apps

A new report claims most Android "antivirus" apps don't provide enough protection to justify that term. It says two-thirds of the antivirus programs were so ineffective, they were practically useless. The report comes from AV-Comparatives, a website ... that tests antivirus and other security software. It says it was inspired to look at Android apps after spotting one that literally did nothing but show a fake progress bar before saying no malicious apps were present (without actually carrying out a scan). The test involved putting 250 different Android antivirus apps to work on Samsung Galaxy S9 ... (view more)

At least eight apps in the official Microsoft Store were secretly designed to use a computer's resources without permission. It undermines Microsoft's efforts to promote the store as a "safe source of software." In the past few years, Microsoft has ... heavily pushed the idea of Windows users getting software from an app store - similar to the way mobile devices work - rather than the more traditional method of getting programs from a third-party sources and installing them directly to the PC or smartphone / tablet. There's even a special 'S' mode for Windows 10 that only allows the ... (view more)

Security researchers say some major password manager tools could be flawed. But they also say it's still sensible to use them, just with a degree of caution. It's a fact that using the same password for multiple sites is a massive security risk. ... That's because if one site gets hacked, it could mean that hackers can use the same password on another website to gain access to potentially sensitive information, resulting in identity theft or financial loss. Password manager tools (such as Roboform and Dashlane ) aim to overcome two big dilemmas with online passwords - which is keeping passwords ... (view more)

Security researchers have warned a notorious piece of malware has returned to Android. It's in disguise, posing as a legitimate and popular VPN application. Researchers at the security firm Bitdefender have dubbed the malware as "Triout," which was ... first spotted last August. It's a particularly nasty piece of malware as it carries out multiple hostile acts. (Source: bitdefender.com ) These include recording phone calls, reading incoming SMS messages, taking pictures and videos, and collecting location data such as GPS coordinates. Triout is designed to operate without being detected ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jake J. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently upgraded my PC to Windows 10 with the October 2018 update (version 1809, build 17763). Everything seems to be working fine, however the other day I needed remote support help from a friend ... of mine using TeamViewer. To get connected to my machine, he instructed that I go to the TeamViewer website and download the TeamViewer program, then run it. He then requested my ID and Password in order to connect to my machine, but I could not find where to obtain this information despite him sending me step-by-step instructions with screenshots ... (view more)

An extremely creative form of malware on Android devices uses motion sensors to help stay undetected. It's designed to combat one of the key methods used by malware scanning tools. Trend Micro says it found the malware hidden in two Google Play ... Store apps named "BatterySaverMobi" and "Currency Converter," which claimed to provide functions as their names suggest. (Source: arstechnica.com ) Once installed, the apps downloaded malware in the background, then used a fake system update message to trick the user into giving permission to install it. The malware, named " ... (view more)

20 popular Android apps are sharing user data with Facebook without permission, according to a new report. Privacy International says the data sharing happens even if the user doesn't have a Facebook account. The organization tested 34 apps, each of ... which have been installed at least 10 million times on Android devices. It looked at data that was transmitted through the Facebook Software Development Kit (SDK). The kit is a set of tools that are designed to help app developers coordinate their apps with the Facebook system. This is more commonly associated with retrieving data from ... (view more)

Google says it removed "millions" of bogus reviews and ratings for apps in a single week. It's tweaked its approach to detecting fake feedback to avoid mistakenly flagging legitimate reviews. The company says it wants to address three problems with ... user reviews in the Google Play store. One is to address reviews that are "genuine" but contain hateful or profane language or aren't relevant to the app in question. The second problem is "fake" ratings that are part of a campaign to manipulate the overall average score rather than being a real verdict by a ... (view more)

22 Android apps are eating up data allowances to benefit scammers at the expense of phone owners, a security firm says. The apps are using smart phones to carry out fraud against online advertisers. Sophos says it's found 22 offending apps with a ... total of two million downloads. They are each described as offering simple games or basic utilities such as keeping the phone's flash activated to act as a flashlight. While they work as described, which helps get good online reviews and build credibility, the scam is happening behind the scenes. (Source: sophos.com ) The apps are used for click ... (view more)

A seven-year-old case into Apple app pricing is heading to the Supreme Court. It's a technical case that centers on the percentage Apple takes from every iPhone or iPad app sale. The case isn't about the royalty itself, which is 30 percent of every ... sale through the iTunes store. Various legal and technical measures mean that's the only way developers can distribute iOS apps, so there's no way around paying the royalty. Instead, the legal question is whether or not consumers have the right to take legal action against Apple over the system. Such lawsuits, of which several have been proposed, ... (view more)