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Better late than never. Google has finally launched a bug bounty program for Android apps on Google Play Store, inviting security researchers to find and report vulnerabilities in some of the most popular Android apps. Dubbed " Google Play Security Reward ," the bug bounty program offers security researchers to work directly with Android app developers to find and fix vulnerabilities in their apps, for which Google will pay $1000 in rewards. "The goal of the program is to further improve app security which will benefit developers, Android users, and the entire Google Play ecosystem," the technology giant says in a blog post published today. Google has collaborated with bug bounty platform, HackerOne, to manage backend for this program, like submitting reports and inviting white-hat hackers and researchers. White-hat hackers who wish to participate can submit their findings directly to the app developers. Once the security vulnerability has been resolved, th

Are you also one of those 18 Million users using SARAHAH? You should beware of this app because the anonymous feedback application may not be as private as it really sounds. Sarahah is a newly launched app that has become one of the hottest iPhone and Android apps in the past couple of weeks, allowing its users to sign up to receive anonymised, candid messages from other Sarahah users. However, it turns out that the app silently uploads users' phone contacts to the company's servers for no good reason, spotted by security analyst Zachary Julian. When an Android or iOS user downloads and installs the app for the first time, the app immediately harvests and uploads all phone numbers and email addresses from the user's address book, according to The Intercept . While an app requesting access to the user's phonebook is quite common if the app provides any feature that works with contacts, no such functionality in Sarahah is available right now. "The pri

The introduction of Open AI's ChatGPT was a defining moment for the software industry, touching off a GenAI race with its November 2022 release. SaaS vendors are now rushing to upgrade tools with enhanced productivity capabilities that are driven by generative AI. Among a wide range of uses, GenAI tools make it easier for developers to build software, assist sales teams in mundane email writing, help marketers produce unique content at low cost, and enable teams and creatives to brainstorm new ideas.  Recent significant GenAI product launches include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Salesforce Einstein GPT. Notably, these GenAI tools from leading SaaS providers are paid enhancements, a clear sign that no SaaS provider will want to miss out on cashing in on the GenAI transformation. Google will soon launch its SGE "Search Generative Experience" platform for premium AI-generated summaries rather than a list of websites.  At this pace, it's just a matter of a short time befo

In order to keep its billions of users safe, Google has introduced another security defense for its Android devices, called Google Play Protect . Google Play Protect , which is part of the Google Play Store app, uses machine learning and app usage analysis to weed out the dangerous and malicious apps, which have always been albatross around the tech giant's neck. Since Google Play Protect actually comes with the Google Play Store, users do not need to install or activate this security feature separately. Google Play Protect for Android devices consists: App scanning Anti-Theft Measures Browser Protection Play Protect's App Scanning Feature Google Play Protect is an always-on service on devices which said to scan 50 billion apps each day across a billion Android devices to ensure they are safe. Google already has a number of security measures in place to help keep your smartphones safe, including Verify Apps and its Bouncer service, but once apps are uploa

Do you like watching funny videos online? I am not kind of a funny person, but I love watching funny videos clips online, and this is one of the best things that people can do in their spare time. But, beware if you have installed a funny video app from Google Play Store. A security researcher has discovered a new variant of the infamous Android banking Trojan hiding in apps under different names, such as Funny Videos 2017 , on Google Play Store. Niels Croese, the security researcher at Securify B.V firm, analyzed the Funny Videos app that has 1,000 to 5,000 installs and found that the app acts like any of the regular video applications on Play Store, but in the background, it targets victims from banks around the world. This newly discovered banking Trojan works like any other banking malware, but two things that makes it different from others are — its capability to target victims and use of DexProtector tool to obfuscate the app's code. Dubbed BankBot , the banking

After the success of Pokémon Go , Nintendo's " Super Mario Run " has become the hottest game to hit the market with enormous popularity and massive social impact. The game has taken the world by storm since its launch for iOS devices over a week ago. Can you believe  —  it was downloaded more than 40 million times worldwide in its first four days of release. But if you have downloaded a Super Mario Run APK for your Android device, Beware! That's definitely a malware. Since Super Mario Run has currently been released only for iOS devices and is not on Google Play, it caused a lot of disappointment among Android users. So, eventually, many Android device owners who love Mario games and can not wait to play Super Mario Run ended up downloading APKs outside of the Google Play Store. But those tons of phony copycat unofficial Super Mario apps on many third-party Android app stores turn out to be malware or viruses that attempt to look like the legitimate Super

Uber was in controversies at the mid of this year for monitoring the battery life of its users, as the company believed that its users were more likely to pay a much higher price to hire a cab when their phone's battery is close to dying. Uber is now tracking you even when your ride is over, and, according to the ride-hailing company, the surveillance will improve its service. Uber recently updated its app to collect user location data in the background. So, if you have updated your Uber app recently, your app's location tracking permissions have changed, allowing the app to monitor your location before and five minutes after your trip ends, even if you have closed the app. A popup on the Uber app will ask you, "Allow 'Uber' to access our location even when you are not using the app?" You can click " Allow " or " Don't Allow " in response to this request. If you don't allow it, Uber won't track you. According to t

Last month, it was reported that the European Commission is planning to impose a record antitrust fine of about 3 BILLION euros ( US$3.4 Billion ) on Google for violating antitrust laws. Not just Europe, Google also lost an anti-monopoly appeal in Russia two months back against ruling for violating its dominant position with the help of its Android mobile OS by forcing its own apps and services like Google Map, Youtube, and others, on users — reducing competition. Now to put an end to the monopoly of major mobile Operating System, Russians are developing their own mobile operating system to compete with Android, iOS, and Windows mobile OS. The Minister of Russian Communication Ministry, Nikolai Nikiforov tweeted last month about the initiative to develop a new Russian mobile operating system, for which the Russian company Open Mobile Platform (Открытая Мобильная Платформа) is hiring developers, testers and security engineers. Open Mobile Platform is developing a Linux-ba

Although Apple has its own operating system for both desktop (Mac OS X) and iPhone (iOS), the company has always tried to port its in-house applications to other OS platforms. Apple debuted on its rival mobile OS platform last year with the launch of Apple Music on Android. However, iTunes and Safari has already been made available for both Windows as well as Mac. Now, the company will soon move more of its mobile applications to Android if comments made by Chief Executive Tim Cook at the recent company-wide event for Apple employees are to be believed. iMessage App for Android Platform Cook reportedly told his staff that sooner Apple may bring other apps and exclusive services to the Android Systems, and added that bringing Apple Music to Android in November was "a way of testing the waters for growing its services division through other platforms," reports 9to5Mac. So, you could see iMessage , the company's encrypted messaging application, ex

A Few Months Back, Microsoft impressed the world with ' Microsoft loves Linux ' announcements, including, development of a custom Linux-based OS for running Azure Cloud Switch and selecting Ubuntu as the operating system for its  Cloud-based Big Data services . Also Read:  Microsoft Drops a Cloud Data Center Under the Ocean . Now, a renowned Windows Hacker and computer expert, who goes by the name ' WalkingCat ', discovered that the latest version of Windows 10 may have a Linux subsystem secretly installed inside. According to his tweets, hacker spotted two mysterious files, LXss.sys and LXCore.sys, in the most latest Windows 10 Redstone Build 14251 , which are suspected to be part of Microsoft's Project Astoria . Project Astoria , also known as Windows Bridge for Android , is a toolkit that allows running Android apps on Windows 10 Mobile devices. The naming convention for latest discovered files is very similar to the Android Subsystem files from Proj

Bluestacks , the first app player for running Android apps on Windows, has launched the latest version of its Android emulator platform with one major upgrade: The Ability to Run Multiple Android apps Simultaneously. BlueStacks 2 Released Bluestacks previously only run a single app at a time. However, with the launch of BlueStacks 2 , the app adds a tabbed interface that allows you to jump between multiple Android apps in the same window. This is great for you to run gaming and messaging apps, or news and messaging apps at the same time. The update also adds a toolbar that allows you to quickly tell the Android emulator to simulate rotating the device screen or to perform other functions, such as copying and pasting. In BlueStacks 2, players now have options to marry gameplay and app discovery, meaning when they click an advertisement, a new tab will appear so that the players can continue playing their games without being interrupted. How to Run Mult

Are you a Die Hard Android Fan? If you are also one of those millions Android fans, for whom the brand has turned into an insane religious devotion, then Apple has something that could give you second thoughts. Apple is losing control, wants you to ditch your Android! Few days ago, Apple made its debut on Google Play Store with its First App, called " Move to iOS ", for Android Users. With its first ever Android app, Apple tried to kill Android Community and fans, But failed badly! Apple's new app works as an " Uncalled Assistance " in a manner where you have bought a new iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and are confused about how to migrate data from your current Android device. Apple's ' Move to iOS ' app is designed to help Android users transfer their content quickly and safely from an Android device to an iOS device. The Apple App will help you in Migrating Data, like: Calendars Camera photos and videos Contacts Mail accounts Message history Web b

How difficult is for hackers to take over your personal photographs? They just need to trick you to download an app, or may be a Porn app . Yes, if you are one of those who can't resist watching porn then you could be an easy target for hackers who are distributing ransomware via malicious pornography app to run you out of your money. A pornography application for Android called Adult Player that promises free pornographic videos has been caught taking photographs of users and then extorting them for ransom ( Cyber Extortion ). Once installed, Adult Player gains administrator access to the victim's device, which then allows it to load malicious ransomware files. When Hackers Turn to Blackmail: Demands $500 Ransom When a user opens the app, Adult Player secretly takes photos of the user with the help of front-facing camera and then demands a $500 (£330) ransom in order to restore the device access and delete all photos stored on attackers server.

Do you realize how often your smartphone is sharing your location data with various companies? It is more than 5000 times in just two weeks. That is little Shocking but True! A recent study by the security researchers from Carnegie Mellon reveals that a number of smartphone applications collect your location-related data — a lot more than you think. The security researcher released a warning against the alarming approach: " Your location [data] has been shared 5,398 times with Facebook, GO Launcher EX, Groupon and seven other [applications] in the last 14 days. " During their study, researchers monitored 23 Android smartphone users for three weeks. First Week - Participants were asked to use their smartphone apps as they would normally do. Second Week - An app called App Ops was installed to monitor and manage the data those apps were using. Third Week - The team of researchers started sending a daily " privacy nudge " alert that would ping particip

Google has changed the way it managed apps on the Google Play Store . After years of depending on the automated app check process, the company just made some changes to its Play Store policies  that will successfully weed out malicious and undesirable apps from Google Play store. Google has introduced an update for developers and users that's sure to make some parents happy and some developers sad. The new features are — Better App Review Process Age-Based Rating System BETTER APP REVIEW PROCESS The search engine giant announced on Tuesday that it has started employing humans to review apps before they go live on the Google Play Store , a move intended to " better protect the community " and " improve the app catalog ." The new approach would definitely affect app developers, as they'll have to wait for their apps to be approved by Google after they submit them to the Play Store. But, it would keep users safe from harmful malware or offensive content.

A vulnerability has been discovered in the wildly popular Google's Stock Android Email App , that could be exploited by malicious attackers to remotely crash your smartphone application just by sending a specially crafted email. A Spain security researcher, Hector Marco , successfully exploited the vulnerability on his Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini running version 4.2.2.0200 of Stock Android Email App. He said the flaw appears to affect all older versions of Stock Android Email App, though devices running 4.2.2.0400 and newer versions are not affected. According to the researcher, when the victim receives the malicious email and tries to view it, the email app crashes. Further attempts to open the email again triggers a crash in the application before the victim can do anything. The flaw ( CVE-2015-1574 ) is due to incorrect handling of the Content-Disposition header . Hackers could exploit the vulnerability by sending an email with a malformed Content-Disposition header to th

Last year, the founder of the Social Network giant highlighted the future of universal Internet access, the dream that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wants to fulfill — Making Internet access available to everyone across the world just like a service as essential as of 911 in the case of an emergency. Dreams are transforming into Reality!! Facebook's Internet.org app has launched in India to offer free Internet access to a set of websites for users in seven different circles, including Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Internet.org , with motto ' Internet for All ' , named after a project developed by the world's biggest social network site Facebook to expand Internet access to "the next 5 billion people" around the world who currently don't have it. Facebook has tied up with India's Reliance Communications in an effort to provide free Internet services to users on mobile phones, making India

Are you one of those victims whose WhatsApp app has recently been banned?? Then you must have installed a 3rd-party version of WhatsApp client, like WhatsAppMD or Whatsapp PLUS in your mobile phone for sure. Reportedly after 12 AM IST on 21st January 2015 , WhatsApp, the widely popular messaging application, has started temporarily banning users for 24 Hours who are currently using any third-party WhatsApp clients and are being directed to download the official app on the Play Store instead. Just in last few hours, large number of users have started complaining on Social media websites that they are being banned from the messaging service for 24 hours. Though the ban is temporary and the users facing the issue now could access their app after the period of 24 hours. In an attempt to clear up why this is happening, Whatsapp team explained via its FAQ website , that it is against 'Terms of Service' to use WhatsApp Plus or any other 3rd-party unofficial app. Why am

A critical vulnerability discovered in Verizon 's FiOS mobile application allowed an attacker to access the email account of any Verizon customer with relative ease, leaving almost five million user accounts of Verizon's FiOS application at risk. The FiOS API flaw was discovered by XDA senior software developer Randy Westergren on January 14, 2015, when he found that it was possible to not only read the contents of other users' inboxes, but also send message on their behalf. The issue was discovered while analyzing traffic generated by the Android version of My FiOS , which is used for account management, email and scheduling video recordings. Westergren took time to put together a proof-of-concept showing serious cause for concern, and then reported it to Verizon. The telecom giant acknowledged the researcher of the notification the same day and issued a fix on Friday, just two days after the vulnerability was disclosed. That's precisely how it shou

The popular ride-sharing service Uber has been hit by various controversies lately, but now the things gone even worse for the company when a security researcher made a worrying discovery this week and claims, " Uber's app is literally malware. " The ride-hailing company is in disputes of handling privacy of its customers data. A Phoenix-based security researcher Joe Giron found that a surprising amount of users' data is being collected by the company's mobile application for Android. Researcher, who runs a cyber security firm in Arizona , just reverse-engineered the code of Uber's Android application and come to the conclusion that it is a malware. He discovered that the app " calls home " and sends data back to the company. But this excessive amount of access to users' data is not the sort of app data a taxi company should have access to in the first place. It really seems strange and unnecessary to collect. " Christ man! Why the hell woul

Facebook is moving a step ahead from others and making its social media service as an information sharing platform in serious situations as well. The social networking giant has announced a new tool, which lets users notify their family and friends that they are safe during or after natural disasters. The tool, named " Safety Check, " will soon be available globally to over 1.32 billion Facebook users on Android, iOS, feature phones and the desktops. The tool is designed to be activated after a natural disaster and by using either the city you lived in or your last location - if you have checked in on " Nearby Friends ", it let's you alert your friends and family that you are safe, while also tracking the status of others. " In times of disaster or crisis, people turn to Facebook to check on loved ones and get updates, " wrote the company in a blog post about the feature. " It is in these moments that communication is most critical both for people in the affected