PUNJAB EXPRESS NEWSPAPER 36 APRIL 2019
MALICIOUS
surveillance
software
previously
spotted tar-geting
Android phone users in
Italy now has an iPhone
counterpart, security
experts warn. It looks like a
helpful support application
from a mobile telecom
provider but, once
installed, it raids your
private information.
The spyware app covertly steals
your contacts, audio recordings,
photos and videos, along with
other sensitive device informa-tion
like real-time location track-ing
data. The app can also be
remotely activated to directly lis-ten
in to your conversations using
your smartphone or tablet’s
microphone, researchers say.
Expert from mobile security firm
Lookout were the first to raise the
alarm about the software.
The new iPhone app shares a
similar structure to that of Exo-dus
— a malicious Android app
flagged by security experts in
March, which has been unwit-tingly
installed by hundreds of
users. It uploads pilfered private
Experts are unsure how many iPhone users may have already become victim to this alicious
surveillance software.
AUDIO PICKER ON WHATSAPP REDMI NOTE 7 PRO DEEP PRESS ON ANDROID Q
According to a report by
WABetaInfo, the social
messaging app is
changing the user
interface for its audio
picker feature. Earlier,
users could pick just one
audio at a time. But now,
the company is planning
to change that by
allowing users to pick multiple audio files at
a time. In addition to this, the company is
also adding the functionality to preview the
audio before users sent an audio file or
multiple audio files to their friends and
family. The feature is available as a part of
WhatsApp Beta for Android version 2.19.89
and it is now available for all Android beta
users to use. New
On Monday, Xiaomi India
officially announced the
coming of 6GB RAM/128GB
storage model of the Redmi
Note 7 Pro. The company
said that this model of the
phone will be available
soon in India. Xiaomi India
teased the 6GB RAM model
of the Redmi Note 7 Pro
and announced that the
version will go on sale in India very soon. The
company is yet to announce the availability
date but did confirm that the phone will be
soon available on Mi.com, Mi Home and
Flipkart. This variant of the phone costs
`16,999. As for the specs, the only difference
between the two models of the Note 7 Pro is
in the RAM and storage department.
Launches
Google is planning to
introduce a feature
onto its upcoming
Android Q that looks
as if it’s inspired by
Apple’s 3D Touch.
Details emerged on
Android Developers’
forum mention a
feature “Deep Press” is in the works for
Android Q. “Classification constant: Deep
press. The current event stream
represents the user intentionally pressing
harder on the screen. This classification
type should be used to accelerate the
long press behaviour,” the description of
the feature on the website states.
TECH FIRMS
RAISE AI
ETHICS
CONCERNS
Android or even iOS is not
uncommon. Finding an actor like
this is relatively rare,” he added.
The experts are unsure how
many people might have already
fallen victim to the surveillance
programme and if it’s targeting
specific individuals or groups.
Researchers report that attack-ers
had set up phishing traps —
disguised as information pages
for telecom companies
Wind Tre SpA (from
Italy) and TMCell (of
Turkmenistan) —
designed to trick
users into download-ing
the app. For
android devices,
attackers managed to
get Exodus hosted on
Google Play Store.
With the iOS version,
the developers instead
abused a so-called Enterprise
Certificate issued to them by
Apple in order to bypass the App
Store’s security checks and per-mit
download directly onto the
victim’s mobile, said Bauer.
Enterprise certificates are given
to software developers suppos-edly
for internal use only.
Mobile phone users are encour-aged
to be cautious, avoiding
clicking on phishing links and
only using trustworthy apps
acquired directly from Google
Play or the App Store. This is not
the first time such a ruse with
Enterprise Certificates has been
used to circumvent App store
rules and — an investigation by
TechCrunch reporters in Febru-ary
revealed that the Enterprise
Programme had been misused by
a number of developers to dis-tribute
real-money gambling and
hardcore pornography apps on
Apple’s supposedly wholesome
mobile operating system. Apple
subsequently revoked those
developers’ Enterprise Certifi-cates,
rendering the rule-break-ing
apps unable to run. As for
Exodus, both its Android and
iOS versions have now been
blocked.
PROTECTING YOUR
ONLINE INFO
data to the same server, experts
said. Researchers state that the
software may have been devel-oped
by the Italian video surveil-lance
software company eSurv,
and another company it acquired
called Connexxa.
The Android version of the spy-ware
makes use of an additional
exploit that allowed the pro-gramme
to gain root access to the
victim’s device — exposing
such private information
as user emails, cellular
data and Wi-Fi pass-words.
In contrast, the
new iOS port uses a
number of techniques
— like certificate pin-ning
—to mask its net-work
traffic, making it
difficult to study.
“This is one of the indi-cators
that a professional
group was responsible for the
software,” Lookout senior staff
security intelligence engineer
Adam Bauer told TechCrunch.
“Finding surveillance-ware on
‘ETHICAL AI’ has become a
corporate buzz phrase. The
moves are meant to address
concerns over racial and
gender bias emerging in
facial recognition and other
AI systems, and address anxi-eties
about job losses to the
technology and its use by law
enforcement and the mili-tary.
But how much sub-stance
lies behind the
increasingly-public ethics
campaigns? And who gets to
decide which technological
pursuits do no harm?
Google was hit with both
questions when it formed a
new board of outside advis-ers
in late March to help
guide how it uses AI in prod-ucts.
Instead of winning over
potential critics, it sparked
internal rancor. Last week,
Google disbanded the board.
“It’s become clear that in
the current environment,
(the council) can’t function
as we wanted,” the company
said. That environment is an
increasing concern that the
corporate AI ethics cam-paigns
lack teeth. Google’s
initiative fell into a tech
industry trend that AI
researcher Ben Wagner calls
‘ethics-washing’, which he
describes as a superficial
effort that’s a show for the
public.
Big companies have made
an visible effort to discuss
their AI efforts. It’s good that
companies are seeking per-spectives
on industry ethics,
said Oren Etzioni, CEO of the
Allen Institute for Artificial
Intelligence, a research
organisation. But ultimately,
he said, a company’s CEO is
tasked with deciding what
suggestions on AI ethics to
incorporate in business deci-sions.
The impact AI can have
on society has never been
more clear, Etzioni said, and
companies are reacting to
studies about the power of
recommendation algorithms
and gender bias in AI. But as
Google's attempt shows, dis-cussing
the issues in the pub-lic
eye also invites public
scrutiny.
Data thieves
now eye
iPhone users
Make the authentication
process two-pronged
whenever possible.
Choose this option on
websites that offer it
because when an identity-specific
action is required
on top of entering your
password and username, it
becomes significantly
harder for fraudsters to
access your information.
Secure your phone
Avoiding public Wifi and
installing a screen lock are
simple steps that can hin-der
hackers. Some fraud-sters
have begun to imme-diately
discount secure
phones altogether.
Installing anti-malware can
also be beneficial.
Subscribe to alerts
A number of institutions
that provide financial serv-ices,
credit card issuers
included, offer customers
the chance to be notified
when they detect suspi-cious
activity. Turn those
notifications on to stay
informed about credit card
activity linked to your
account.
Be careful when issuing
transactions online
Again, some institutions
offer notifications to help
with this, which will alert
you when your card is used
online. It might also be
helpful to institute limits
on amounts that can be
spent with your card online.