security

Looking to compete with both paid and free security suites, Avast wants to create a unified approach to your computer security. Long gone are the days of the quirky interface. Avast is accessible and robust, with an impressive list of free features and strong, though hardly stellar, performance benchmarks.

Installation Avast has improved its installation process so it's faster than before. It's not the fastest on the market, not by a long shot, but a standard installation took us about three minutes -- around the same as last year.

Some items of note during the installation that will … Read more

Google today became the first Internet company to shed light on a highly secret -- and controversial -- warrantless electronic data-gathering technique used by the FBI.

The technique allows FBI officials to send a secret request to Web and telecommunications companies requesting "name, address, length of service," and other information about users as long as it's relevant to a national security investigation. No court approval is necessary, and disclosing the existence of the FBI's request is not permitted.

Because of that legal prohibition, Google was able to disclose only the numerical ranges of requests it receives … Read more

Looking to compete with both paid and free security suites, Avast wants to create a unified approach to your computer security. Long gone are the days of the quirky interface. Avast is accessible and robust, with an impressive list of free features and strong, though hardly stellar, performance benchmarks.

Installation Avast has improved its installation process so it's faster than before. It's not the fastest on the market, not by a long shot, but a standard installation took us about three minutes -- around the same as last year.

Some items of note during the installation that will … Read more

Fresh data from KGI Securities reiterates that the iPhone 5S and a lower end model should begin to rollout by July.

Following a research note in January, KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo says the iPhone 5S along with a low-cost iPhone 5 will be announced in June and be available by July, according to reports at Mac Rumors and Apple Insider.

Kuo, often cited as one of the more prescient and accurate Apple analysts, believes the 5S will pack a new A7 chip. Apple has gotten quite adept at designing some of the fastest phone and tablet processors on the planet, … Read more

HANOVER, Germany--You're traveling and your coworker needs your key to get into your office. Why not just e-mail it?

That's the idea behind Fraunhofer Institute's Key2Share technology, which the German research lab is developing in partnership with Bosch and showing off here at the CeBIT show.

Key2Share uses smartphones equipped with near-field communications (NFC) short-range wireless networking abilities to unlock phones. But because approval to use the key becomes digital data, a person can e-mail that approval.

It could be useful for other situations, too, said Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi, a researcher involved with the project. For example, a … Read more

The White House today backed an Internet petition asking the Library of Congress to change its stance on the legality of smartphone unlocking.

In a post on the We The People blog, R. David Edelman, the White House senior adviser for Internet, innovation and privacy, said the administration agrees with those who signed the petition, and aims to support any legislation that would remedy the issue.

"The White House agrees with the 114,000 plus of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties," Edelman wrote. "… Read more

HANNOVER, Germany--In today's James Bond world, smartphones get you instant access to top-secret information. In the real world, security constraints mean mobile phones generally aren't nearly so clever or convenient.

BlackBerry and Secusmart hope to change that through a partnership that at least has won over the German federal government. It has authorized purchases of phones with the BlackBerry 10 operating system augmented with Secusmart's SD card-mounted security chips for classified communications, said Hans-Christoph Quelle, Secusmart managing director, speaking here at the CeBit technology show.

The approach uses a feature in BlackBerry 10 called Balance, which partitions … Read more

Hackers can get past the Galaxy Note 2's lock screen -- if their fingers are fast enough.

A minor security vulnerability has been found in Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note 2 smartphone-tablet hybrid, which leaves the door open to fast-fingered ne'er-do-wells.

The flaw, first discovered by Terence Eden, finds that certain apps and widgets can be briefly accessed with a few taps from the lock screen. Somewhat tricky to accomplish, it requires the user to press the "Emergency Call" icon, then the ICE (in case of emergency) button, and then hold down the home button. With success, … Read more

Avast has become a household name when it comes to desktop anti-virus software. Now, you can have the same free, high-end security on you smartphone or tablet. Avast Mobile Security can protect you from dangerous apps, inform you about their permissions, and even help you find your lost phone. It's the best antivirus package for Android.

The app makes you sign up with an e-mail, password, and phone number before you can get started. Once you've done that, you'll breeze right through the rest of the setup process. It won't even spam your e-mail or mobile … Read more