Mobile Apps – Page 2 – Computer Security Articles

Why Macs and iPhones should avoid installing 'orphan' apps

November 17, 2022 admin apple, Mobile, Mobile Apps, Security, small and medium business

There are many reasons any business with a connected fleet of tech products needs robust security policies in place. But the need to protect the enterprise against vulnerabilities inherited with third-party software must be among the biggest motivators. While I shouldn’t need to convince Computerworld readers to keep things locked down, I want to reprise two recent reports to reinforce the warning.

Half of all macOS malware comes from one app

Elastic Security Labs (via 9to5Mac) recently estimated that half of all macOS malware is installed as a result of poor management of the MacKeeper utility app. The report said almost 50% of Mac malware arrives through its installation.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Sadly, IT can no longer trust geolocation for much of anything

September 16, 2022 admin Android, iOS, Mobile, Mobile Apps, Security, small and medium business

Credit to Author: eschuman@thecontentfirm.com| Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2022 03:00:00 -0700

Geolocation was once a glorious way to know who your company is dealing with (and sometimes what they are doing). Then VPNs started to undermine that. And now, things have gotten so bad that the Apple App Store and Google Play both offer apps that unashamedly declare they can spoof locations — and neither mobile OS vendor does anything to stop it.

Why? It seems both Apple and Google created the holes these developers are using.

In a nutshell, Apple and Google — to test their apps across various geographies — needed to be able to trick the system into thinking that their developers are wherever they wanted to say that they are. What’s good for the mobile goose, as they say.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Banks face a WhatsApp reckoning as regulators clamp down on messaging apps

August 8, 2022 admin Data Privacy, Financial Services Industry, Mobile Apps

Credit to Author: Matthew Finnegan| Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2022 03:01:00 -0700

As regulators hand out hundreds of millions of dollars in fines for record-keeping failures related to the use of social messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, the finance industry faces a choice: properly enforce bans on the use of these apps or find ways to make them compliant.

“The explosion of new electronic communications channels — and the pervasive use of these — raises lots of red flags for the regulators,” said Anthony Diana, a partner at law firm Reed Smith’s Tech & Data Group. “The fear is that, if bad things are happening, they’re happening on these personal apps, not on the sanctioned communication channels that are surveilled.”

Anthony Diana, a partner at law firm Reed Smith’s Tech & Data Group.
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ComputerWorld Independent

Apple's latest controversy: Expanded App Store advertising

August 1, 2022 admin apple, Mobile, Mobile Apps, privacy, small and medium business

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Mon, 01 Aug 2022 09:03:00 -0700

Depending on how you look at it, Apple may be ramping up ways developers can reach out durectly to customers via its App Store – or building its own business at others’ expense.

What Apple is doing

Apple has had an advertising business of its own ever since Apple’s then CEO, Steve Jobs, introduced us to iAds in 2010. The scale of that offer was always limited to Apple’s platform, but the service arguably failed, with its technology living on in the form of ad slots in Apple News and the App Store.

Apple’s App Store currently hosts just two ad slots, one in the search tab and the other in Search results. You can tell when you are looking at an ad from the blue shade behind the graphic and a small blue badge that says “ad” – these ads are hard to mistake for content.

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ComputerWorld Independent

How to stay smart about Android app permissions

July 20, 2022 admin Android, Data Privacy, google, Mobile Apps, privacy, Security

Credit to Author: JR Raphael| Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2022 03:00:00 -0700

When it comes to Android and privacy, we’re accustomed to seeing things move in a certain direction.

It’s simple, really: With each new Android version, it usually gets easier to manage your privacy and understand how your information is being used. And we typically get more front-facing tools and under-the-hood improvements that allow us to handle that stuff intelligently. Obviously, right?

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MalwareBytes Security

Fraudulent cryptocurrency investment apps are duping investors

July 19, 2022 admin Applications, cryptocurrency, FBI, financials, Mobile Apps, scams, Social engineering

Credit to Author: Pieter Arntz| Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2022 13:29:47 +0000

The FBI has warned about fraudulent cryptocurrency investment apps that are defrauding victims.

The post Fraudulent cryptocurrency investment apps are duping investors appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

ComputerWorld Independent

FCC commissioner wants Apple, Google to remove TikTok from App Stores

June 29, 2022 admin apple, google, Mobile, Mobile Apps, Security, small and medium business

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2022 05:34:00 -0700

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has written to Apple and Google to request that both companies remove the incredibly popular TikTok app from their stores, citing a threat to national security.

Is your data going TikTok?

Carr warns the app collects huge quantities of data and cited a recent report that claimed the company has accessed sensitive data collected from Americans. He argues that TikTok’s, “pattern of conduct and misrepresentations regarding the unfettered access that persons in Beijing have to sensitive U.S. data…puts it out of compliance,” with App Store security and privacy policies.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Apple confirms the scale of App Store fraud

June 2, 2022 admin apple, Mobile, Mobile Apps, Security, small and medium business

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2022 08:30:00 -0700

Apple says millions of fraudulent attempts are made against the App Store and its users each year. The company prevented $1.5 billion in fraudulent transactions in 2021, it said, in line with similar levels of fraud in 2020.

How people attempt to commit App Store fraud

The company explains how fraudsters attempt to commit fraud via the store.

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