Tag Archive for: app’

New version of the Advice to Travelers app (Dec. 16 2021)

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A new version of the mobile Advice to Travelers app is now available. Created in 1999, the Advice to Travelers page has seen a massive increase in hits on the France Diplomatie site in recent years, with 32 million hits in 2020 compared with 9.4 million in 2019, and more than 58 million since the beginning of 2021.

In light of the rapidly evolving health situation, it is more necessary than ever to make proper preparations for travel abroad.

To meet the needs of French citizens who travel abroad, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs decided to update the mobile app launched in 2012. In this latest version, users will have access, as they do on the website, to the 191 files that provide information on the situation in destination country to facilitate smooth stays abroad.

That information includes security advisories (written references and maps), conditions for entry and stays, health information (vaccination requirements, restrictions on movement linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, etc.) and practical information (practices and customs, local laws, etc.).

It is updated regularly by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs’ Crisis and Support Center in partnership with our field-based posts using a system certified by the ISO 9001 standard. In 2020, 3,378 updates were made.

The latest version of the app can be downloaded onto Android and IOS devices.

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Apple AirTag Android App is Absolutely Awful—Tracker Detect Fail

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Apple is proud to announce its anti-stalking app for Android. The Tracker Detect app lets Android users scan for malicious, hidden AirTag trackers placed by stalkers, thieves and other bad people. Sounds great, right? Except …

“Tracker Detect is a big disappointment,” says the editor of MacWorld. In tests, the app didn’t actually detect trackers. And it can’t actually use a legitimate AirTag.

Good grief. In today’s SB Blogwatch, we get lost.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: The Song Society.

Follow the Money

What’s the craic? Igor Bonifacic reports—“Apple releases Tracker Detect to protect Android users from AirTags stalkers”:

“Multiple incidents of bad actors abusing AirTags”
Apple has released Tracker Detect, a new Android app designed to help those without an iOS device to find out if someone is using [a] Find My-compatible device to snoop their location. … You’ll get instructions on how to remove its battery or otherwise disable it.
…
The release of Tracker Detect comes following multiple incidents of bad actors abusing AirTags to stalk people. In Canada, for example, police recently warned of thieves using the $29 device to steal expensive cars.
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“AirTag provides industry-leading privacy and security features. … Tracker Detect gives Android users the ability to scan for … trackers that might be traveling with them without their knowledge,” an Apple spokesperson [said].

Wait. Pause. This is a Thing? Ian Sherr has background—“Apple’s following through on a promise to help Android users”:

“It didn’t offer support for other phones”
Privacy advocates warned earlier this year that Apple AirTags could be used as a way to track and stalk people. Critics noted that … it likely has greater reach than any other device tracking service. They also noted that Apple built proactive warnings about nearby AirTags into its iPhones, but that it didn’t offer support for other phones.

Oh! Well, I bet Eva Galperin—@evacide—will be happy:

“I have to go put it through its paces”
When Apple launched the AirTag earlier this year, its anti-stalking mitigations included a warning if a…

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NowSecure’s Brian Reed: Agencies Need Continuous Monitoring Model to Protect Mobile App Portfolios

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Brian Reed, chief mobility officer at NowSecure, said government agencies should have programs in place to facilitate continuous monitoring of mobile applications to detect and address vulnerabilities that could pose security risks to employees and data.

Reed wrote that agencies should commit to ensuring the security of mobile apps and establish mission data protections and access restrictions.

He called on agencies to conduct a thorough review of employees’ access to mission-oriented apps by developing “profile differences based on levels of device control and authority versus mission requirements.”

Agencies should come up with a vetting program for mobile apps, which Reed said involves three stages. The initial stage calls for organizations to develop an inventory of all the devices and apps on the network and the second phase requires the establishment of a process for assessing new applications. The last stage focuses on continuous monitoring of every mobile app’s new version once it is launched.

“By understanding and addressing the risks associated with mobile apps, agencies can support employee productivity with mobile tools while protecting mission data on the device, in the apps and over the network,” Reed noted.

He cited NowSecure’s automated software offering and how it helps agencies perform continuous app monitoring to safeguard their app portfolios.

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How to check if that mobile app is spying on you

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As smartphone users, many of us don’t think twice before handing over our devices to people we trust. Be it family, a friend or a colleague. Sometimes, it’s for the simplest of tasks—clicking a picture, trying that latest game or just listening to music.

But given the rapidly spreading use of a menacing form of spyware called stalkerware, it may be time to keep that mobile phone safe even from those you trust. And watch out for telltale signs that it may be compromised.

Also read: How to protect your phone from malware and cybercriminals

“Spyware”, as the word suggests, is any software that installs itself on your phone or any other device and starts monitoring your online behaviour without your knowledge. Once in control, attackers can access the camera to take pictures, record video and audio, and track a user’s precise GPS location. Stalkerware is one of the easiest to access.

“The main difference between stalkerware and other types of malware is that stalkerware usually is not used by some anonymous cybercriminals but rather by people that are known and often even very close to the victim,” says Ondrej David, malware analysis team leader at the multinational cybersecurity company Avast. “It is usually installed discreetly on smartphones by their ‘friends’, jealous spouses or ex-partners,” David explains on email.

In fact, Avast identified patterns between the use of stalkerware and the covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Last year, Avast Threat Labs, a global cybersecurity network feed of security researchers, discovered a 51% increase in spyware and stalkerware from March-June compared to January-February. It’s a trend that has shown a particularly steep upward curve in the second quarter of 2021, says David. In the case of India, Avast Threat Labs observed a 30% increase in spyware and stalkerware compared to the first quarter and a 47% year-on-year increase.

According to reports from other cybersecurity companies, stalkerware is hitting users around the world. The State Of Stalkerware In 2020 report, released by the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky in February, showed that 53,870 mobile phone users were…

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