Tag Archive for: Phones

Congress is about to ban TikTok from U.S. government phones in spending bill : NPR

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TikTok would be banned from most U.S. government devices under a government spending bill Congress unveiled early Tuesday, the latest push by American lawmakers against the Chinese-owned social media app.

Michael Dwyer/AP


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Michael Dwyer/AP

TikTok would be banned from most U.S. government devices under a government spending bill Congress unveiled early Tuesday, the latest push by American lawmakers against the Chinese-owned social media app.

Michael Dwyer/AP

Having TikTok on a device issued by the federal government is about to become illegal under a sprawling spending bill for the upcoming fiscal year released by lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday. It is expected to become law in the coming days to avert a partial government shutdown.

While the Chinese-owned app is already not allowed on many federal government devices, the measure in the new spending bill expands the prohibition. The ban will likely result in a hit to TikTok’s reputation at a time when the Biden administration is still attempting to complete a national security review of the popular app.

TikTok is used by more than 100 million monthly active users in the U.S. alone, and its ability to create instant viral hits has put it at the forefront of internet culture, though concerns about data security have long dogged the app.

If you count yourself among its users and you’re wondering how this crackdown might affect you, here is what you need to know:

Is this going to affect my use of TikTok?

Probably not — unless you’re a federal government employee who uses a work phone to browse TikTok. The White House, the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department already prohibit staff from having TikTok on government-issued devices, so this ban just extends the rule for all U.S. government employees….

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Leo Varadkar banning mobile phones in Cabinet meetings due to ‘security risk’

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New Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is banning ministers from bringing mobile phones into Cabinet meetings. Security risks from electronic spying are being cited for the new regulations.

ut the unprecedented move also follows controversies over leaking from Government. Mr Varadkar was investigated for providing a confidential document to a friend. And Higher Education Minister Simon Harris was accused on the Dáil record of leaking confidential information direct from the Cabinet table. 

Leaking from Cabinet is in breach of the Constitution. Ministers have now been instructed to leave their phones, tablets and devices in pigeon holes outside the room.

A Government source said it was the norm across European governments to not bring electronic devices into the room due to the risk of bugging by foreign powers. Mobile electronic devices can be hacked into to listen to confidential discussions.

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These Nokia mobile phones are now getting the November security patch

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Major security leak left Samsung & Android phones vulnerable

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A major security leak has led to the creation of “trusted” malware apps that can gain access to the entire Android operating system on devices from Samsung, LG, and others.

As shared by Googler Łukasz Siewierski (via Mishaal Rahman), Google’s Android Partner Vulnerability Initiative (APVI) has publicly disclosed a new vulnerability that affected devices from Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, and others.

The core of the issue is that multiple Android OEMs have had their platform signing keys leaked outside of their respective companies. This key is used to ensure that the version of Android that’s running on your device is legitimate, created by the manufacturer. That same key can also be used to sign individual apps.

By design, Android trusts any app signed with the same key used to sign the operating system itself. A malicious attacker with those app signing keys would be able to use Android’s “shared user ID” system to give malware full, system-level permissions on an affected device. In essence, all data on an affected device could be available to an attacker.

Notably, this Android vulnerability doesn’t solely happen when installing a new or unknown app. Since these leaked platform keys are also in some cases used to sign common apps — including the Bixby app on at least some Samsung phones — an attacker could add malware to a trusted app, sign the malicious version with the same key, and Android would trust it as an “update.” This method would work regardless of if an app originally came from the Play Store, Galaxy Store, or was sideloaded.

Google’s public disclosure doesn’t lay out which devices or OEMs were affected, but it does display the hash of example malware files. Helpfully, each of the files has been uploaded to VirusTotal, which also often reveals the name of the affected company. With that, we know the following companies’ keys were leaked (though some keys have not yet been identified):

  • Samsung
  • LG
  • Mediatek
  • szroco (makers of Walmart’s Onn tablets)
  • Revoview

According to Google’s brief explainer of the issue, the first step is for each affected company to swap out (or “rotate”) its Android platform signing keys to no longer use the…

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