Rejoice for Privacy Lovers!
Facebook today took a surprising move by announcing that it is bringing the free anonymizing software TOR support to its Android app, almost two years after the social network planned to make Facebook available directly over Tor network.
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Yes. Believe it or not, the Android version of the popular Facebook application now supports the Tor
A new critical zero-day vulnerability has been discovered in the Linux kernel that could allow attackers to gain root level privileges by running a malicious Android or Linux application on an affected device.
The critical Linux kernel flaw (CVE-2016-0728) has been identified by a group of researchers at a startup named Perception Point.
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The vulnerability was present in
Ready to use our new AVG Cleaner for Android™ 3.0 and its new one-tap ANALYZE view or Smart Photo Cleaner? We’ll guide you through the most important steps of a typical clean-up to make sure you’re not missing anything.
Step 1: Download & launch the new app! Got it? Tap the Analyze button.
Step 2: Clean up photos! Wait for the results. In this example, it found 4 photos that were classified as bad or potentially unwanted:
Tap on Review and Clean, and then use either thumbs down/thumbs up or swipe left or right to delete a photo or keep it. AVG Cleaner for Android will now start learning which photos you like or don’t like to give you more personalized suggestions. But no worries, it will never automatically delete anything – the choice is always yours! Next, go to the Bad Photos and Similar Photos sections to clean up the ones you no longer need. Here, you can mark photos you no longer want:
Got them all? Tap on Delete X Photos! You’ll then find yourself in the Analysis Results area again.
Step 3 – Clean cache: Every time you use your apps, they create what’s called “cache” files. For example, Facebook temporarily stores data from your timeline once you open it to access it quicker next time you open the app. However, many apps tend to forget to delete this data which can accumulate to quite an amount wasted storage. Just tap on Clean Cache and be done with it!
Step 4 – Clean history: Your browser leaves behind traces, such as cookies, temporary browsing data and long-forgotten downloads.
Step 5 – Stop Battery Hogs: The next slice shows you which features of your phone draw the most battery life from your phone – and allows you to turn it off!
Tap to turn anything off you might not need, especially if you’re on the go and without a power outlet in sight.
Step 6 – Stop Memory Hogs: If any currently running app is consuming more than 1% of your memory, they will show up here. You can then go ahead and Force Stop them or Uninstall if you don’t need these anymore.
Step 7 – Get rid of Battery-draining apps: Is your phone not making it to the end of the day without recharging? It may not be your phone itself, but some renegade app(s) that run(s) all the time in the background or does things they’re not supposed to. This section helps you find out which ones are the top drainers – and allows you to stop or delete them!
Step 8 – Free up space: Still struggling to store photos, music or apps on your phone? Then have a look at the last section, Free up space, to see which apps consume the most storage – and get rid of the ones you no longer want!
How much space were you able to free up? How many photos were cleaned up thanks to our new Smart Photo Cleaner? And how many performance-draining apps have you put an end to? Let us know in the comments section below.
If you’re looking for a quick clean-up of all of your unwanted photos, check out our newly re-launched Cleaner today for free!
Android mediaserver malware resembles Stagefright
Android owners may recall the Stagefright bug, the “worst ever Android vulnerability yet discovered”. That malware exposed a billion (that’s nearly every) Android device on the face of the earth to malware.
The latest critical bug has similarities to Stagefright, but exists in Android’s mediaserver. Google warns that an attacker could use the bug to remotely run malware hidden in video or audio.
In an announcement published in the Nexus Security Bulletin for January, Google said it has fixed 12 vulnerabilities affecting Android versions 4.4.4 to 6.0.1. Five are rated as critical security bugs. Partners were notified about and provided updates for the issues on December 7, 2015 or earlier, said the post.
“The most severe of these issues is a Critical security vulnerability that could enable remote code execution on an affected device through multiple methods such as email, web browsing, and MMS when processing media files.”
The good news is that Google says, “We have had no reports of active customer exploitation of these newly reported issues.” Because of enhancements in newer versions of the Android platform, exploitation for many issues on Android is made more difficult. Regardless, Google encourages all users to update to the latest version of Android where possible.
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It’s the start of a New Year, and it’s time to Detox! Try this now: Pick up your phone, open up your photos app, swipe through your gallery and look at how many bad or duplicated photos of your daily lunches, sunsets or the cat sticking its tongue out, you’ve been hoarding over the months, or even years. Surprised by how many there are?
Well, you’ll likely be as shocked at my results: 27 poor selfies; 230 nearly identical shots; 81 blurry images. That’s a total of 3 GB wasted in just 6 months of using my Galaxy S6. And if you’re as lazy as I am about sorting out a messy photo collection on a weekly basis, here’s something for you.
Our own AVG Cleaner for Android has helped millions of users clean up browser traces, hidden temporary app files, forgotten downloads, among other performance tools. But today, we’ve taken a massive leap to focus on one of – if not the – single most storage-hungry type of data: your photos.
Upgrade now to get Smart Photo Cleaner, which scans your entire photo gallery and allows you to identify & clean:
Best of all, Smart Photo Cleaner gets smarter about your choices and will give you more personalized suggestions on which photos to keep or clean up. Keep an eye out for an upcoming post soon, explaining how Smart Photo Cleaner works and how to use it. And that’s not all…
AVG Cleaner has received a major redesign, a term which probably doesn’t do it justice. Let me explain:
See the big fat ANALYZE button in the middle? Hard to miss. One tap on it, and AVG Cleaner will identify all the top resource-draining apps, bad photos, wasteful junk files and battery-draining settings, on one, simple screen – and helps you instantly fix it all. Basically, you get all of AVG Cleaner’s key features on one screen; and as you scroll down, you see all the issues with your device, such as Cache files, history leftovers, low-battery warnings, bad photos or battery-hungry apps:
Tap on one tile to fix these issues. Here’s what’s behind them:
If you’re looking for a quick clean-up of all of your unwanted photos, check out our newly re-launched Cleaner today for free!
Chances are that many people will have been treated to an Android smartphone over the holiday period, and are already finding that it needs an update to make it work more safely.
The post Got an Android? I hope you’re patching it appeared first on We Live Security.
Google appears to be no longer using Java application programming interfaces (APIs) from Oracle in future versions of its Android mobile operating system, and switching to an open source alternative instead.
Google will be making use of OpenJDK – an open source version of Oracle’s Java Development Kit (JDK) – for future Android builds.
This was first highlighted by a “mysterious Android
Bad guys know that people are moving their computing to mobile, so they are adapting
Yesterday, we walked you through a set of our 2016 predictions in regards to home router security, wearables and the Internet of Things. In addition to these important topics, mobile threats are not something that should be ignored as we move into 2016.
“Most people don’t realize that mobile platforms are not really all that safer or immune from attack then desktop platforms,” said Ondřej Vlček, COO of Avast. “Most people use mobile devices in a more naive way then they use a PC because they just don’t understand that this is a full blown computer that requires caution.”
Over the course of this year, we’ve seen a list of notable mobile threats that jeopardized the privacy and security of individuals. Our own mobile malware analyst, Nikolaos Chrysaidos, has a few ideas about several issues that could crop up in the new year:
With this list of potential threats and risks in mind, it becomes clear that our mobile devices hold more value than just our apps and contacts. As hackers‘ techniques grow smarter, it’s important that we do the same in regards to the way that we approach our security.
Protect your Android devices with Avast Mobile Security. That and other apps like our new Wi-Fi Finder and Avast Cleanup & Boost are free from the Google Play Store.
Follow Avast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ where we keep you updated on cybersecurity news every day.
With 2015 more or less in the rear view mirror Mike Mimoso and Chris Brook discuss the year in security: Wassenaar, ransomware, mobile threats like Stagefright, Carbanak and Equation Group, and more.
Avast Wi-Fi Finder helps you automatically connect to the nearest free Wi-Fi
Install Avast Wi-Fi Finder now on your Android device.
Everyone loves free Wi-Fi. You can surf the web, check your email or newsfeed, make Skype video calls across the world, or stream games, movies, and music – without eating up your data plan. That’s a great deal! Or is it?
The problem with free Wi-Fi hotspots is they can’t be trusted to be safe and keep your data secure. Cybercrooks can eavesdrop on your conversations and even break in to steal personal information.
When you need to find safe Wi-Fi, use Avast Wi-Fi Finder
Our new mobile app, Avast Wi-Fi Finder, lets you instantly search for available networks on the map or browse through a list. Wherever you are in the world, you can always find a safe connection, because after a successful beta test, we launched the app with nearly 800,000 networks in our database. The more people who use Avast Wi-Fi Finder, the bigger and better that database will become.
Avast Wi-Fi Finder also tests the speed of the network and performs our unique Wi-Fi security check. In case a vulnerability is found, you can easily protect yourself with the integrated app Avast SecureLine VPN (a small fee applies).
Android users: Learn more about Avast Wi-Fi Finder or visit the Google Play Store to download Avast Wi-Fi Finder. You can thank us by leaving +1s and 5-star ratings on the Play Store with a review to help the next person.
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