Bit9’s new research on “The Most Vulnerable Smartphones of 2011” lists the devices that pose the most serious security and privacy risk to consumers and corporations. In the Bit9 research report, Android phones overwhelmingly topped the list, accounting for the “dirty dozen” most vulnerable devices.
Tag Archives: Android
Location Tracking on Mobile Devices Introduce More Privacy Concerns
Last week it was brought to everyone’s attention that a hidden Apple IOS version 4 feature is secretly tracking and saving geolocation data on iphone and iPads. This data is also stored on any computer you are using iTunes to sync the device(s).
A video of Warden and Allan discussing their discovery is below, courtesy of O’Reilly and Where 2.0. The two have also published a FAQ that provides more details on the discovery and its implications.
Later that week there was the talks of this same type of information being collected and stored on droid mobile devices. According to new research by security analyst Samy Kamkar, an HTC Android phone collected its location every few seconds and transmitted the data to Google at least several times an hour. It also transmitted the name, location and signal strength of any nearby Wi-Fi networks, as well as a unique phone identifier.
According to research firm Gartner, Google and Apple are gathering location information as part of their race to build massive databases capable of pinpointing people’s locations via their cellphones. These databases could help them tap the market for location-based services.
And now today it has been reported that the Windows phone is also collecting and sending location data to Microsoft. Microsoft has said that when location services for Windows phones are switched on, the devices transmit a unique ID along with nearby wireless networks, their signal strength, and GPS-extracted location to the company’s servers. They are also claiming that Windows phones don’t store any of the locations on the device itself.
Android Vulnerability Poses Drive-By Data Slurp Risk
A security officer has stumbled across a serious vulnerability in the built-in browser of Android smartphones that might allow hackers to lift data from SD cards in the Google handsets. The hole would allow malicious websites to snatch the contents of any file stored on the SD card of an Android smartphone, provided the name and directory path of a targeted file is known beforehand.
Check out the rest of the article – The Register
Android Application Steals Data
A seemingly innocuous Android app that let users change their phone’s wallpaper has actually been stealing private user information and may have been downloaded millions of times. Mobile security firm Lookout unearthed the truth behind the deceitful app and presented its findings at the Black Hat security technology conference in Las Vegas, as reported by Venture Beat.
Check out the article – [TG Daily]
Spying Application For The Android Is Released
A well known commercial provider of spyware applications for numerous mobile platforms, has recently ported its Mobile Spy app to the Android mobile OS. Just like previous releases of the application, the Android version keeps a detailed log of GPS locations, calls, visited URLs, and incoming/outgoing SMS messages, available at the disposal of the attacker who installed it manually by obtaining physical access to the targeted device.