Tag: Google

Samsung Expanding Mobile Management To Court Enterprise

Editor’s Note: this story was updated to note that Centrify is now known as Delinea. PFR Sept. 18, 2022 Apple stole the show this week, unveiling its new, larger iPhones and a smart watch that everyone is just calling iWatch, whether that’s the product’s name or not. But the rush of new products from Cupertino doesn’t change the fact that, behind the scenes, the battle for the hearts and minds of business users (aka “enterprises”) rages on between Apple, Google, Microsoft and Blackberry. iPhone 6 or no, the outcome of that battle is anything but clear. Case in point: Samsung will roll out new features this week for its KNOX-powered Android phones and tablets that are designed to appeal to security and privacy conscious business users. The new KNOX solution offerings, which will become public on Thursday, promise enterprises and government organizations the tools to simplify the implementation of BYOD (or Bring Your Own Device) programs. In […]

ICREACH: How the NSA Built Its Own Secret Google -The Intercept

The online publication The Intercept has a fascinating story on the National Security Agency’s “Google-like” search engine, which was created to chew through almost a trillion records containing “metadata:” the cell phone calls, email messages, geo-location data and other online communications the agency has harvested. The story exposes a tool called ICREACH. Author Ryan Gallagher cites classified documents obtained by The Intercept that provide what he calls hard evidence that the NSA has, through ICREACH “made massive amounts of surveillance data directly accessible to domestic law enforcement agencies” including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Read more via The Intercept with: ICREACH: How the NSA Built Its Own Secret Google -The Intercept.

Popular Web Sites Still Getting Gamed in SEO Attacks

In this post, Security Ledger contributor Or Katz of Akamai provides details of how malicious actors are abusing redirect vulnerabilities in popular web sites to boost the reputation of malicious sites they control. One recent attack involved the compromise of some 4,000 vulnerable web applications for the purpose of pumping up the search engine ranking of more than 10,000 malicious web sites, Katz reveals. 

Vulnerable Mobile Software Management Tool Reaches Into IoT

You could be forgiven for never having heard of Red Bend Software. The company is small – just 250 employees- and privately held. Red Bend’s headquarters is a suite of offices in a nondescript office park in Waltham, Massachusetts, just off Route 128 – America’s “Silicon Highway.” But the company’s small profile belies a big footprint in the world of mobile devices. Since 2005, more than 2 billion devices running the company’s mobile management software have been sold worldwide. Today, the Red Bend is believed to control between 70 and 90 percent of the market for mobile software management (MSM) technology, which carriers use to service mobile devices. The software enables mobile carriers to do critical tasks, including firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) software updates, mobile device configuration and other on-device changes.  Red Bend counts many of the world’s leading companies in the mobile, enterprise and manufacturing sectors as clients, including Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sharp, LG, Sony, Huawei, China Mobile and Lenovo. For the most part, Red […]

Old Apache Code at Root of Android FakeID Mess

A four year-old vulnerability in an open source component that is a critical part of Google’s Android mobile operating system could leave mobile devices that use it susceptible to attack, according to researchers at the firm Bluebox Security. The vulnerability was disclosed on Tuesday. It affects devices running Android versions 2.1 to 4.4 (“KitKat”), according to a statement released by Bluebox. According to Bluebox, the vulnerability was introduced to Android by way of the open source Apache Harmony module. It affects Android’s verification of digital signatures that are used to vouch for the identity of mobile applications, according to Jeff Forristal, Bluebox’s CTO. He will be presenting details about the FakeID vulnerability at the Black Hat Briefings security conference in Las Vegas next week.