Category: Security

Google has published their 2nd annual security report for Android as the company continues to fight malware and other end user harming apps in the ecosystem.  The report highlights some of the activities that Google has gone through in the last year to protect customers, including some 6 billion scans on installed apps per day.  When it comes to security, there is always room for improvement but clearly Google is taking the safety of users serious on their mobile platform.

If you have a Nexus 5 or a Nexus 6 and have rooted it, depending on the app you used, your phone could be vulnerable to an elevated privledges in the Linux kernel of Android and the Google team have released a patch to address the issue.  To be very clear folks, this only impacts you if you have a rooted device and used a particular rooting tool to make it happen.  In the security bulletin on the subject, Google does not release the exact name of the tool that creates the problem but has been able to repeat the issue on these two devices – thus the update.

In an effort to continue to have users keep their accounts safe and secure, Google is offering anyone who goes through a security checkup 2GB of free Google Drive storage.  The offer is in conjunction with the Safer Internet Initiative which officially is tomorrow.  However, you can take the check up now and get the free Drive storage today.  It is a painless process really and should only take a few minutes to complete.  Once it is done, Google will add the extra storage to your account which will be to your Drive account immediately.

After about a month of testing in the beta channel, Google has released a significant update to the Chrome browser for Windows, Mac and Linux.  The update brings the browser to version 48 (48.0.2564.82 for those keeping score at home) and comes with a long list of security fixes and improvements.  In total, there are 37 fixes in this update to the browser and users of Chrome are encouraged to get the update quickly.  You can always let your Chrome browser find the update on its own or you can force the issue by going to menu>Settings>About and it will force your install to go look for an update.

A blog update on the Chrome blog is expect soon to highlight all of the changes.

As a heavy user of Google services, there are a lot of settings and controls that are available to me to keep certain things private from the general public.  I for example have no problem with everyone knowing I live in the Denver, Colorado area but I don’t really want everyone to know my physical address.  I love you guys and all but….

Before now, you could go to the Google Accounts page and wade through all of the different security and privacy settings for your account and how things appear on Google+, YouTube and other Google sites.  Now the company has made it much easier to go and find those settings and adjust them.  This week they launched the Google About Me site, a single site that allows you to edit your personal information as well as privacy settings for virtually every setting on your Google account.  Google About Me is aimed to help you see all of your settings and information and give you the ability to quickly edit them instead of having to jump through hoops on the account page.

The all new Blackberry Priv has landed and Blackberry seems to be seriously focused on seeing their flagship Android device to success.  Part of that effort is keeping it up-to-date and in a blog post today the company is aiming to do just that and to do it frequently.  Blackberry has announced that the Blackberry Priv will be receiving monthly security updates, much like the Google Nexus devices do today.  This commitment is similar to that of HTC who has promised their new One A9 will receive security updates 15 days after Google releases them each month.

One of the biggest perceptions – correct or otherwise – of Android is that it is less secure than other platforms.  Google, after the Stage Fright security challenge, has doubled-down on getting updates out to their devices but that hasn’t been the case with other manufactures.  Blackberry for their part, want to be on top of it and that is nothing but a good thing for users who are getting or considering getting the Priv.