secure states that New Delhi, the capital of India is the worst place to connect to the internet.
F- secure, the Finnish computer security company has come out with its “The State of Internet in India” report. It states that the Indian capital ranks on the top of the ranks of most infected computers. The city has 20 percent of all the [...]
Google’s mobile operating system Android is used in many devices such as tablets, smartphones, smartwatches and more. The OS is convenient to use and for that reason, its sale is recorded more than the combined sales of Windows, iOS and Mac OS X in 2012, 2013 and 2014. However, this is also true that Android is the weakest OS and an prey to malware and Trojans.
A new discovery has showcased that a Trojan named ‘Android SMSSEND’ is lurking. It is a threatening Trojan virus that steals essential data from your Android smartphone and leaks confidential information to all those in your contact list. This [...]
There’s something fishy about this iMessage app for Android, and it’s not the fact that it’s using an outdate iOS 6 skin. While that should be a first warning sign, the reality is that the app, which recently appeared in the Google Play Store, is the work of a third-party developer. It by no means provides official cross-platform access to Apple’s popular messaging service.
9to5Mac reports that scrutiny of the .apk file – the form the program takes outside the Play Store ecosystem – suggests that there is a serious potential risk to personal data. The app works by using the developer’s own server as a [...]
The company Bluebox security, has found a security hole in Android’s operating system. What’s even more scary about this news is the report states that this security hole has been around since Android 1.6 Donut. Apparently what can happen is malicious developers can change the APK of a legitimate company, without any breaks to its cryptographic signature. This basically means that if an app is hacked on Android, the user would not know and could be entering their information and sending it to the malicious hackers unknowingly.
Android apps (packaged as an “APK”) are signed with an encryption key [...]
Bing has responded to the malware study conducted by AV-TEST earlier this week, claiming that Bing search results led to five times more malware than Google.
To that Bing said, “the conclusions many have drawn from the study are wrong.”
A blog post by Bing said :
AV-TEST didn’t actually do any searching on bing.com. Rather they used a Bing API to execute a number of queries and downloaded the result to their system for further analysis. By using the API instead of the user interface, AV-TEST bypassed our warning system designed to keep customers from being harmed by malware. Bing actually does prevent customers from clicking on malware infected sites by [...]
Apple has not hesitated to close the loophole that allowed to Flashback trojan to penetrate the Apple OS X system. The Update which is 66.6 MB patches the venerability and fixes those computers that have already been affected.
As reported earlier, the Flashback Trojan managed to infect hundreds of thousands of Macs worldwide. The majority of the infected machines – 350,000 are in US; about 125,000 are in Canada and 75,000 in the United Kingdom
So if you are feeling insecure , go – ahead and hit the software update app and download the update.
Google has reportedly removed 22 malicious applications from the Android Market after security vendors tipped off the company about apps attempting to trick users into accepting fraudulent charges via SMS. The devices get infected by a trojan that charges your phone bill with premium rate SMS charges.
[quote]Trojan horse for Android devices that sends SMS messages to premium-rate phone numbers,[/quote] Said Symantec
[quote]The initial application activity presents the user with a single option to continue, which is presumed to be an agreement to premium charges that are buried [...]
