Tag Archives: Android

Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

This Android Malware Will Steal Your Facebook Credentials

Do you have an Android device?  Even if you don’t, you know someone who does.

Google is incredibly good at spotting poisoned copies of apps on its Play Store and getting rid of them before they can spread to the devices of users who rely on the safety and security offered by the Play Store.

As good as they are, they’re not perfect and sometimes malicious code masquerading as a legitimate app can slip through the company’s impressive filtering system.

Recently, the company discovered that an Android app that has more than 100k installs contains a trojan called “FaceStealer” which displays a Facebook login screen that requires users to log in before they can make use of the app.

Although the Facebook login prompt looks official, it is not and all a user accomplishes by entering their login credentials is to give those credentials to the hackers that control the code.  Given that millions of people around the world use their Facebook login details to connect to a host of other websites, this essentially gives the hackers the keys to your digital kingdom. From that point there’s really no end to the amount of damage they can do.

In addition to making the discovery itself, the researchers who originally brought the poisoned app to Google’s attention did a deep dive into the malicious code and discovered that the author has apparently automated the repackaging process. This means that it’s a trivial matter to turn almost any legitimate app into a carrier of this trojan.

Given that fact, it’s worth asking the question, “How many other poisoned apps might there be on the Play Store right now?”

It’s a fair question with no easy answer.  Your best bet is to practice extreme caution when downloading any app, only get them from the Google Play store and do as much due diligence as possible before committing to an installation.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Mobile Devices Connected To Windows Known As Phone Link

Microsoft recently announced that it was doing a bit of re-branding.

The company’s apps that connect Android and iPhones to your Windows PC were formally called “Your Phone.” Under the new re-naming scheme, those apps will now be called “Phone Link.”

Hand in hand with that change, Microsoft is also re-naming the mobile companion app, which you now know as “Your Phone Companion.”  That’s going away and it will be restyled as simply “Link to Windows.”

The “Your Phone” app was launched just three years ago which doesn’t seem like enough time to warrant a rebrand. However, the company hasn’t shed any light on the thinking that lies behind the decision.

In any case, when it was originally launched, Microsoft envisioned it as a means for users to access the texts, photos, and apps on their phones from the comfort of their PCs. With that original vision in mind, the newly re-styled apps will get an updated interface that looks a bit more like Windows 11.

Support for previous iterations was somewhat limited, but the original “Your Phone” app worked seamlessly with most Samsung devices and was compatible with Microsoft’s own Surface Duo dual-screen.

With the recent changes, Microsoft is also adding support for several Honor phones to Phone Link. All that’s fine as far as it goes but in some ways this feels a bit like a solution looking for a problem. That is, at least for Google Pixel users.

Pixel users are likely already accessing their text messages from their PCs (which is probably the single biggest draw in terms of functionality) via Google Messages. Given the less than seamless experience with the former “Your Phone” app, there’s little incentive to change even with the improvements to the user experience. Although the company may have more luck drawing in non-Pixel users.

In any case, if you’re not a Pixel user and you’re looking for a way to access the messages and apps from your phone on your desktop, you may want to check out Microsoft’s latest on that front.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

New Archive Feature Helps Mobile Users Save Space

The problem with smartphones is that they eventually run out of room.  Honestly it’s a wonder the issue isn’t even bigger than it is.  After all, miniaturization isn’t cheap but smartphone manufacturers have been able to cram incredible amounts of storage into tiny spaces.

The day is coming when you’re going to run out of room on your trusty Android phone and Google knows it.

That’s why they’ve been working hard to come up with a solution. A few years ago, Google made a change to their Android OS and the OS began making helpful suggestions regarding apps you almost never use.  If you get rid of those you save some space, and that helped.

Unfortunately, some apps are important even if you don’t use them a lot and it forces users into a bit of a tricky spot. Uninstalling apps is a good start but it’s far from a perfect solution.

The good news is that Google has another idea that will be making its way to the Android OS in the months ahead.  They’re testing out a new feature called ‘Archiving’ where apps are only partially uninstalled rather than completely uninstalled.

Archiving keeps the user’s data intact and gets rid of everything but that.  Then if the user decides they need to run that app again they can restore the app and continue on with minimal fuss.

That combined with linking your phone to your cloud account and offloading your pictures and videos at regular intervals will go a long way toward freeing up space on your phone.

We’re not saying you’ll never have space issues again. However, if you do all three (uninstall apps you’re not using, archive apps you use infrequently, and regularly offload your photos and videos), you’ll get a lot more mileage out of your phone.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Hackers Get Source Code During Data Breach At Samsung

Samsung’s corporate network was breached recently.  That’s bad news all by itself. The company has recently confirmed that in addition to the confidential customer information that was stolen, the hackers also made off with the source code for the software used in the company’s Galaxy smartphones.

The hackers responsible for the attack call themselves “Lapsus$.”  Not long after their attack, they disclosed that they had made off with almost 190GB of archives.

Disturbingly, this group has been exceedingly busy so far in 2022 and extremely successful.  Just a week prior to the announcement regarding Samsung’s data, the same group released a 20GB sample of documents stolen from Nvidia.  The group claims that this sample is part of a collection of stolen documents more than 1TB in size.

Aside from the aforementioned source code at this point, we do not know exactly what sorts of data the group of hackers may have compromised when they successfully breached Samsung’s network.

For that matter, we do not yet know the full extent of the contents of the 1TB cache documents stolen from Nvidia because as members of Lapsus$ explained, they are currently in negotiations for the sale of that data.

This is the world we live in.  This is the shape of 2022 and years to come.  What the long-term implications might be are anyone’s guess but fortunately, the advice for guarding against such attacks remains largely the same.

Be sure the software you use is updated with the latest security patches and constantly educate and reeducate your employees about the dangers of phishing campaigns to minimize your risk.

Failing that, take regular backups and have a rapid response team standing by that can spring into action if your defenses fail.  That’s by no means a perfect solution, but it will make you a significantly harder target and there’s value in that.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Hackers Are Increasingly Targeting Mobile Devices

Here’s a statistic you’re not going to like.  Based on research conducted by cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint, there has been a staggering 500 percent increase in malware attacks against mobile devices during the opening months of 2022. The most significant peak so far this year occurred at the end of February.

Most of the malware that targets mobile devices tends to be relatively benign.  It’s unlikely to encrypt all the files on your phone and demand a ransom. Although there are admittedly some malware strains that do that,  if your phone is infected with malware, it will likely be of the variety that quietly roots through your phone and steals usernames and passwords.

In some cases, you may get infected with a malware strain designed to take screenshots or track your location over time. Again, these are exceptions and not the rule. Even so, malware that steals your account information can be devastating in the longer term. Hackers can use that information to steal your identity, drain your accounts, max out your credit cards, and more.

There are three primary paths hackers use to get malware onto a target Android or iOS device.

The first and the most common is to poison an app and get it placed on either the Apple Store or the Google Play Store.  From there, users will download and install it while completely unaware that they have also installed malware.

SMS texts are another popular avenue of attack, which is why security professionals warn users against tapping links in text messages.  These may be harmless from a dear friend of yours or may have been put there by a hacker pretending to be your friend. When you tap the link, you’re taken to a poisoned website which installs malware in the background.

Finally, there’s email.  By now everyone has heard the dire warnings against clicking on links embedded in email messages or opening file attachments.  This applies whether you’re reading your mail on your phone or your PC.

The bottom line is that you are increasingly a target whether you’re on your PC or your phone.  Be careful.

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