Android security | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Android N Developer Preview, an early beta of Google's new mobile operating system that was expected to launch on Google I/O in mid-May, is unexpectedly launching right now. Android N Developer Preview for the Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Pixel C Nexus 9, the Nexus Player and the General Mobile 4G, an Android One device has been made available as an over-the-air update by Google on Wednesday. So, you can test out Android N Developer Preview on your smartphone and tablet right now from developer.android.com/preview . The good news is that the Google Android team has brought meaningful features to your smartphone and tablet in just five months. "As we look to the next release of Android, N, you'll notice a few big changes aimed at you as developers: it's earlier than ever, it's easier to try and we're expanding the ways for you to give us feedback," Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google's SVP for Android writes . "We hope these changes will ensure that you are heard an...

Rejoice for Privacy Lovers! Facebook today took a surprising move by announcing that it is bringing the free anonymizing software TOR support to its Android app , almost two years after the social network planned to make Facebook available directly over Tor network. Yes. Believe it or not, the Android version of the popular Facebook application now supports the Tor anonymity network. In October 2014, Facebook launched a .onion website on TOR in order to let its users around the world access its service more securely. Access Facebook over TOR via Orbot This latest move to expand that access to the Android app opens up the option to millions more users to maintain their privacy when they visit the world's most popular social network. Facebook says "a sizeable community of people" are already accessing the site over TOR, so the company is bringing this feature to Android via the free Orbot proxy app , which is available on the Google's Play...

As SaaS providers race to integrate AI into their product offerings to stay competitive and relevant, a new challenge has emerged in the world of AI: shadow AI.  Shadow AI refers to the unauthorized use of AI tools and copilots at organizations. For example, a developer using ChatGPT to assist with writing code, a salesperson downloading an AI-powered meeting transcription tool, or a customer support person using Agentic AI to automate tasks – without going through the proper channels. When these tools are used without IT or the Security team's knowledge, they often lack sufficient security controls, putting company data at risk. Shadow AI Detection Challenges Because shadow AI tools often embed themselves in approved business applications via AI assistants, copilots, and agents they are even more tricky to discover than traditional shadow IT. While traditional shadow apps can be identified through network monitoring methodologies that scan for unauthorized connections based on...

If you're planning to sell your old Android smartphone then you need to think again because there is a weakness in the Android Factory Reset option that could be exploited to recover your login credentials, text messages, emails and pictures even if you have wiped its memory clean. Computer researchers at the University of Cambridge conducted a study on Android devices from 5 different vendors and found that more than 500 Million Android devices don't completely erase data after the factory reset. "Factory Reset" function, built into Google's Android mobile operating system, is considered to be the most important feature to wipe all the confidential data out from the smartphone devices before going to sold, or recycled. However, the computer researchers found that the data could be recovered from the Android device even if users turned on full-disk encryption. The second-hand market is huge and based on the study; the researchers estimated that ov...

We all have Internet-connected smartphones in our pockets, but it's very hard to find a place on Internet to feel secure and private. No doubt, there is data Encryption on cell phones, but what's the use if it is cracked by hackers or law enforcement? What if the encrypted files don't exist in the first place for law enforcement to decrypt it? That's the motive behind DroidStealth , a new Android encryption tool that not only protects sensitive data with obfuscation, but ​also hides its existence on your phone as if it has nothing to hide. DroidStealth Android app has been developed by security researchers from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and would come as a windfall to both the privacy lovers and the cyber criminals. STEALTH LOGIN MECHANISM DroidStealth Android encryption tool creates a hidden folder in your phone in which it stores your all encrypted files. The app itself can be opened by simply dialing a phone number of any length which...

After offering chocolate ( Kit-Kat ), now Google is ready to serve you Lollipops. Google on Wednesday finally revealed the official name of its next version Android L — Android 5.0 Lollipop . The newly released Android 5.0 Lollipop ships with the latest Motorola-made Nexus 6 smartphone and Nexus 9 tablet built by HTC, but the company did not make the Lollipop available for download to other users immediately. The older versions of Nexus devices will receive the Lollipop update in the coming weeks. Lollipop features some significant changes to the Android platform with a sleek new user interface, cross platform support and improved performance via the new ART runtime engine. The operating system also offers better battery life, improved notifications, OpenGL ES 3.1 and 64-bit support, among other features. Here are some most notable features of Android 5.0 Lollipop , along with some insight as to when you might be able to get your hands on it. Google describes Lolli...

Cybercriminals have rolled out a new malicious Android application that wraps different varieties of banking fraud trick into a single piece of advanced mobile malware . GOOGLE SERVICE FRAMEWORK - APPLICATION OR MALWARE? Security researchers at the security firm FireEye have came across a malicious Android application that binds together the latest and older hijacking techniques. The malicious Android app combines private data theft, banking credential theft and spoofing, and remote access into a single unit, where traditional malware has had only one such capability included in it. Researchers dubbed the malware as HijackRAT , a banking trojan that comes loaded with a malicious Android application which disguises itself as "Google Service Framework," first and the most advanced Android malware sample of its kind ever discovered, combining all the three malicious activities together. MALWARE FEATURES By giving the remote control of the infected device to hackers,...

We are quite aware of the Android malware scanner Google's Bouncer that tests the apps by running them in a virtualized environment i.e. a simulated phone created in software which automatically scans the apps to watch its real behaviour on users' devices, before approving them to the Play Store market. To protect its users and their devices from harm, Google launched this apps scanning software tool, two year ago. Bouncer is a security feature for the Android Play store Market that is designed to protect the Android users to not to be a victim of any malicious Android malware app. But does the security tool go far enough? Despite having protective shield factor, we have seen Google play store market is surrounded by many malicious apps which easily by-passes the Bouncer scan test and targets Android users. Security Research from Columbia University have exploited weaknesses in Google's Bouncer service to sneak malicious apps on to the Android market. They publish...