Linked by David Adams on Thu 24th Jun 2010 16:22 UTC, submitted by Governa
About 20 percent of third-party apps available through the Android marketplace allow third-party access to sensitive data, and can do things like make calls and send texts without the owners' knowledge, according to a recent security report from security firm SMobile Systems. There's no indication that any of the highlighted apps is malicious, but the report does underscore the inherent risks of a more open ecosystem as opposed to Apple's oppressive yet more controlled environment, with every app being vetted before availability.
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RE[5]: Comment by anevilyak
by jtfolden on Thu 24th Jun 2010 20:44
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by anevilyak"
Member since:2005-08-12
Well, there's actually a 3rd option where you could be prompted the first time such usage is actually requested with the option to keep being alerted each time or to "always allow" for that app. This still might not entirely cure the issue but it is then at least up to the user whether to completely trust an app or not and/or when to decide to trust it. The plus side to this, also, is that a malicious coder has no way of knowing when the client would "trust" the app - unlike now, knowing that if it makes it past the install it is home free.
I believe a similar scheme is already used on certain smartphone OS's for things such as Location Services.
Edited 2010-06-24 20:47 UTC
RE[5]: Comment by anevilyak
by mrhasbean on Thu 24th Jun 2010 22:32
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by anevilyak"
Member since:2006-04-03
That's certainly the case. What it does help you catch though is cases where an app is asking for rights it very obviously shouldn't need. For instance, suppose you go to install a game, and it asks for the right to make calls. Why would it possibly need that?
And the average user is supposed to understand exactly what's being asked and make the correct judgement call at install time? The same users who see a popup on their home PC telling them that they have a virus and need to install this you-beaut software to fix it, to later find they actually installed a trojan?
OK, I can see how that will work...
RE[6]: Comment by anevilyak
by lemur2 on Fri 25th Jun 2010 03:58
in reply to "RE[5]: Comment by anevilyak"
Member since:2007-02-17
And the average user is supposed to understand exactly what's being asked and make the correct judgement call at install time? The same users who see a popup on their home PC telling them that they have a virus and need to install this you-beaut software to fix it, to later find they actually installed a trojan? OK, I can see how that will work...
I'm not entirely convinced that it is a good idea, but this is Google's answer to that sceanrio:
Google Remotely Deletes Android Apps
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365651,00.asp
Google this week removed two applications from its Android Market, and exercised a feature that lets the company remotely delete the apps from a user's phones.
...
The apps were found to be "intentionally misrepresenting their purpose in order to encourage user downloads," Rich Cannings, Android security lead, wrote in a blog post. "But they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data."
As a result, they were removed from the Android Market, but also remotely pulled them from the phones on which they were installed.
...
"In cases where users may have installed a malicious application that poses a threat, we've also developed technologies and processes to remotely remove an installed application from devices," Cannings wrote. "If an application is removed in this way, users will receive a notification on their phone."
...
The apps were found to be "intentionally misrepresenting their purpose in order to encourage user downloads," Rich Cannings, Android security lead, wrote in a blog post. "But they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data."
As a result, they were removed from the Android Market, but also remotely pulled them from the phones on which they were installed.
...
"In cases where users may have installed a malicious application that poses a threat, we've also developed technologies and processes to remotely remove an installed application from devices," Cannings wrote. "If an application is removed in this way, users will receive a notification on their phone."
Hmmmmm. I can see some good aspects about that, and some not-so-good.
Edited 2010-06-25 04:03 UTC
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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Member since:
2005-09-14
That's certainly the case. What it does help you catch though is cases where an app is asking for rights it very obviously shouldn't need. For instance, suppose you go to install a game, and it asks for the right to make calls. Why would it possibly need that? That's the case it's designed to catch. An app later making malicious use of the capabilities you've allowed it to have is another animal entirely, and I don't see an easy way around that short of prompting every single time the app tries to do anything whatsoever, which would be a cure worse than the disease.