Safety Security & Privacy

Google showed off a few new features of the next version of Android. While the company didn’t say all that much about the new features and instead focused on the new design language, Google director of engineering Dave Burke did show off Android’s new personal login feature. Instead of having to use a pattern or Continue Reading →

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled unanimously that the authorities generally may not search the mobile phones of those they arrest unless they have a court warrant. “To further complicate the scope of privacy interests at stake, the data a user views on many modern cell phones may not in fact be stored on the Continue Reading →

While we wait for Google I/O (which starts on Wednesday) to find out what will become of the company’s TV platform, a team that we’ve seen bust open the padlocks on Google TV, Chromecast and Roku has a new target. GTVHacker just revealed an exploit for the (now Google-owned, and owner of Dropcam) Nest Learning Continue Reading →

If you’ve traveled and tried to get on the Internet, you’ve probably seen some pretty suspicious looking Wi-Fi networks with names like “Free Wi-Fi” and “Totally Free Internet.” Those are likely access points you’d best avoid. But there’s a much bigger threat to your security than somebody randomly fishing for you to connect to them—the Continue Reading →

Two months ago, security experts and web users panicked when a Google engineer discovered a major bug — known as Heartbleed — that put over a million web servers at risk. The bug doesn’t make the news much anymore, but that doesn’t mean the problem’s solved. Security researcher Robert David Graham has found that at Continue Reading →

Microsoft has launched the private preview of a new platform called Interflow on Monday, which it hopes will help security professionals significantly cut down the amount of time it takes to respond to potential threats. Announced in a blog post, the new platform – which grew out of its work with MAPP (Microsoft Active Protections Continue Reading →

A Georgia Tech student, together with two of his roommates, claims to have hacked Yo, the Poke-like app that has set some of Silicon Valley alight (though not others) in the last 48 hours. The student emailed TechCrunch detailing what he alleges is the results of the hack: “We can get any Yo user’s phone Continue Reading →

For several years, cellphone theft has been a growing epidemic worldwide. But the police in New York, San Francisco and London say they are finally starting to see a dip in thefts of one of the most popular smartphones. The reason? The attorney general of New York, Eric T. Schneiderman, and the district attorney of Continue Reading →

Microsoft is planning to update Windows Phone to include anti-theft features that will prevent thieves from using devices after they’re stolen. The software maker signed on the CTIA’s Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment in April, and plans to release a software update to the Find My Phone feature of Windows Phone 8.1 ahead of the CTIA’s Continue Reading →

AT&T has begun mailing out letters to customers affected by a data breach that allowed employees of a “service provider” to access customer account information, including customers’ dates of birth and Social Security numbers. The data was exposed in April through a system used to obtain unlocking codes for used AT&T phones for resale, according Continue Reading →