Android Operating system | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Google has recently released the first beta version of Android Q, the next upcoming version of Google's popular mobile operating system, with a lot of new privacy improvements and other security enhancements. Android Q, where Q has not yet been named, offers more control over installed apps, their access, and permissions, and location settings; more support for passive authentication like face ID, and warnings when you install a new app targeting Android Marshmallow or older. Instead of directly going through dozens of different pages Google published about Android Q, here I have summarized all new privacy and security features of the new version of Android you can quickly learn from: 1) Stop Android Apps From Tracking Your Location in the Background Android Q gives you more control over how an app can use your device location information. Currently, you have a single option to either allow or deny an app access to your device location, doesn't matter if it is in-use...

Would you prefer purchasing an Android device that doesn't have any apps or services from Google? No Google Maps, No Gmail, No YouTube! And NOT even the Google Play Store—from where you could have installed any Android apps you want Because if you live in Europe, from now on, you have to spend some extra cash on a smartphone with built-in Google services, which were otherwise until now freely available and already included in the cost of your smartphone. For the very first time, Google has announced its plans to charge a fee to European Android phone manufacturers who want to include a free version of Google apps on their Android handsets. In short, Android phone makers will now have to pay Google for installing the Play store, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, and Chrome, that are usually considered to be core parts of the Android operating system, but are actually Google services. "Since the pre-installation of Google Search and Chrome together with our other apps helped us...

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Google announced a Developers Preview of " Android Things " — an Android-based operating system platform for smart devices and Internet of Things (IoT) products. The Android-based Internet of Things OS is designed to make it easier for developers to build a smart appliance since they will be able to work with Android APIs and Google Services they're already familiar with. As the Developers page of Android Things says: " If you can build an app, you can build a device ." The Android-based Internet of Things operating system is supposed to run on products like security cameras, connected speakers, and routers. Android Things is a rebranded version Google Brillo , an Android-based IoT OS that Google announced in 2015, with added tools like Android Studio, the Android Software Development Kit (SDK), Google Play Services, and Google Cloud Platform. Unlike Brillo, development on Android Things can be achieved with " the same developer tools as stan...

Google has finally won six-year long $9-billion legal battle with Oracle over the use of Java APIs in Android. Oracle filed its lawsuit against Google in 2010, claiming that the company illegally used 11,500 lines of Java code in its Android operating system, violating copyrights owned by Oracle. However, a federal jury of ten people concluded Thursday that Google's use of Java constituted "Fair Use" under US copyright law and delivered a verdict in favor of Google. The case was a big deal as the court decision could have the potential to change the way future apps are written for the Android operating system that is being used by almost 80% of the world's mobile devices. Also Read:   Google 'Android N' Will Not Use Oracle's Java APIs Oracle, who owns Java, had been seeking $9 Billion in damages for the use of application programming interfaces (APIs), which govern how code communicates with other bits of code. However, Google argued that...

Google is planning to merge its Chrome OS with Android operating system and roll out a single operating system by 2017. New Android OS Optimized for Laptops: Yes, a Single Operating system for Mobile devices, desktops, laptops and notebooks, just what Microsoft is offering to its users with  Windows 10 . Chrome OS is a lightweight operating system based on the Linux kernel and designed by Google to power its Chromebook Laptops and Desktops. Here's the deal: According to a recent report published by the Wall Street Journal, Google has been working for two years to merge Chrome OS and Android, and you can expect to see an early version of the 'single OS for all' as soon as next year at Google I/O event. Is Google Killing Chrome OS? NO, Google isn't Killing Chrome OS.  Some have reported that Google might "kill" Chrome operating system, but it's not what the company has planned about. Also Read:  Google OnHub Router actu...

A sigh of relief indeed! Google is finally listening to us; it is ditching its haunting bloatware from the upcoming Android smartphones and tablets. As per the current situation, our Android devices are attacked with Google's suite of apps like Google Play Games, Google Newsstand, Google Play Books. The new Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is expected not to be pre-occupied with Google+. Though Android is an open source platform where a user can only give their inputs, the final call is taken by Google; writes and updates Android itself. We can get our own copy from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository. For this, Google has listed thorough instructions to help you build it into a fully functioning version of Android. No Space for Unwanted Apps The phone manufacturers are also given access to the Android source code for free exactly in the same way as users. They can modify and change any parts they like. However, when it comes to installing G...

Google has recently announced its latest version of the mobile operating system called Android M at its official Google I/O 2015 developer event May 28 in San Francisco. We don't know exactly what is the ' M ' stands for just yet. My guess is it could be Marzipan or maybe Milky Way. Let me know what you guys think, so write me your guesses down below in the comments. Android M is not going to be an immense move in look or architecture like Android Lollipop , but it is bringing some eye-catching upgrades that you are going to love. However, after a Google I/O event and having the Developer Preview of Android M and installing it in my Nexus 6, I have got a pretty good idea what I think are the top 10 Best New Features of Android M. PRIVACY AND APP CONTROL 1. Powerful App Permissions Manager: The biggest change that Google's Android M will bring is a granular permissions system, somewhat similar to what Apple has. Currently, Android app permissions...

Once again the very popular and the world's third largest smartphone distributor Xiaomi , which had previously been criticized for secretly stealing users' information from the device without the user's permissions, has been found spreading malware . The top selling Android smartphone in China, Xiaomi Mi4 LTE , has been found to be shipped with pre-loaded spyware/adware and a "forked," or not certified, vulnerable version of Android operating system on top of that, according to a San Francisco-based mobile-security company, Bluebox. Xiaomi, which is also known as Apple of China, provides an affordable and in-budget smartphones with almost all features that an excellent smartphone provides. Just like other Xiaomi devices, Mi4 LTE smartphone seems to attract a large number of customers with more than 25,000 units sold out in just 15 seconds on India's online retailer Flipkart . Security Researcher Andrew Blaich of Bluebox firm revealed Thursday that the brand new ...

A Vulnerability has been discovered in the wildly popular messaging app WhatsApp , which allows anyone to remotely crash WhatsApp just by sending a specially crafted message, two security researchers reported ' The Hacker News '. Two India based independent security researchers, Indrajeet Bhuyan and Saurav Kar, both 17-year old teenagers demonstrated the WhatsApp Message Handler vulnerability to one of our security analyst. In a video demonstration, they showed that how a 2000 words (2kb in size) message in special character set can crash Whatsapp messenger app. Previous it was discovered that sending a huge message ( greater than 7mb in size) on Whatsapp could crash victim device and app immediately, but using this new exploit attacker only need to send a very small size (approx 2kb) message to the victim. The worried impact of the vulnerability is that the user who received the specially crafted message will have to delete his/her whole conversation and start a fresh ...

Get bored with the older versions of Google's Android Operating system? Then there is Good News for Android lovers ! Google is putting an end to the older versions of Android newly manufactured Smartphone Handsets. According to a leaked Google Document, the Smartphone Manufacturers will be forced to provide the latest version of Android, i.e. version 4.4 KitKat installed in the new handsets, under Google's new policy. If an OEM wants to qualify for Google Mobile Services (GMS) or Google Apps, they should install the up-to-date version of Android in the handset and If true, then Google will no longer authorize devices running versions older than Android 4.2. In the leaked memo, Google states, " Starting February 2014, Google will no longer approve GMS distribution of new Android products that ship older platform releases. Each platform release will have a GMS approval window that typically closes nine months after the next Android platform release is publicly available. "...