Security

Privacy brouhaha reveals Google's split personality

When it comes to privacy, is the Googleplex speaking with one voice?

A new Google privacy controversy has revealed conflicting messages and actions between two different factions within the company: those working to protect consumer privacy on the one hand, and those seeking to improve advertising and social networking on the other.

Meanwhile, the news that Google overrode default cookie settings in Apple's Safari browser has prompted two complaints to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and renewed calls for legislation and industry standards that would protect Web surfers from being tracked across sites if they don't

Originally posted at InSecurity Complex

Mozilla contemplates nuking McAfee

The SiteAdvisor add-on for Firefox evaluates search results to let you know how safe a site is to visit before you go there, but one Mozilla engineer says that it drags down Firefox and causes huge memory leaks.

It's just the kind of problem that Mozilla doesn't want to be dealing with as it finds itself knee-deep in an ambitious development plan and surrounded by ever-tougher competition.

Mozilla engineer Nicholas Nethercote wrote a blog post early today in which he recommended that Firefox more

Originally posted at The Download Blog

Microsoft denounces Google for bypassing Safari privacy settings

Microsoft is clearly looking for any ammunition it can find to criticize Google and win over Internet users.

Today, Microsoft seized on a Wall Street Journal report that Google sidestepped privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser to track Internet users. The Journal story said the search giant and other ad companies used special code to get around Safari's privacy controls in order to track users on computers and mobile devices.

"Apparently, Google has been able to track users of Apple's Safari browser while they surf the web on their Apple iPhones, iPads and Macs," Ryan Gavin, General more

Originally posted at Microsoft

Security experts: Apple did Mac OS X Gatekeeper right

Many people complain about Apple controlling what apps can run on the iPhone, but with Mac OS X Mountain Lion, the company has struck the right balance between security and freedom, experts say.

"Users can opt to turn this off and allow any software to be installed with the click of a button," said Dino Dai Zovi, chief technology officer at security firm Trail of Bits. "There'll be no need to jailbreak your Mac."

Apple unveiled details today about Mac OS X v.10.8, the latest version of its Macintosh operating system which is due out this summer. more

Originally posted at InSecurity Complex

What Gatekeeper in OS X 10.8 means for Mac security

In recent years Apple's OS X platform has seen an increase in malware, which, while minimal in comparison to increases for other platforms, has proven that no platform is invulnerable to attacks.

With the malware scene making some inroads into OS X, Apple has taken some steps to protect Mac users from it, primarily with the introduction of the XProtect feature in Snow Leopard, which detects the presence of known Mac malware signatures in newly downloaded files.

In the current release of OS X (version 10.7 Lion), Apple did not advance its malware security effort much, and Mac more

Originally posted at MacFixIt

Malware loves Android, but iOS users could be at risk too

Android has gotten a lot of negative buzz for its susceptibility to malware. But a new study from Juniper Networks suggests that iOS could also be at risk.

Scanning hundreds of thousands of applications across the mobile landscape for its 2011 Mobile Threats Report, Juniper uncovered more than 28,000 pieces of malware last year, a rise of 155 percent from 2010.

As expected, Android was the post popular target.

Malware aimed at Google's mobile OS surged to 13,000 samples at the end of last year from only 400 in June, an increase of 3,325 percent. The more

Originally posted at Apple

EU court: Social networks can't be forced to monitor users

The European Union's highest court says social networks cannot be forced to monitor users just to stop piracy.

The European Court of Justice ruled today that forcing social networks to install monitoring systems just to see if people are illegally downloading copyrighted material creates a "complicated" and "costly" burden on the sites for little or no upside. The court was also concerned about the privacy of user data.

The court made a similar ruling in November, protecting the rights of Internet dervice providers, who argued that they shouldn't be forced to filter Web content for the sole purpose more

Originally posted at The Digital Home

Apple iOS developers: We'll adjust to privacy change

iPhone apps that access address book data will need to be updated but not overhauled to comply with a new policy from Apple that mandates prior user permission, developers say.

In response to complaints that some iPhone apps were downloading the entire contents of users' address books without asking users first, Apple announced a change earlier today in its developer guidelines. Now, iOS apps will have to get explicit user permission before collecting contacts data from their phones.

The change was prompted after a blogger last week discovered that photo sharing service Path was collecting address book data unbeknownst to more

Originally posted at InSecurity Complex

What do Path's privacy violations mean for Android?

The revelations about Path's contact list uploading, and the resulting mea culpa's first from Path and now from Apple, might have Path's Android users a bit spooked. In fact, they should have you worried--but over something much more important.

Could this happen on Android is a fairly cut-and-dry question. The answer is no, as in, a snowball's chance. No, nein, nyet, non. Why it can't happen on Android still only hints at the bigger problem.

The future possibility of the Path situation happening on Android can't occur because it already has happened. When you more

Originally posted at The Download Blog