google

A popular malware-fighting tool left users unable to access Google and YouTube after a blunder. It's the second time Google has been hit by false positives in the past few weeks. This problem affected Malwarebytes, one of the more popular security ... tools other than those built in to operating systems. Specifically, the problem was with the premium version of Malwarebytes that integrates with web browsers, checks links the user might visit, and blocks the link if it points to a domain believed to pose a security risk. Such risks can include look-alike sites used for phishing scams to try to ... (view more)

Google is to test a plan to exempt political campaign messages from its spam filter. It says users will have a clear opportunity to opt out. The move has proven unpopular with many people, particularly since users will need to opt out on a ... sender-by-sender basis. There won't be a simple way to opt out of all political emails. Previously Google had labeled many campaign emails as spam because, well, that's what they often are. In many, if not most, cases people were receiving messages despite not explicitly giving permission for their address to be used in that way. The spam filter appeared to ... (view more)

Two more applications have been removed from the Google Play Store after turning out to be a front for malware. As always in such cases, users who already have the apps installed need to uninstall them as this won't happen automatically. The apps in ... question are called Mister Phone Cleaner and Kylhavy Mobile Security. They had 50,000 and 10,000 downloads respectively before Google pulled the listings. The scam in these cases has a couple of key differences from the familiar story of scammers disguising malware as legitimate apps and finding a way to bypass Google's security checks. That ... (view more)

Google has closed the account of a user who sent a photograph of his son's inflamed groin to a doctor. It's sticking by the closure despite an obvious case of its automated systems mistakenly flagging the image as abusive material. The account ... closure covers all Google services including the man's Gmail and his phone service which was provided by Google Fi. This was a disastrous combination as losing access to both emails and SMS messages to his phone number meant he couldn't get security codes to prove the ownership of many other online accounts. The man, identified by the New York Times ... (view more)

Google has revamped the look of Gmail, favoring people who use its other communication tools. The new look is not a complete overhaul but rather the type of change where users notice something is different, even if they can't immediately put their ... finger on what's changed. Users have a couple of options if they want to undo the changes. Gmail has two new main features. The first is a subtle color change, with the menu bar down the left column and the search bar at the top both now having pale blue backgrounds, visually breaking up the page. The second change is to the left-hand menu itself. ... (view more)

The makers of an app that can alert parents when a diabetic child is at risk say Google's rules are making it harder to use the app. Play Store rules designed to stop malware mean the app can't send text messages directly. The app is called CamAps ... FX and works with medical devices to operate an "artificial pancreas" for type-1 diabetes, which is a hereditary condition. It connects to a glucose monitor and an insulin pump, constantly monitoring glucose levels and then delivering insulin as necessary. (Source: camdiab.com ) The BBC reports that while it's suitable for adults, the app is ... (view more)

Some Google Play Store apps with more than a million downloads have turned out to house malware. It's a reminder that however good Google's security vetting process is, it's not perfectly reliable. Two security companies, ThreatLabZ and Evina, say ... they found a total of 60 apps that are or have been in the Play Store and house one of four "families" of malware. One type appears to be new and has been dubbed Autolycos by researcher Maxime Ingrao. Promoted via Facebook and Instagram ads, the apps use a common technique. They are listed as carrying out a specific feature, which they ... (view more)

Google has fixed an unusual bug that mistakenly implied trusted contacts might be spammers. It asked users to make a decision about future filtering but took no notice of the reply. The good news is that the fix removes the unwanted messages and the ... filtering now appears to be working as intended. The bug involves the way Google will occasionally highlight a message sender as a potential source of unwanted emails. Users can then click one button to block all future messages from the sender. Once the bug took effect, many more users than usual started seeing the message, which read: "Do ... (view more)

At least half the zero-day bugs discovered by Google this year were preventable according to one of its security experts. She pointed to sloppiness by software developers. The claims came in a talk and subsequent blog post by Maddie Stone. She's ... part of Google's Project Zero security program. While precise definitions sometimes vary, the general principle of a zero-day bug is that it's where attackers are exploiting the vulnerability before the software developers have a chance to develop a fix - in most cases because they aren't even aware of the bug. The name comes from the way the ... (view more)

Consumer groups claim Google acts unfairly in getting permission to use personal data. They say the sign-up process makes it far more time-consuming to exercise the right to limit data use. The complaints come from consumer groups in six European ... countries who have complained to national data regulators while warning they may also launch a civil court case. The European setting is key as data laws there say companies that rely on consent to make data handling lawful must make sure the decision to give consent is based on having a meaningful choice. Businesses aren't supposed to make both ... (view more)