Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Alert

NEWS - September 16, 2016

Sep 16, 2016 12:42PM PDT
Feds: Explosive Samsung Galaxy Note 7 earns official CPSC recall status

"CPSC notes 92 incidents so far; Samsung's IMEI database is up and running. "

It seemed like Samsung was finally getting its ducks in a row in dealing with the worldwide recall of 2.5 million defective and potentially explosive Galaxy Note 7 devices. Now, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is finally involved and today it issued an official recall for the Note 7.

Continued: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/09/feds-explosive-samsung-galaxy-note-7-earns-official-cpsc-recall-status/

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Bugs in Signal Messaging App Corrupt Attachments, Crash App
Sep 16, 2016 12:47PM PDT

Makers of the mobile encrypted chat app Signal say they have fixed vulnerabilities in the Android version of the messaging app that allowed attackers to corrupt encrypted attachments and remotely crash the application.

The vulnerabilities were discovered by Jean-Philippe Aumasson and Markus Vervier who explained the “low severity” bugs in research note posted Thursday. The vulnerabilities were also acknowledged by Signal developer, Open Whisper Systems, which also described the vulnerabilities as low severity.

Continued: https://threatpost.com/bugs-in-signal-messaging-app-corrupt-attachments-crash-app/120643/

Related:
Signal fixes bug that lets attackers corrupt encrypted attachments [Updated]
http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/09/signal-fixes-bug-that-let-attackers-tamper-with-encrypted-messages/

- Collapse -
Google Play obsessed with tracking Android users' every move
Sep 16, 2016 12:47PM PDT

Google Play has a keen interest in tracking Android users as they go about their day, and there's little that can be done to stop it.

Security researcher Mustafa Al-Bassam found that out the hard way.

Upon entering a McDonald's, the researcher "almost had a heart attack" when his Android phone prompted him to download the fast-food chain's mobile app.

Continued: https://www.grahamcluley.com/2016/09/google-play-obsessed-tracking-android-users/

Related:
Google GPS grab felt like a feature, was actually a bug
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/15/google_confirms_play_store_gps_data_grab_as_a_bug_not_a_feature/

- Collapse -
Ransomware Getting More Targeted, Expensive
Sep 16, 2016 12:48PM PDT

I shared a meal not long ago with a source who works at a financial services company. The subject of ransomware came up and he told me that a server in his company had recently been infected with a particularly nasty strain that spread to several systems before the outbreak was quarantined.

He said the folks in finance didn’t bat an eyelash when asked to authorize several payments of $600 to satisfy the Bitcoin ransom demanded by the intruders: After all, my source confessed, the data on one of the infected systems was worth millions — possibly tens of millions — of dollars, but for whatever reason the company didn’t have backups of it.

Continued: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/09/ransomware-getting-more-targeted-expensive/