02
Feb
bouncer
5

Google Brings In The Muscle: Meet Bouncer, The Market's Anti-Malware Machine - And It's Already At Work

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, News

As Android has grown from a small hobbyists OS to the mainstream-conquering behemoth it is today, so has the amount of malware directed towards it. A large chunk of the problem comes from malicious apps that make it into the Android Market - often times, duplicates of popular apps with a few strings of code thrown in that allow the app to transmit personal information or hijack the device.

Makers of anti-virus apps claim that there's more malware in the market than ever, painting the picture of a wild west-esque place that's ever-more attractive to the scum of the app ...

27
Jan
2012-01-27 13h57_37
232

[Updated: Here Are The Winners!] Book Giveaway #13: Kick Your Developing Game Up A Notch: We're Giving Away 5 Copies Of "Application Security For The Android Platform"

Posted by in Contests / Giveaways, Dev
Last Updated: February 5th, 2012

Thanks to our two-dozen (or so) previous book giveaways, you probably now know how to develop for Android. If so, it's probably time to kick your game up to the next level by mastering application security. Luckily for you, O'Reilly Media recently published a new book on the topic, titled "Application Security for the Android Platform: Processes, Permissions, and Other Safeguards." Written by Jeff Six, the book is a concise (112 page) treatise on the subject.

This contest is now over. Here are our winners, selected at random:
  1. hectormoi
  2. Gracjan
  3. James Ebby
  4. rolltidedad
  5. Antonio Chillaron Barahona

Congratulations, guys

...

27
Jan
unnamed
4

[Updated] Privacy Advisory: VoIP App Vopium Sends Login Credentials, IMEI, Geolocation, And Contact List In Plaintext

Posted by in Applications, News

Update: According to the Vopium blog, the app has been updated with a fix for this issue.  We'll crack it open in just a bit to ensure everything has indeed been addressed.

Users of the popular VoIP app Vopium (here's the older version with many more installs) may want to put all usage of the app on indefinite hiatus, at least for the time being. It was recently discovered that the app sends basically all of the sensitive information, including username, password, device IMEI, geolocation, and contact list in plaintext.

After doing some of our own analysis, we ...

02
Jan
2011-10-21-17h07_013
293

[Updated: Here Are The 10 Winners!] Nexus New Year's International Ultimate Giveaway: Win One Of Ten (Yes, Ten) Galaxy Nexuses From AVAST And Android Police

Posted by in Applications, Contests / Giveaways, Galaxy Nexus / Nexus Prime
Last Updated: February 6th, 2012

We know, we told you our holiday giveaway series would feature some of our largest contests to date. And it did - we gave away over a dozen tablets and nearly as many phones to our readers. But we thought we'd start the new year off with our biggest giveaway yet (an international one, to boot) - 10 Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphones, courtesy of our amazingly generous friends at AVAST Software.

This contest is now over. There were over 13,500 entries, making it our largest contest ever by a huge margin (unsurprisingly). Apologies for the long wait - it

...

02
Jan
unnamed
42

[Review] Avast! Mobile Security For Android

Posted by in App Reviews, Applications, Mobile Security App Shootout

After getting a glimpse of Avast's new mobile security solution a few weeks ago, I just had to dive in and give the app a full review. Avast, the long-awaited marriage of Avast and IT Agents' Theft Aware (see our review), certainly doesn't disappoint. It has an insane number of features, all of which appear to work perfectly, and it sounds like things will only be improving with time.

And did I mention the full-featured, root-enhanced app is completely free with no paid version in sight? As in, even the previously paid (Theft-Aware used to cost 10EUR) features.

Check ...

28
Dec
sam_galaxy_tab_10
6

Software Update Coming Soon To Verizon's Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – I905.EL01 Brings TouchWiz Enhancements, Photo Editing, And More

Posted by in Android OS, Galaxy Tab 10.1, News, Tablets, Verizon Wireless

According to Verizon's system update documentation, owners of big red's Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 can expect a software update any time now. While it isn't the Ice Cream Sandwich users are undoubtedly craving, the update (bringing system software to I905-EL01) offers quite a few interesting features.

Among these are improvements to Samsung's Touchwiz UX, a new Social Hub widget, built-in photo editing capabilities, and The Daily – a news app that allows users to "access the best of print, web, and broadcast news from around the world."

image image

The update also brings Bluetooth 3.0 compatibility, additional support for more Wi-Fi ...

07
Dec
unnamed
25

Avast Launches Mobile Security App With Root Functions, Firewall, Free Theft Aware Integration, And More - A Strong Contender For The Best Overall Security App On Android

Posted by in Android OS, Applications, News

Avast has just launched its Mobile Security app for Android, integrating the pure power of Theft Aware (see our review) with some amazing new features. If you remember, Avast swallowed up ITAgents, the small company behind Theft Aware, back in September and promised to integrate it with its upcoming software. Even in its beta state, Avast's Mobile Security looks to be a very strong contender among the dozens of other security apps floating around in the Android Market. I dare say it has the potential to overshadow just about all of the apps in our Mobile Security App ...

06
Dec
unnamed
3

AT&T Toggle Hits The Android Market – Keep Business And Pleasure Separate With The Click Of A Button

Posted by in Android OS, Applications, AT&T, News

You might remember mention of a new AT&T service called Toggle last month, a service which promised to allow enterprise users to access corporate email, calendars and contacts securely from whatever Android device they choose to purchase, while separately maintaining their personal data. AT&T's official Toggle app hit the Android Market today, heralding the beginning of the service, and bringing hugely useful functionality to enterprise users concerned with keeping their business and personal activities separate.

unnamed (1) unnamed

AT&T Toggle essentially allows users to operate in two different modes on a single device: a personal mode, which acts just like your stock ...

03
Dec
image
45

Carrier IQ Explains How Its Software Works, Implicitly Blames HTC For Insecure Log Files, Data Leak Exposed By Trevor Eckhart

Posted by in Android OS, AT&T, HTC, Motorola, News, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile

Amid the turmoil surrounding Carrier IQ, the company's VP of Marketing, Andrew Coward, has come forward in a series of interviews with a few clarifications.

For those not in the loop, the controversy around Carrier IQ is based on developer Trevor Eckhart's findings which indicated that Carrier IQ's software was indeed collecting a vast array of information, and his demonstration showing that said data could be read using a simple command – one that could be executed by any malicious app with access to logcat. This data includes location information, SMS messages, and key taps.

Before we dive into ...

30
Nov
image
25

Report: Security Vulnerability In Many Android Phones Allows Malicious Apps To Record Audio, Track Location, And More Without User Permission

Posted by in Android OS, News

According to a group of computer scientists at North Carolina State University, a vulnerability exists within many Android devices that would allow hackers (or malicious apps) to bypass the permissions request process and tap into audio and location, wipe apps and data, or send unauthorized SMS messages, all without the user knowing.

This news may sound a bit sensational, but the researchers have created and tested a dummy app which effectively demonstrates the exploit:

Among the eight phones tested with the researchers' diagnostic app (Woodpecker), HTC's Evo 4G seemed to be the most vulnerable, able to "leak" eight different capabilities ...

23
Nov
image
17

Carrier IQ Drops Legal Threats, Apologizes To Developer Trevor Eckhart

Posted by in Legal, News

Trevor Eckhart, a developer involved in uncovering a huge security vulnerability that affected several HTC devices, was recently threatened by Carrier IQ (CIQ), a company involved in gathering various forms of user data and sending it to carriers or manufacturers for analysis. For those who haven't  been following the story, here's what happened:

Trevor Eckhart found several training manuals on CIQ's website. These were publicly available. Trevor shared them with the community, explaining just how far-reaching CIQ's data collection practices are. At this point, CIQ became aware of the fact that sensitive information had been exposed, and pulled the files ...

16
Nov
hi-256-0-d96e900d55d277177316a3c90d8dab6a8b139dbf
0

[Mobile Security App Shootout, Part 17] NetQin Security Pro Focuses On Anti-Virus Protection Over Anti-Theft, Still Makes A Capable Solution

Posted by in App Reviews, Applications, Mobile Security App Shootout
Last Updated: November 21st, 2011

Coming in at number seventeen in our shootout, NetQin Security Pro is a security app that offers a lot more than your average anti-theft protection, even if that means skimping a little on features that may help you recover your lost device.

At A Glance

First, I want to comment on NetQin's design. The app's overall appearance is clean, and relatively well thought out. The main screen gives you access to all the app's main features, and the layout makes it virtually impossible to misstep. Speaking of features, NetQin has plenty of them, including anti-virus, privacy protection, traffic management, and ...

27
Oct
image
105

[Updated x4: Issue Fixed] Privacy Advisory: Dolphin HD Sends URL Of Every Page You Visit To A Remote Server (In Plain-Text)

Posted by in Applications, News
Last Updated: October 29th, 2011

Hot on the heels of the previous privacy/security advisory about A.I.type Keyboard sending your keystrokes to the cloud in plain-text, some of our commenters pointed out another, much more popular app that does something similarly privacy-invading.

Description

As it turns out, Dolphin HD, one of the top browsers the Android platform has to offer, sends pretty much every web page url you visit, including those that start with https, to a remote server en.mywebzines.com, which belongs to the company. In fact, the WebZines feature was introduced only recently back in June with version 6.0, so it's safe ...

26
Oct
image
40

[Updated x2] Security Advisory: A.I.Type Keyboard Sends All Your Keystrokes To Their Servers In Plain-Text - Sometimes You Can't Trust The Cloud

Posted by in Applications, News
Last Updated: November 8th, 2011

One of the features that really differentiates Android from other mobile operating systems is the ability to install a custom keyboard that works for you. I constantly keep jumping between a variety of keyboards as new updates come out (right now I've settled on SwiftKey due to its unparalleled prediction technology), but when some of our readers pointed out A.I.type Keyboard's "psychic" word completion, I had to check it out.

However, what I found in A.I. Keyboard's Market description prevented me from even installing it - all smart predictions happen in the cloud, which means everything you type ...

25
Oct
htc-logo
29

[Updated] Carriers Sending Out An OTA Update To Fix Massive Security Flaw In Several HTC Devices

Posted by in EVO 3D (Shooter), EVO 4G (Supersonic), EVO Design 4G, EVO View 4G, News, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

At the beginning of the month, we broke the news about a huge security vulnerability in several HTC phones, including the Thunderbolt, EVO 3D, EVO 4G, and possibly more. Not long after word of this issue hit the 'net, HTC issued a response acknowledging it, as well as promising to deliver a patch to correct it. Looks like they are making good on that promise now, as several HTC devices are currently receiving an OTA update to correct this vulnerability.

So far, we've confirmed that the EVO 3D, EVO 4G, EVO View 4G, and EVO Design 4G on Sprint are ...

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