Security News

Beware rogue 2FA apps in App Store and Google Play – don’t get hacked!
2023-02-27 20:37

On Android, Google offers its own authenticator app, unsurprisingly called Google Authenticator, that you can get from Google Play. Google's add-on app does the job of generating the needed one-time login code sequences, just like Apple's Settings > Passwords utility on iOS. But we're going to assume that at least some people, and possibly many, will perfectly reasonably have asked themselves, "What other authenticator apps are out there, so I don't have to put all my cybersecurity eggs into Apple's basket?".

Google destroyed evidence for antitrust battle, Feds complain
2023-02-24 22:30

The US Department of Justice asked the judge hearing its antitrust case against Google to sanction the search advertising giant for destruction of evidence. The case has since progressed into the discovery phase and now the DoJ contends that Google has ignored its responsibility to preserve evidence relevant to the case.

Google Teams Up with Ecosystem Partners to Enhance Security of SoC Processors
2023-02-24 15:38

Google said it's working with ecosystem partners to harden the security of firmware that interacts with Android. While the Android operating system runs on what's called the application processor, it's just one of the many processors of a system-on-chip that cater to various tasks like cellular communications and multimedia processing.

Even Top-Ranked Android Apps in Google Play Store Provide Misleading Data Safety Labels
2023-02-24 09:00

An investigation into data safety labels for Android apps available on the Google Play Store has uncovered "Serious loopholes" that allow apps to provide misleading or outright false information. The study, conducted by the Mozilla Foundation as part of its *Privacy Not Included initiative, compared the privacy policies and labels of the 20 most popular paid apps and the 20 most popular free apps on the app marketplace.

Google paid $12 million in bug bounties to security researchers
2023-02-22 21:17

Google last year paid its highest bug bounty ever through the Vulnerability Reward Program for a critical exploit chain report that the company valued at $605,000. In total, Google spent over $12 million for more than 2,900 vulnerabilities in its products discovered and reported by security researchers.

Google investigates Gmail IMAP sync issues affecting Outlook users
2023-02-22 19:54

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How to expand your search sources beyond Google and Bing
2023-02-21 21:34

The search alternatives covered below include not only truly independent search sources but also secondary search services. These secondary search services often depend on Bing or Google results that the service then filters and sorts differently than the source search indexes.

Google will boost Android security through firmware hardening
2023-02-21 17:30

Google has started working to harden the security of Android at the firmware level, a component of the software stack that interacts directly with the various processors of a system on a chip. The plan is to expand the security in Android devices beyond the operating system, which runs on a multi-core CPU, to the other processors on the SoC for dedicated tasks like cellular communication, media processing, or security modules.

Google Protected Computing: Ensuring privacy and safety of data regardless of location
2023-02-21 06:00

In this Help Net Security interview, Royal Hansen, VP of Engineering for Privacy, Safety, and Security at Google, talks about Protected Computing, the impact of data protection regulations, and privacy in general. We need to ensure people can enjoy the helpful experiences the internet provides while having peace of mind that their data is protected, including easy-to-use controls for managing their own data choices knowing privacy is personal.

Google Reveals Alarming Surge in Russian Cyber Attacks Against Ukraine
2023-02-20 10:54

Russia's cyber attacks against Ukraine surged by 250% in 2022 when compared to two years ago, Google's Threat Analysis Group and Mandiant disclosed in a new joint report. Mandiant said it observed, "More destructive cyber attacks in Ukraine during the first four months of 2022 than in the previous eight years with attacks peaking around the start of the invasion."