New Technology Update : A Malicious WhatsApp Video Feature Invite Is Spreading Across The Messaging App

WhatsApp recently announced the launch of its video calling feature which has started to roll out for Android, iOS and Windows Phone users. While a number of messaging apps offer this feature, WhatsApp has been a little late, it does however have the biggest user base across the globe.

While the news is welcoming, many users are receiving as well as sharing an unverified link on WhatsApp which is said to be an invite to activate the video calling feature. An invite system was introduced last year on Whatsapp when the voice calling feature was rolled out. It seems that certain scammers are trying to take advantage of this as they have spread a similar looking fake link for the new video calling feature.

WhatsApp has not officially released any links this time to enable any feature, so in case you get any such links, do not visit any of the links. Visiting these links could be harmful and could expose your personal data.

According to a report, the link takes you to what seems to look like an authentic page where it asks you to send the malicious link to other people on your list. It also mentions the existence of group WhatsApp video calling, a feature that is still not officially available on the platform.

If you do happen to get an invite to activate the video calling feature on WhatsApp, do ignore it. To get the feature you just need to update the app to the latest version. In case you don’t see an update, wait for a couple of days as it is rolling out in phases.

Posted by Unknown Saturday, November 19, 2016

News Google Tech Update : Google Launches Allo In The Play Store; Here Is How To Get Started

Image Credit: Google Play Store

Google has finally launched the much anticipated messaging app by the company, Google Allo. It was previously reported that that messaging app would launch today. Allo is the part of communication platform made in conjunction with Google Duo. Duo was released some time back by the company, and it focused on video whereas Google Allo is focused on text communication along with sending media such as photos, audio messages, stickers and locations.

Google Allo main screen

You can start using Allo by going to Google Play Store and installing it on your Android device. The interface is pretty bare bones but quite functional for a messaging app. When you launch the app for the first time, the app asks you to verify your mobile number similar to how things work on Google Duo. The SMS verification servers seem to be in place for Allo verification. After the verification, the app asks you to set a profile picture and name.

Google Assistant

The app interface is reminiscent to how Google Hangout looks like (but without all the features in Hangouts). Nothing has changed since the leaked screenshots for Google Allo in alpha stage. On launching, you get the first (and only) surprise that Google Allo holds, that is “Google Assistant”, the bot by Google while will replace Google Now in the upcoming update, Android Nougat 7.1. It is a vital part of the experience provided by Google Assistant and a step away from how popular messaging apps work. Google Assistant is what Cortana from Microsoft and Siri from Apple are, but inside a chat window currently. The bot is labelled as ‘Preview Edition’ but in the limited tests that we ran, Assistant left us impressed coming from Google Now as the previous native offering in Android.

Sticker Store, Template replies

While diving into the chat experience, Allo does the basics of sending text, photos shot from the front or back camera, pictures from gallery, stickers and location. You can send 20 photos at a time in Allo from the ten photos limited on WhatsApp. Another small change is that in the notifications area, the app shows smart response as a quick reply to contacts who message you. Machine learning is working full time to suggest bubble shape cards in the chat as appropriate message responses to the conversations. Finally, you can search inside your conversations, as against the searchless realm that Google Hangouts are.

 Incognito Chats

There is nothing new when you dive in the Profile section or the General settings menu, and there are just small things like controlling the notifications, sounds, vibration and to download the media when you receive it. There is no status updates or message that you can set for people in your contact list to read. 

Google Allo turns into Snapchat

 

The reason we mentioned that the chatting experience is different from how it is in the conventional messaging is apps is that you can summon Google Assistant in your private conversations to ask questions, play games or device on dinner options or the movie options. This brings a whole different side to the concept of user privacy and the only remedy seen is the use of incognito chat with other users.

Group conversations

Incognito mode features auto-destruct messages just like Snapchat which expire after a fixed amount of time depending on the settings. Infact, you can turn Google Allo into an almost functioning Snapchat clone except Stories or ability to check who saw your stories.

The summon behaviour is consistent across individual as well as group chats where you can call in Google Assistant to ask questions and suggestions on places nearby. However, you can’t tag Google Assistant in incognito chats. Apart from this nothing much stands out in the latest messaging app by Google, Google Allo.

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, September 21, 2016

News Interesting Fact About Smartphones : Your Smartphone Can Tell If You’re Depressed

Health related apps have been on the rise in recent years as an increasing number of smartphone users are concerned with what they put in their bodies and what’s going on with their health. But most of them have been aimed at counting calories, counting drinks, keeping track of blood pressure, and none of them have targeted mental health. Until now.

Researchers at the Northwestern University have developed a smartphone app that can say whether or not an individual is depressed based on the amount of time that they spend using their phone as well by looking at GPS data in order to asses how many places the individual visits on a daily basis.

David Mohr, senior author and director for the Behavioral Intervention Technologies department of the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, and his colleagues examined 18 subjects for this study. He included both men and women, with the ranging from 19 to 58.

The research team installed an app on the smartphones of participants and used it to track them over the course of two (2) weeks. However, before the app started collecting information, the subjects had to answer standard questionnaire that are used by professionals to measure depression.

The results revealed that the more time a subject spent using their phone, the bigger their change of being diagnosed with depression was. Depressed subjects spent somewhere around 68 minutes using their device each day, while healthy subjects spent somewhere around 17 minutes using their device each day.

On top of this, users with GPS data that showed they spent most of the time at home also had a good chance of being diagnosed with depression. Another finding was that subjects who changed their schedule from day to day (for instance heading towards the office at a different time each day) were also likely battling depression.

Mohr gave a statement saying that the results make sense from a clinical point of view. When people are depressed they don’t feel like engaging in social activities and that usually withdraw from others.

One explanation is that these people don’t use their phones to communicate, but rather to play on apps in an attempt to distract themselves from their emotional pain.

The authors admitted that further research is needed as the sample of subjects was a very small one.

Posted by Unknown Sunday, July 19, 2015

News Handset Security Update : My Xperia Theft Protection Bricking Phones With Unlocked Bootloaders

Sony's My Xperia Theft Protection (MXTP) feature, which is present in recently launched handsets such as Sony Xperia Z3+, Xperia C4, Xperia Z4 Tablet and Xperia M4 Aqua, is bricking bootloader-unlocked smartphones as per user reports.

For those unaware, the MXTP security feature, when enabled, prevents a user from wiping the stolen Xperia device and installing a custom ROM without access to the owner's Google sign-in details. The main work done by MXTP here is to prevent the bootloader on the device from unlocking.

However, according to some Xperia users (via Xperia Blog), enabling the MXTP on the device that already has an unlocked bootloader, leads to the bricking of the smartphone. This is said to happen due to MXTP's efforts to prevent the bootloader-unlocking on an Xperia handset that already has an unlocked bootloader.

Sony is aware of the issue and instead of a solution, has recently changed some wording on its Unlocked Bootloader website under the 'Risks' section. The firm says that, "After unlocking your device, you should not enable My Xperia (found in the settings menu under security on some devices running Android 5.0) as this might cause the device to malfunction." The site adds, "In addition, if you have enabled My Xperia, this function must be turned off before you can unlock your device."

Notably, Sony for now does not allow consumers to unlock the bootloader on new devices including Sony Xperia Z3+, Xperia C4, Xperia Z4 Tablet and Xperia M4 Aqua. The delay is said to be the same MXTP issue, which the firm might be working on behind-the-scenes. For now, there are no custom ROMs available for the devices.

Posted by Unknown Friday, July 10, 2015

Update Mobile Security : Sammy Shoots Out Updates To Plug Mobile Keyboard Snooping Bug

Samsung has promised to deploy updates to resolve a serious mobile keyboard snooping bug, with security policy fixes expected in the coming days, the company said on Thursday – while simultaneously downplaying the issue.

As previously reported, researchers at security firm NowSecure warned that a problem involving the keyboard pre-installed with Samsung devices created a spying risk.

The risk arises from a design decision which meant updates were made over an unsecured, unencrypted HTTP connection, rather than HTTPS.

Worse yet, the update process has system-level access and the authenticity of updates isn’t checked, creating a mechanism for skilled hackers to push malware.

More than 600 million Samsung mobile devices – including the recently released Galaxy S6 – are potentially vulnerable to a greater or lesser extent.

“The Swift keyboard comes pre-installed on Samsung devices and cannot be disabled or uninstalled. Even when it is not used as the default keyboard, it can still be exploited,” an advisory by NowSecure explained.

“This can be exploited in a manner that requires no user interaction — a user does not have to explicitly choose to download a language pack update to be exploited," it added.

Remote code execution creates an open goal for attackers to snoop on Samsung devices, as third-party security experts have been quick to point out.

Paul Ducklin, a senior security advisor at Sophos, has a decent run-down of the issue here.

Sammy admitted there was a problem, while arguing that various factors make an attack difficult to pull off in practice. It said it was unaware of any exploitation, which – in any case – is guarded against by its KNOX security architecture on the latest model.

Nonetheless, the Korean consumer electronics giant will release an update, as a blog post explained.

    This vulnerability, as noted by the researchers, requires a very specific set of conditions for a hacker to be able to exploit a device this way.

    This includes the user and the hacker physically being on the same unprotected network while downloading a language update. Also, on a KNOX-protected device there are additional capabilities in place such as real-time kernel protection to prevent a malicious attack from being effective.

    So, the likelihood of making a successful attack, exploiting this vuln is low.

    There have been no reported customer cases of Galaxy devices being compromised through these keyboard updates. But as the reports indicated, the risk does exist and Samsung will roll out a security policy update in the coming days.

The issue involves Samsung's version of the app, a rebadged version of the popular SwiftKey keyboard for Android.

Downloads of SwiftKey Keyboard from Google Play or the Apple App Store are not affected by this issue, as developer SwiftKey emphasised. ®

Posted by Unknown Sunday, June 21, 2015