Tag Archive for: Tests

Google Play Protect fails Android security tests once more

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Google Play Protect fails Android security tests once more

Google Play Protect, the Android built-in malware defense system, has failed the real-world tests of antivirus testing lab AV-TEST after detecting just over two thirds out of more than 20,000 malicious apps it was pitted against.

Google’s Android mobile threat protection, which automatically scans over 100 billion apps every day, was introduced during the Google I/O 2017 in May 2017, with rollout to all Android devices starting in July 2017.

Since then, Google Play Protect has been deployed to billions of devices and is now the built-in malware protection on over 2.5 billion active Android devices.

According to AV-TEST’s results, Google’s mobile threat protection solution ranked last out of 15 Android security apps tested over a span of six months, between January to June 2021.

While always running and scanning every app installed and launched on the device, “the endurance test revealed that this service does not provide particularly good security: every other security app offers better protection than Google Play Protect.”

AV-TEST endurance test
Image: AV-TEST

Last of the pack

During this 5-month long endurance test, Google Play Protect detected a little over two-thirds of nearly 20,000 infected apps the testing lab used as part of three rounds of tests.

Each of these testing rounds pitted the security apps against over 3,000 newly-discovered malware samples (up to 24 hours old) and a reference set of more than 3,000 other up to one-month-old samples.

“A total of 5 apps always detected all the attackers 100 percent in the real-time test and in the test with the reference set,” AV-TEST found.

“Finishing in last place, Google Play Protect only detected 68.8 percent in the real-time test and 76.6 percent in the test with the reference set.”

Out of all mobile security apps tested, Bitdefender, G DATA, McAfee, NortonLifeLock, and Trend Micro were the ones that hit a perfect 100% detection rate.

Google Play Protect also mistakenly detected 70 apps as potentially malicious out of almost 10,000 harmless ones installed by AV-TEST from the Play Store and third-party Android app stores.

Given that the Android built-in malware protection solution failed to detect over a third of the 20,000 malware…

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Nokia (NOK) Tests Intercontinental Connectivity With Vodafone Turkey

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Nokia Corporation NOK recently conducted a successful trial with Vodafone Turkey, an operating unit of Vodafone Group Plc VOD, to test the efficacy of intercontinental connectivity with the first 1T (terabit) clear-channel IP interface. The trial is part of the network modernization initiative of Vodafone Turkey, as it aims to scale up operations to effectively handle exponential growth in data traffic.

The test was undertaken by using Nokia’s 7950 XRS (Extensible Routing System) routers with terabit interfaces powered by its FP4 chipset. Leveraging modular and extensible hardware design that ensures granular and economical scaling up to 96 Tb/s HD capacity in a standard 19” rack, 7950 XRS routers enable carriers to build a versatile, reliable and converged core network. It helps to address the entire range of core routing requirements on common hardware with a flexible, pay-as-you-go software licensing model.

The FP4 network processor is the reportedly the world’s first 3.0 Tb/s network processor and enables service providers and webscale operators to implement vast IP networks without sacrificing on performance. The FP4 terabit linecard offers two 1T ports that boost network capacity by about 10 times, simplifying operational complexity and cost overhead by eliminating the requirement of multiple lower rate interfaces in link aggregation groups. The multi-access mobile transport architecture will deliver high capacity, low latency 5G services to optimize network functioning and facilitate Vodafone Turkey to ramp up operations to better serve one of the world’s largest intercontinental markets.

By unlocking network efficiencies with common operability, software delivery and increased hardware sharing, Nokia has been able to reduce the total cost of ownership for mobile operators. The company is well positioned for the ongoing technology cycle given the strength of its end-to-end portfolio. Its installed base of high-capacity AirScale product, which enables customers to quickly upgrade to 5G, is growing fast. The company is driving the transition of global enterprises into smart virtual networks by creating a single network for all services, converging mobile and fixed…

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New ‘Morpheus’ CPU Design Defeats Hundreds of Hackers in DARPA Tests

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A new microprocessor design is being lauded for its security features after nearly 600 experts failed to hack it in a series of tests last summer. The new processor, codenamed “Morpheus,” continually rewrites its own architecture, making it impossible for an attacker to target the kinds of flaws that allow Spectre and Meltdown-style side-channel attacks against conventional x86 processors.

Morpheus was developed as part of a DARPA-funded project. Some 580 experts attempted to hack a medical database by injecting code into the underlying machine. Despite burning 13,000 hours collectively in an effort to hack the system, the effort failed.

“Today’s approach of eliminating security bugs one by one is a losing game,” said Todd Austin, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan. “People are constantly writing code, and as long as there is new code, there will be new bugs and security vulnerabilities…With MORPHEUS, even if a hacker finds a bug, the information needed to exploit it vanishes 50 milliseconds later. It’s perhaps the closest thing to a future-proof secure system.”

Morpheus was implemented using the gem5 simulator on a Xilinx FPGA and simulates a MinorCPU 4-stage in-order core running at 2.5GHz with a 32KB L1i and 32KB L1d. The L2 cache was 256KB. This is not a high-performance x86 CPU you can run out and buy, in other words.

According to Austin, his research team at the University of Michigan focused on making Morpheus a difficult target for any CPU-targeting exploit rather than focusing on building a chip that could defeat a specific class of exploits. The question was, how do you hide critical information from the attacker, without screwing up what the programmer is attempting to do — namely, write effective code?

The Morpheus FPGA. Image credit: Todd Austin

Austin’s team settled on the idea of obfuscating a class…

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