Protection Against Android Malware

BGR

Some tips could always be useful irrespective of the user being new to Android who would be eager to explore new available options on the screen. Some of them could also be annoying which tends to come with the daily functions and operations. These tips could be helpful to the user since every few months there seems to be some security vulnerability in Android which could affect many users of Android smartphones, for instance in recent years, Quadrooter together with Stagefright.

 These two security vulnerabilities were considered to be different. In regular life, how secure would Android be and what would be helpful against the dangers from the internet? Numerous security holes had been exploited by Quadrooter, in Qualcomm drivers in the summer of 2016 wherein nine hundred million Android devices had been affected.

This had been presented by those who had identified the gaps. But in order to take the benefit of the Quadrooter exposure, the invader needs to be capable of installing and running an appropriate designed app on a smartphone. The Stagefright susceptibility seemed to be different which was unseen in the functions in processing of streams or media files and the issue was that when even a video would be sent as an MMS there was a tendency of it being misused.

The invader had the capability of sending a file to the user where the dangerous code could be accomplished. Beginning with Android 4.0, it seemed difficult to exploit the susceptibility owing to the system intervention, though it is not difficult. The dissimilarity between the two security breaches is evident. While Quadrooter tends to need few steps from the user, Stagefright can be exploited remotely without the need of interaction of the user. Android tends to have various means of safeguarding the security of the users. The most significant methods are:

1. Prevention of installation of unfamiliar apps 

There is said to be a setting in the Android system which enables or disables installations of apps of unfamiliar source wherein the option gets deactivated on the device in its delivery state where one can install apps only from the Play Store. Some of the companies tend to have their own app store preinstalled like in the case of Samsung, with its Galaxy Apps. The capability of limiting the option is not relevant for these and this option tends to protect the user against malware spreads through an unfamiliar app store or simple internet pages. News regarding malware in the Play Store seems to be quite rare since these disreputable apps are eradicated rapidly from the Play Store. However, unknown sources need to be activated in using app store of Amazon or perhaps for another like F-Droid.

2. Virus Scanner of Google 

The second line of defense of Google does not seem to have compatibility issue but provides security against malicious apps – virus scanning. Beginning with Android 4.2, this has been made available and is now a part of the services of Google Play. It has also been activated by default and should be left that way. The setting is said to enable apps to be scanned for likely malware before the installation. However if malware tends to be discovered, Android rejects the installation.

Quadrooter Malware 

Google had confirmed with Android Central some few days after discovering that Quadrooter malware cannot be installed while the corresponding setting had been set. Adrian Ludwig, security chief of Android had declared that it was identical to Gooligan, the malware which had hacked Google accounts in December 2016. As of April 2016, Android Security Report, in 2015 states that with this procedure, the threat landscape for users of Android could be considerably less and with this feature the malware apps does not have any chance against Google. Essentially the verification of the app tends to function by calculating the fingerprint – hash value of an APK which is compared against the database of Google comprising of likely threats. Google tends to scan apps on the Play Store, as well as APKs which are accessible through the web.

Alerts against Ensuing Manipulation

This system seems to be quite effective since around 90% of the apps connected outside the Play Store seemed to be well-known to Google which had been scanned for probable security concerns. Besides this, Google is also capable of extracting specific features from the apps subjecting them to identical process which enables Google to identify dangerous feature. Thus it warns the user if essential and also prevents the installation of such a kind of app. Google, in the meantime tends to scan the installed apps during the process and can also alert against ensuing manipulation of the app, which is already installed. In the case of extreme condition, there is also the likelihood of removing apps from the smartphone if these have been permitted by a device administrator.

Google Fights Online Trolls With New Tool Perspective

In the past couple of years the internet has turned into an ugly place which is filled with name calling, harassment and in some extreme cases with threats of violence. The extent of the online violence or trolling or abusive barrage is so much that half of the internet users in United States have stated that they had experience such intimidation.

Almost a third of those users has confirmed that they restraint themselves from posting anything online simply out of fear. This data has been generated by a non-profit Data & Society Research Institute and a gruesome has fact has emerged from this study which points that the young women and women of colour are targeted specifically by the trolls.

Google is coming up with a noble solution for this by releasing an artificial intelligence tool named Perspective. Perspective is designed to scan the online content and define its ‘toxicity’ purely based on user’s ratings.

How Perspective works?

Perspective works in a simple and dignified fashion wherein a user can feed an online comment board eight into the Perspective to understand it toxicity level based on the user’s responses. This score will help the users in deciding whether they should participate in the conversation or to stay away from it. This tool will be a boon for the publishing houses as they will be able to monitor their site’s comments boards in a more effective manner.

Quick scan of ugly words on Perspective

Perspective support rating for specific words and phrases as well wherein a quick scan is conducted and results are shown to the user. Perspective has thrown an insightful report based on a quick scan of the ugly words. This report has shown that the words with n-letter has toxicity of 82 percent, k--- which is a derogatory word for the Jewish person had toxicity of 39 percent while c--- which is a slur for Chinese origin person had toxicity of 32 percent. When phrases like ‘you are a’ is thrown at Perspective then the toxicity score goes up wildly.

The future applications of Perspective

The use of Perspective is free and open for everyone and it is up to the publishers whether they wish to showcase the results to public or not. Currently the online publishers rely on the crowdsourcing methods in which readers are required to flag the offensive language in the comments to the human moderators. Perspective can even be utilised by the website owners in cleaning up the language on their sites.

Some have suggested that Perspective can lead towards censoring the free speech in the long run. In a response Google has stated that this tool has been designed to flag the ‘low hanging fruit’ which can be later on adjudged by the human moderators whether it should be removed or not.

Google attempt towards fighting the troll and abusive content in the online arena is very similar to the efforts of Twitter and some other non-profit organisations.

MWC 2017: Samsung Unveils Two New Tablets

Mobile World Congress at Barcelona is an esteemed event which is followed closely by the consumer electronics industry and fans worldwide. Samsung has always indulged in showcasing its Galaxy S Smartphone at this tech show since 2013 but this year it has given it a miss by simply bringing two tablets and a virtual reality headset. The particular VR headset unveiled by the Samsung comes with a remote control which is weird but exciting at the same time. It is hard for any major Smartphone maker to do away with the Smartphone complete at MWC therefore Samsung briefly teased one new Smartphone right at the end of its presentation. Samsung however left the presentation at a happy note by stating that the new Smartphone will be unveiled on 29 March in New York later this year.

Samsung will lose onto rivals

Samsung has already lost the crown of most selling Smartphone brand in the world to Apple this year in terms of shipment. After the Note 7 debacle last year Samsung has lost a considerable market share to rivals and not bringing any successor to the S7 at MWC will simply become a boon for the rivals especially Huawei. However signaling to the fans that a new device is expected to make its way to them soon is a good thing from Samsung point of view as it will make potential buyers to wait for some time.

News tablets doesn’t excite anymore

Samsung has launched two new tablets the Galaxy Tab S3 and Galaxy Book and both of these devices are targeted at the consumers who are more into gaming and video playback. The Galaxy Tab S3 comes with a 9.7 inch screen and boasts of the latest Android 7.0 Nougat. While Galaxy Book will come in two different sizes of 10.6 inch and 12 inch and it will be running in the Windows 10 OS. Galaxy Book is being targeted at the on the go professionals and it also comes with additional accessories in form of snap-on keyboard and S Pen stylus.

Tablet sales are going down on global scale for all the manufactures as the initial popularity for the larger devices has depleted. Consumers tend to favour the larger Smartphone instead of tablets but Samsung is looking forward to ignite popularity in larger device through bringing better specs coupled with features. Both of these tablets boasts of the organic light emitting diode (OLED) and displays and brings powerful specifics which will help in reigning over the competitors.

Samsung presentation marred with Greenpeace protest

Samsung days are going rough since its recall and effective demise of the Note 7. Sadly its presentation had an unexpected appearance of the Greenpeace activist staging a banner stating ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ which is direct wink at the Note 7 handsets. Quite a number of protestors started gathering around the building where this press conference was taking place and they displayed varied banners on the same lines.

Three Layers of Graphene Reveals a New Kind of Magnet

You can’t bring a pause to two of the main parts of this world and that is time and the invention. Time and again science and technology has made our lives more comfortable and cosier.Well, recently there was a great and astonishing discovery in the field of magnetism. The discovery will make our future more resourceful as the scientists have found magnetism in the three layers of graphene. Now, the electronic devices as well as in other applications, this theory can be used which will be a great help for the digital world that has moulded our lives into something better.

THE STRUCTURE

Graphene being an allotrope of carbon is two-dimensional structure which forms a vertex. The structure of graphene is a bit different of that of graphite but the density of the electrons can be easily changed with the help of a transistor. Then the wave nature of the graphene can be easily observed and further studies can be made. The speed of electrons in graphene is higher comparatively than other metals like copper. They can cover a distance of 10micrometre. Well, to the common masses, this distance is almost less than 10 times the diameter of a human hair. When you place the graphene in between boron nitride, you get to listen to the whispers what the scientists say. The layers of the boron nitride which has some defects cause some sort of hindrance in the flow of electrons.

THE RESULT

As the imperfections in the structure lead to whispers which means that the electrons are talking to one another in the structure. Well, the study reveals a great deal on how to use the magnetism that has been shown by these electrons when they were sandwiched at a temperature of -272 degree Celsius. The three levels of graphene holding such an important and massive property will not only be helpful in the field of electronics but will also have a huge impact in the nature and the natural resources for the years to come. This wonderful and astonishing discovery was done by the renowned professors at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

WHY GRAPHENE

Graphene holds some extra ordinary properties which have made it to make an edge over extra atoms or semiconductors as well as other allotropes of carbon. Well, given the credit for the properties of graphene, it is the lightest, strongest and also a good conductor of heat and electricity. It is thinnest as well which makes the scientists do the research in the most convenient manner.

THE FUTURE

Graphene promises to bring a revolution in the years to come with its outstanding features. From the field of computers to the area of car tires, it promises to change everything with its remarkable characteristics. Well, the magnetism property has just added to the feature basket. Now, we need to wait for the applications where this property may come handy. But one thing is pretty secured, that the chemical industries, automobile industry as well as the electronics industry are going to be benefitted a lot from this allotrope.

Google Will Let Gmail Users Receive 50 Megabyte Attachments

File sharing is a breeze for the users but sharing large files is still a headache for most of the users. A number of cloud sharing services has emerged in the recent past like the Microsoft One Drive, Google Drive and Dropbox which allows us to share large files with other across the globe with ease. But when someone tries to send a large file through email and most importantly through Gmail then get to a roadblock. However Google has finally decided to do something about this problem by increasing the cap on the email attachment size.

Rom this week onwards Google will users to send up to 50 MB files in the emails. Google had also released a statement wherein it stated that Google Drive will remain the penultimate mode of sharing large for its users but in order to fulfill the need of sending large files even on the mail they had decided to bump up the size allotted for email attachments. Now the entire Gmail user will get a chance to receive up to 50 MB directly to their email account with no frills attached.

Gmail Malware attack report

Quite recently Google has brought a malware report which essentially offers a breakdown of the Gmail users receiving spam content. This report has revealed that the users from the real estate sector happen to be the prime target of the emails filled with malicious content and links.

Google has failed to explain why most of the businesses from the real estate background have been the target of the spammers. But the Boston division of the FBI has also released a similar warning in the month of December where it stated that surge has been seen in the business email compromise emerging in the real estate sector. The frequent targets were the real estate agents for the fraudsters and the spammers.

Google report also revealed that the science related firms from the EU region and more specifically Germany has received 9.6 times higher number of phishing emails against US counterparts. The numbers shown in the report reveals that spammers have generally targeted the firms in the entertainment, IT and housing sectors.

Google decision of increasing the cap on the email attachment for Gmail will not just help the users but it will also make it easier to send large files with malicious content.

There is a hitch

Google doesn’t want its users to go on the spree of sending large files on the email therefore it has not done away with the existing 25 MB cap on its outgoing messages in the Gmail. Gmail or Google users can always make use of the Google Drive to share large files with others but the new size limit will come to all the G Suite editions in upcoming three days which will help Gmail users in receiving oversized files like the spreadsheets, videos or any kind of attachments from other email providers.