In a perfect online world, we'd all sing, "A surfing we will go, a surfing we will go, heigh-ho the derry-o, a surfing we will go," and off we'd go without fear of malware or malicious links or any of the other cruft that litters the web. Unfortunately, reality is far removed from most nursery rhymes, and the web is a...
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In an effort to offer Internet users some transparency and to deflect negative attention from recent revelations that big companies have been sharing user data with the government via the National Security Agency's (NSA) PRISM program, Google is seeking permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to...
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In the wake of the Washington Post leaks, there's been a great deal of discussion over how, exactly, companies like Google share data with the government. The original report implied that the NSA has direct datacenter access and either grabs the information directly from Google or was copying and analyzing...
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Google security researchers learn about exploits and zero-day vulnerabilities in third-party software all the time, and for years the company has immediately notified the affected vendors about the issues, worked with them closely to fix the problems, and both notified the public within 60 days of discovering the vulnerabilities and also encouraged...
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We don’t talk much about drones around here, but it’s certainly worth mentioning when Google chairman Eric Schmidt takes on the topic. In an interview with the Guardian (which was picked up by the BBC), Schmidt spoke about the need for regulation regarding civilian drone technology. "How would you feel if...
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It's clear that where security's concerned, Google is on top of things. The company has no desire to be compromised, or have its users compromised, and so it's doing a variety of things to make sure incidents are kept to a minimum. Last fall, we learned of Google's app scanner utility - included in Android 4.2+ -...
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Privacy advocates aren't going to like this revelation one bit, but it's come to light that Google Play isn't keeping your personally identifiable information as sacred as you might think. Every time you download an app, your private information is sent to the app's developer, including your full name, email address...
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Google’s Eric Schmidt has written a book in collaboration with fellow Googler Jared Cohen called The New Digital Age, and the Wall Street Journal has been reviewing it and pulled out some interesting bits to share. One of the prevailing themes of the work is that Schmidt sees China as an increasingly major...
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On Wednesday, GitHub expanded and improved its search feature to make it easier to locate code stashed on the site by live-indexing newly uploaded code. In theory, it sounds like a nice improvement on the site’s ability to deliver results to those looking for certain code or developers, but it appears that the...
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Most of us have dozens of passwords to remember, including for multiple email accounts, Google, Facebook, online banking and credit card accounts, services like Dropbox and Evernote, and on and on, and it’s simply a pain. It can be difficult to create a strong password that you’ll actually remember, and...
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Early last month, we learned about what Google had in store for its "App Verification Service" that comes bundled with Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). The concept was simple; the app would gather bits of information about any app you are about to install, send that information to Google's servers, and then send back the...
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It's beginning to feel like we're unable to go even a single week without learning of a public official caught in an affair, but last week's discovery of the affair of CIA Director David Petraeus came as a shock for a couple of reasons. David wasn't some mere politician, but a decorated war hero who most recently sat at the helm of one of...
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One of the most talked-about features of Google's upcoming Android OS, 4.2, has been its app-scanning capabilities. Similar to a solution like Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows, Android's new scanning feature will be able to quickly tell you if the side-loaded APK you're about to install is dangerous. We assume...
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Malware scanner VirusTotal announced today that it's been purchased by Google for an undisclosed sum. Apparently Google's been a long-time partner of the online scanning service, and now the two have tied the knot in antivirus matrimony. If you've never used VirusTotal before, go ahead and bookmark the website...
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Surfing the Web unprotected is like running out into traffic and hoping you don't get hit. Chances are you'll end up a hood ornament. Google is doing its part to keep you safe from all the malicious Web traffic out there, and it's been five years since it announced its malware and phishing protection via the company's...
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Can there be too much security? If looking at America's airports, the answer is probably "yes," but if when considering online activities, the answer is probably "no." Google security engineers understand that, as they've had their fair share of security backlashes the past few years. A few months ago, the search company rolled out 2-step...
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Hackers are taking advantage of another highly publicized event to push spam on end users. In this case, Google+. Invitations to the new service are no long available, but even though the new social networking service is in "field test mode" (meaning somewhat imcomplete), an invitation to the service is a hot item. Pharmaceutical spammers...
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All it takes is a little bad publicity. Google is rolling out a fix to remedy the authToken security flaw we wrote about earlier. While Google early rolled out a client-side fix for Android 2.3.4 and higher, that left 99 percent of Android users still vulnerable. Considering how hard it is to get a new version of Android out to devices, Google...
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You don't have to have any rhythm to do the Google Two-Step, which isn't a dance, but a much more secure log-in process. It was previously only available to Google Apps customers, but in a blog post on Thursday, the sultan of search announced it was extending the functionality to all users. So what exactly is this new-fangled two-step verification...
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If you're an Android app developer, and you have been troubled in the past by ill-willed people stealing your apps and then hosting them online for others to download, it's evident that Google is listening to your squealing. Apple's App Store has been seen as relatively secure when it comes to copy protection on apps;...
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Things just continue to get more and more interesting in the Google/Apple drama scenarios. Needless to say, both Google and Apple have been at each other's throats a little bit lately, but in the end, Google, Apple and Microsoft are all competing against one another, so it's not surprising to see a bit of bumping and...
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Oh boy, this won't go over well. Just as the weekend was getting set to kick into high gear, Google dropped one more bombshell for the news crowd to hop on. The company, which has seen lots of criticism lately over botched privacy efforts (most recently involving Google Buzz's auto-add friend feature), is about to be...
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