It hasn’t been long since Google started rolling out Android 8.1 for the Pixel and Nexus devices. It seems that there are still a couple of bugs that should have been addressed before the firmware was sent out the door. Some Pixel 2 XL owners have taken to Google’s official support forum to complain about a slowdown in the performance of the handset’s fingerprint sensor after updating it to Android 8.1.
This year’s launch of the iPhone X also included the introduction of Apple’s Face ID. Apple thinks that its facial recognition camera and hardware on the front of the iPhone X are among its biggest technological achievements. However, other Android phones have had facial and iris recognition hardware and software of their own. Samsung, as usual, is the leader in this effort, adding those kinds of features to the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, along with the more recent Note 8 and the older, and explosion-prone, Note 7.
In October, security researchers discovered a major vulnerability in a Wi-Fi's WPA2 security called "KRACK." This "Key Reinstallation Attack" can disrupt the initial encryption handshake that happens when an access point and a device first connect, allowing an attacker to read information assumed to be securely encrypted. It's possible to totally defeat WPA2 encryption using KRACK, allowing a third party to sniff all the Wi-Fi packets you're sending out.
The most secure smartphones are Android smartphones. Don't buy that? Apple's latest version of iOS 11 was cracked a day -- a day! -- after it was released.
So Android is perfect? Heck no!
Android is under constant attack and older versions are far more vulnerable than new ones. Way too many smartphone vendors still don't issue Google's monthly Android security patches in a timely fashion, or at all. And, zero-day attacks still pop up.
So, what can you do to protect yourself? A lot actually.
Android 8.0 Oreo is the 26th version of the world's most popular operating system. This year, Google's mobile-and-everything-else OS hit two billion monthly active users—and that's just counting phones and tablets. What can all those users expect from the new version? In an interview with Ars earlier this year, Android's VP of engineering Dave Burke said that the 8.0 release would be about "foundation and fundamentals." His team was guided by a single question: "What are we doing to Android to make sure Android is in a great place in the next 5 to 10 years?"
Since the launch of Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL phones, we have seen a number of issues popping up. One of the most reported problems has probably been the audio distortion issue at higher volumes. While there were several arguments whether this was a hardware issue, yesterday’s Android 7.1.1 Nougat February security patch has apparently resolved the issue.
Four newly-discovered vulnerabilities found in Android phones and tablets that ship with a Qualcomm chip could allow an attacker to take complete control of an affected device.
The set of vulnerabilities, dubbed "Quadrooter," affects over 900 million phone and tablets, according to Check Point researchers who discovered the flaws.
LG announced it’s launching the V20 in September, making it the first smartphone to come out of the box with Android 7.0 Nougat.
It looks like the Stagefright flaw is a modern day horror movie franchise for Android device users, as it has returned yet again, retaining its status of being a real and consistent danger on affected devices. This is despite promises from Google to have fixed the Stagefright flaw prior.
THE INSECURITY foghorn at security firm ESET has alerted people who bank online that they might be tricked by hackers using Flash shenanigans to trojan their way into finances.
Banking, malware and Flash are three security buzzwords, and a coming together of them is like a plague of locusts. Fortunately the attacks are rather limited in their geographies, according to ESET, and mostly bother customers of large banks in Australia, New Zealand and Turkey.
