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Google has been ordered by a court in the U.S. state of California to pay $314 million over charges that it misused Android device users' cellular data when they were idle to passively send information to the company. The verdict marks an end to a legal class-action complaint that was originally filed in August 2019. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that Google's Android operating system leverages users' cellular data to transmit a "variety of information to Google" without their permission, even when their devices are kept in an idle state. "Although Google could make it so that these transfers happen only when the phones are connected to Wi-Fi, Google instead designed these transfers so they can also take place over a cellular network," they said. "Google's unauthorized use of their cellular data violates California law and requires Google to compensate Plaintiffs for the value of the cellular data that Google uses for its own be...

A mobile ad fraud operation dubbed IconAds that consisted of 352 Android apps has been disrupted, according to a new report from HUMAN. The identified apps were designed to load out-of-context ads on a user's screen and hide their icons from the device home screen launcher, making it harder for victims to remove them, per the company's Satori Threat Intelligence and Research Team. The apps have since been removed from the Play Store by Google. The ad fraud scheme accounted for 1.2 billion bid requests a day, at the height of its activity. The vast majority of IconAds-associated traffic originated from Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. It's worth noting that IconAds is a variant of a threat that's also tracked by other cybersecurity vendors under the names HiddenAds and Vapor , with the malicious apps repeatedly slipping past the Google Play Store since at least 2019 . Some of the common characteristics of these apps include the use of obfuscation to conceal...

Microsoft has said that it's ending support for passwords in its Authenticator app starting August 1, 2025. Microsoft's move is part of a much larger shift away from traditional password-based logins. The company said the changes are also meant to streamline autofill within its two-factor authentication (2FA) app, making the experience simpler and more secure. Over the past few years, Microsoft has been pushing for a passwordless future using technologies like passkeys , Windows Hello, and FIDO2-based authentication. These methods offer better protection against phishing and password reuse, which are still major attack vectors. While it may feel like a hassle at first, this change is actually aimed at reducing your risk in the long run. "Starting July 2025, the autofill feature in Authenticator will stop working, and from August 2025, passwords will no longer be accessible in Authenticator," Microsoft said in a support document for Authenticator. It's worth noti...

SaaS Adoption is Skyrocketing, Resilience Hasn't Kept Pace SaaS platforms have revolutionized how businesses operate. They simplify collaboration, accelerate deployment, and reduce the overhead of managing infrastructure. But with their rise comes a subtle, dangerous assumption: that the convenience of SaaS extends to resilience. It doesn't. These platforms weren't built with full-scale data protection in mind . Most follow a shared responsibility model — wherein the provider ensures uptime and application security, but the data inside is your responsibility. In a world of hybrid architectures, global teams, and relentless cyber threats, that responsibility is harder than ever to manage. Modern organizations are being stretched across: Hybrid and multi-cloud environments with decentralized data sprawl Complex integration layers between IaaS, SaaS, and legacy systems Expanding regulatory pressure with steeper penalties for noncompliance Escalating ransomware threats and inside...

The U.S. House of Representatives has formally banned congressional staff members from using WhatsApp on government-issued devices, citing security concerns. The development was first reported by Axios. The decision, according to the House Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), was motivated by worries about the app's security. "The Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high-risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use," the CAO said in a memo, according to Axios. To that end, House staff are prohibited from downloading the app on any device issued by the government, including its mobile, desktop, or web browser versions. WhatsApp has pushed back against these concerns, stating messages sent on the platform are end-to-end encrypted by default, and that it offers a "higher level" of security than most of the apps on CAO's approved ...

Meta Platforms on Wednesday announced that it's adding support for passkeys, the next-generation password standard, on Facebook. "Passkeys are a new way to verify your identity and login to your account that's easier and more secure than traditional passwords," the tech giant said in a post. Support for passkeys is expected to be available "soon" on Android and iOS mobile devices. The feature is also coming to its Messenger platform in the coming months. The company said passkeys can also be used to auto-fill payment information when making purchases using Meta Pay. Meta previously rolled out passkeys support for WhatsApp on Android in October 2023, and on iOS a few months later in April 2024. There is no word yet on when it plans to bring passkeys to Instagram. Passkeys, backed by the FIDO Alliance, is a passwordless authentication solution that allows users to securely sign in to online services by using biometrics or the device lock PIN code. ...

A growing number of malicious campaigns have leveraged a recently discovered Android banking trojan called Crocodilus to target users in Europe and South America. The malware, according to a new report published by ThreatFabric, has also adopted improved obfuscation techniques to hinder analysis and detection, and includes the ability to create new contacts in the victim's contacts list. "Recent activity reveals multiple campaigns now targeting European countries while continuing Turkish campaigns and expanding globally to South America," the Dutch security company said . Crocodilus was first publicly documented in March 2025 as targeting Android device users in Spain and Turkey by masquerading as legitimate apps like Google Chrome. The malware comes fitted with capabilities to launch overlay attacks against a list of financial apps retrieved from an external server to harvest credentials. It also abuses accessibility services permissions to capture seed phrases as...

Three security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in preloaded Android applications on smartphones from Ulefone and Krüger&Matz that could enable any app installed on the device to perform a factory reset and encrypt an application. A brief description of the three flaws is as follows - CVE-2024-13915 (CVSS score: 6.9) - A pre-installed "com.pri.factorytest" application on Ulefone and Krüger&Matz smartphones exposes a "com.pri.factorytest.emmc.FactoryResetService" service that allows any installed application to perform a factory reset of the device. CVE-2024-13916 (CVSS score: 6.9) - A pre-installed "com.pri.applock" application on Kruger&Matz smartphones allows a user to encrypt any application using user-provided PIN code or by using biometric data. The app also exposes a "com.android.providers.settings.fingerprint.PriFpShareProvider" content provider's "query()" method that permits any malicious app already ...

Qualcomm has shipped security updates to address three zero-day vulnerabilities that it said have been exploited in limited, targeted attacks in the wild. The flaws in question, which were responsibly disclosed to the company by the Google Android Security team, are listed below - CVE-2025-21479 and CVE-2025-21480 (CVSS score: 8.6) - Two incorrect authorization vulnerabilities in the Graphics component that could result in memory corruption due to unauthorized command execution in GPU microcode while executing a specific sequence of commands CVE-2025-27038 (CVSS score: 7.5) - A use-after-free vulnerability in the Graphics component that could result in memory corruption while rendering graphics using Adreno GPU drivers in Chrome "There are indications from Google Threat Analysis Group that CVE-2025-21479, CVE-2025-21480, CVE-2025-27038 may be under limited, targeted exploitation," Qualcomm said in an advisory. "Patches for the issues affecting the Adreno Grap...

A new malware campaign is distributing a novel Rust-based information stealer dubbed EDDIESTEALER using the popular ClickFix social engineering tactic initiated via fake CAPTCHA verification pages. "This campaign leverages deceptive CAPTCHA verification pages that trick users into executing a malicious PowerShell script, which ultimately deploys the infostealer, harvesting sensitive data such as credentials, browser information, and cryptocurrency wallet details," Elastic Security Labs researcher Jia Yu Chan said in an analysis. The attack chains begin with threat actors compromising legitimate websites with malicious JavaScript payloads that serve bogus CAPTCHA check pages, which prompt site visitors to "prove you are not [a] robot" by following a three-step process, a prevalent tactic called ClickFix . This involves instructing the potential victim to open the Windows Run dialog prompt, paste an already copied command into the "verification window"...

Apple on Tuesday revealed that it prevented over $9 billion in fraudulent transactions in the last five years, including more than $2 billion in 2024 alone. The company said the App Store is confronted by a wide range of threats that seek to defraud users in various ways, ranging from "deceptive apps designed to steal personal information to fraudulent payment schemes that attempt to exploit users." The tech giant said it terminated more than 46,000 developer accounts over fraud concerns and rejected an additional 139,000 developer enrollment as part of efforts to prevent bad actors from submitting their apps to the App Store. Furthermore, the company said it rejected over 711 million customer account creations and deactivated nearly 129 million customer accounts last year with an aim to block these accounts from conducting nefarious activity, such as spamming or manipulating ratings and reviews, charts, and search results that could compromise the integrity of the App S...

Threat hunters have exposed a novel campaign that makes use of search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning techniques to target employee mobile devices and facilitate payroll fraud. The activity, first detected by ReliaQuest in May 2025 targeting an unnamed customer in the manufacturing sector, is characterized by the use of fake login pages to access the employee payroll portal and redirect paychecks into accounts under the threat actor's control. "The attacker's infrastructure used compromised home office routers and mobile networks to mask their traffic, dodging detection and slipping past traditional security measures," the cybersecurity company said in an analysis published last week. "The adversary specifically targeted employee mobile devices with a fake website impersonating the organization's login page. Armed with stolen credentials, the adversary gained access to the organization's payroll portal, changed direct deposit information, and re...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new campaign that employs malicious JavaScript injections to redirect site visitors on mobile devices to a Chinese adult-content Progressive Web App (PWA) scam. "While the payload itself is nothing new (yet another adult gambling scam), the delivery method stands out," c/side researcher Himanshu Anand said in a Tuesday analysis. "The malicious landing page is a full-blown Progressive Web App ( PWA ), likely aiming to retain users longer and bypass basic browser protections." The campaign is designed to explicitly filter out desktop users, primarily focusing on mobile users. The activity has been described as a client-side attack that uses third-party JavaScript and only triggers on mobile devices. The use of PWAs, a type of application built using web technologies that provide a user experience similar to that of a native app built for a specific platform like Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, or iOS, is seen as an at...

Google on Thursday announced it's rolling out new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered countermeasures to combat scams across Chrome, Search, and Android. The tech giant said it will begin using Gemini Nano , its on-device large language model (LLM), to improve Safe Browsing in Chrome 137 on desktops. "The on-device approach provides instant insight on risky websites and allows us to offer protection, even against scams that haven't been seen before. Gemini Nano's LLM is perfect for this use because of its ability to distill the varied, complex nature of websites, helping us adapt to new scam tactics more quickly," the company said . Google noted that it's already using this AI-driven approach to tackle remote tech support scams, which often seek to trick users into parting with their personal or financial information under the pretext of a non-existent computer problem. This works by evaluating the web pages using the LLM for potential signals that are...

Google has released its monthly security updates for Android with fixes for 46 security flaws, including one vulnerability that it said has been exploited in the wild. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2025-27363 (CVSS score: 8.1), a high-severity flaw in the System component that could lead to local code execution without requiring any additional execution privileges. "The most severe of these issues is a high security vulnerability in the System component that could lead to local code execution with no additional execution privileges needed," Google said in a Monday advisory. "User interaction is not needed for exploitation." It's worth noting that CVE-2025-27363 is rooted in the FreeType open-source font rendering library. It was first disclosed by Facebook in March 2025 as having been exploited in the wild. The shortcoming has been described as an out-of-bounds write flaw that could result in code execution when parsing TrueType GX and variable fo...

What if attackers aren't breaking in—they're already inside, watching, and adapting? This week showed a sharp rise in stealth tactics built for long-term access and silent control. AI is being used to shape opinions. Malware is hiding inside software we trust. And old threats are returning under new names. The real danger isn't just the breach—it's not knowing who's still lurking in your systems. If your defenses can't adapt quickly, you're already at risk. Here are the key cyber events you need to pay attention to this week. ⚡ Threat of the Week Lemon Sandstorm Targets Middle East Critical Infra — The Iranian state-sponsored threat group tracked as Lemon Sandstorm targeted an unnamed critical national infrastructure (CNI) in the Middle East and maintained long-term access that lasted for nearly two years using custom backdoors like HanifNet, HXLibrary, and NeoExpressRAT. The activity, which lasted from at least May 2023 to February 2025, entailed "extensive es...

A China-aligned advanced persistent threat (APT) group called TheWizards has been linked to a lateral movement tool called Spellbinder that can facilitate adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) attacks. "Spellbinder enables adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) attacks, through IPv6 stateless address autoconfiguration ( SLAAC ) spoofing , to move laterally in the compromised network, intercepting packets and redirecting the traffic of legitimate Chinese software so that it downloads malicious updates from a server controlled by the attackers," ESET researcher Facundo Muñoz said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The attack paves the way for a malicious downloader that's delivered by hijacking the software update mechanism associated with Sogou Pinyin. The downloader then acts as a conduit to drop a modular backdoor codenamed WizardNet. This is not the first time Chinese threat actors have abused Sogou Pinyin's software update process to deliver their own malware. In Janu...

Popular messaging app WhatsApp on Tuesday unveiled a new technology called Private Processing to enable artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in a privacy-preserving manner. "Private Processing will allow users to leverage powerful optional AI features – like summarizing unread messages or editing help – while preserving WhatsApp's core privacy promise," the Meta-owned service said in a statement shared with The Hacker News. With the introduction of the latest feature, the idea is to facilitate the use of AI features while still keeping users' messages private. It's expected to be made available in the coming weeks. The capability, in a nutshell, allows users to initiate a request to process messages using AI within a secure environment called the confidential virtual machine (CVM) such that no other party, including Meta and WhatsApp, can access them. Confidential processing is one of the three tenets that underpin the feature, the others being - Enf...

Google has revealed that it observed 75 zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in the wild in 2024, down from 98 in 2023 but an increase from 63 the year before. Of the 75 zero-days, 44% of them targeted enterprise products. As many as 20 flaws were identified in security software and appliances. "Zero-day exploitation of browsers and mobile devices fell drastically, decreasing by about a third for browsers and by about half for mobile devices compared to what we observed last year," the Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) said in a report shared with The Hacker news. "Exploit chains made up of multiple zero-day vulnerabilities continue to be almost exclusively (~90%) used to target mobile devices." While Microsoft Windows accounted for 22 of the zero-day flaws exploited in 2024, Apple's Safari had three, iOS had two, Android had seven, Chrome had seven, and Mozilla Firefox had one flaw that were abused during the same period. Three of the seven zero-days ...