Google announces Play Store policy to prevent intrusive Android apps accessing user call log and SMS data on devices

According to Google, only an app that has been selected as the phone’s default app for making calls or sending text messages will be able to access call logs and SMS data via the SMS and Call Log permissions. The new policy entered into effect yesterday. Android app developers have 90 days to update their …

Hackers force Thousands of Google Chromecast Devices, Smart TVs to play PewDiePie Videos

Thousands of Google’s Chromecast streaming adapters, Google Home smart speakers and smart TVs with built-in Chromecast technology were targeted by hackers Wednesday, who forced the devices to play a video of controversial YouTube star PewDiePie. The hack attack, which began Wednesday morning, took advantage of badly configured routers to find streaming devices exposed to the …

Cloudflare explains how a Nigerian ISP Accidental glitch took Google offline

Last Monday evening — 12 November 2018 — Google and a number of other services experienced a 74 minute outage. It’s not the first time this has happened; and while there might be a temptation to assume that bad actors are at work, incidents like this only serve to demonstrate just how much frailty is …

Nigeria’s Main One Cable blamed for routing Google traffic through China

Nigeria’s Main One Cable Co has taken responsibility on Tuesday for a glitch that temporarily caused some Google global traffic to be misrouted through China, saying it accidentally caused the problem during a network upgrade. The issue surfaced on Monday afternoon as internet monitoring firms ThousandEyes and BGPmon said some traffic to Alphabet Inc’s Google …

Google Playstore Harmed again, Massive ad scam stole millions through Android apps

Google is clamping down on a fraudulent advertising network of over 125 Android apps and websites that have stolen hundreds of millions in ad dollars. A BuzzFeed report laid bare the huge scale of the scheme, which saw scammers from “We Purchase Apps” acquire established apps from developers, transferring them to a web of front …

Sundar Pichai says Google is still considering the Dragonfly, censored search engine in China

Google is still considering whether to launch a censored version of its search product in China, as confirmed by CEO Sundar Pichai during a recent event. “It’s very early. We don’t know whether we could or would do this in China, but we felt it was important for us to explore,” Pichai stated at the …

Google+ to be culled after a massive data breach that exposed 500,000 users’ data

Google has announced the shutdown of its social media network Google+ following a significant data breach that compromised the private data of hundreds of thousands of users. The tech giant revealed that a security vulnerability within one of Google+’s People APIs allowed third-party developers to access sensitive information for over 500,000 users. This exposed data …

Ex Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicts that the internet will split into two: Chinese-led and US-led versions

Eric Schmidt, who has been the CEO of Google and executive chairman of its parent company, Alphabet, predicts that within the next decade there will be two distinct internets: one led by the U.S. and the other by China. Schmidt shared his thoughts at a private event in San Francisco on Wednesday night convened by …

New Fake finance apps impersonating six banks found Google Play store

Another set of fake finance apps has found its way into the official Google Play store. This time, the apps have impersonated six banks from New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Poland, and the Austrian cryptocurrency exchange Bitpanda. Using bogus forms, the malicious fakes phish for credit card details and/or login credentials to …

Rights groups ask Google to cancel its plan to launch Dragonfly, a censored version in China

Leading human rights groups are calling on Google to cancel its plan to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, which they said would violate the freedom of expression and privacy rights of millions of internet users in the country. A coalition of 14 organizations — including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, …