Security News
Google has announced two new security initiatives: one is aimed at helping bug hunters improve the security of various browsers' JavaScript engines, the other at helping Android OEMs improve the security of the mobile devices they ship. "JavaScript engine security continues to be critical for user safety, as demonstrated by recent in-the-wild zero-day exploits abusing vulnerabilities in v8, the JavaScript engine behind Chrome. Unfortunately, fuzzing JavaScript engines to uncover these vulnerabilities is generally quite expensive due to their high complexity and relatively slow processing of input," noted Project Zero's Samuel Groß.
A new variant of the InterPlanetary Storm malware has been discovered, which comes with fresh detection-evasion tactics and now targets Mac and Android devices. Researchers say, the malware is building a botnet with a current estimated 13,500 infected machines across 84 countries worldwide - and that number continues to grow.
A hacking group known for its attacks in the Middle East, at least since 2017, has recently been found impersonating legitimate messaging apps such as Telegram and Threema to infect Android devices with a new, previously undocumented malware. "Compared to the versions documented in 2017, Android/SpyC23.A has extended spying functionality, including reading notifications from messaging apps, call recording and screen recording, and new stealth features, such as dismissing notifications from built-in Android security apps," cybersecurity firm ESET said in a Wednesday analysis.
Researchers say they have uncovered a new Android spyware variant with an updated command-and-control communication strategy and extended surveillance capabilities that snoops on social media apps WhatsApp and Telegram. APT-C-23 is known to utilize both Windows and Android components, and has previously targeted victims in the Middle East with apps in order to compromise Android smartphones.
Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo will no longer appear on Google's European search preference menu for Android in most countries, despite being the most popular choice after Google. In 2019 Google agreed to provide Android users a prompt for selecting the default search provider, in response to a July 2018 decision by the European Commission that Google has been abusing its dominant position by tying the Google search app with the Play Store.
Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo will no longer appear on Google's European search preference menu for Android in most countries, despite being the most popular choice after Google. In 2019 Google agreed to provide Android users a prompt for selecting the default search provider, in response to a July 2018 decision by the European Commission that Google has been abusing its dominant position by tying the Google search app with the Play Store.
The Joker malware has been a persistent thorn in Google's side as it keeps popping up in shady apps to infect users of the Google Play store. Google has long been locked in a battle with cybercriminals who create and submit malicious apps to the Play store that somehow sneak past the company's protections.
More variants of the Joker Android malware are cropping up in Google Play as well as third-party app stores, in a trend that researchers say points to a relentless targeting of the Android mobile platform. The Joker apps advertise themselves as legitimate apps.
A newly uncovered banking trojan called Alien is invading Android devices worldwide, using an advanced ability to bypass two-factor authentication security measures to steal victim credentials. Researchers believe Alien is a "Fork" of the infamous Cerberus banking malware, which has undergone a steady demise in use over the past year.
The New York Times wrote about a still-unreleased report from Chckpoint and the Miaan Group: The reports, which were reviewed by The New York Times in advance of their release, say that the...