Category Archives: messaging apps

Signal issues workaround for Iran’s ban of messaging app

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Signal says it is introducing a connection method for the Android version of its app that can allow users in Iran to dodge their government’s efforts to block message traffic. The announcement comes after users in Iran began reporting issues with connecting to the end-to-end encrypted chat application in January, following a crackdown by the government. In a blog post Thursday, Signal said users of the Android version will be able to download the update “in a few days.” Signal’s popularity in Iran spiked recently after the popular WhatsApp messenger announced an update to its privacy policy that allowed more data to be shared with Facebook, its parent company. Users in Iran and elsewhere flocked to other options, particularly Signal, given its reputation for privacy. Iranian government officials noticed the increase in Signal users and blocked the app. Signal, which is run by a U.S.-based nonprofit foundation, vowed to fight. It […]

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ESET catches spyware posing as Telegram, Android messaging apps

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A hacking group that typically spies on targets in the Middle East has updated its malware and is distributing it through bogus versions of popular messaging apps such as Telegram, researchers say. The malware has been circulating since May 2019, according to Slovakia-based antivirus company ESET, which identified it in collaboration with researchers at MalwareHunterTeam. ESET does not speculate about the intentions of the group, known as APT-C-23 or Two-tailed Scorpion, but in 2017 and 2018, other researchers linked it to the Palestinian organization Hamas. In most cases, victims are infected by visiting a fake app store, “DigitalApps,” containing both clean and malicious software, ESET said in findings published Wednesday. The malware was hidden in apps posing as Telegram, another messaging platform, Threema, and a utility labeled as AndroidUpdate. Users who downloaded the two messaging apps had the apps’ full functionality, but also were infected with malware, ESET says. By impersonating an encrypted […]

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Signal wants to protect protesters’ privacy with new face-blurring feature

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Protesters worried about government or corporate surveillance will soon have a new tool to protect themselves. Signal, the popular encrypted messaging app, will release a feature that enables users to blur faces in photos they share, Signal Foundation co-founder Moxie Marlinspike said Wednesday. The feature will be built into forthcoming versions of Signal for Android and iOS to automatically detect faces and obscure them. For faces that aren’t detected, the user can manually blur the image before sending, Marlinspike said. The announcement comes as U.S. authorities have increased their efforts to monitor protests following the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man. The U.S. Department of Justice has given the Drug Enforcement Administration new authority to “conduct covert surveillance” of some protesters, according to a memo obtained by BuzzFeed News. (Exact details of the surveillance remains unclear.) More than 10,000 people have been arrested in protests against systemic racism since Floyd’s killing on May […]

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Leverice is a team messenger app that’s taking aim at information overload

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Meet Leverice: A team messenger and collaboration platform that’s aiming to compete with b2b giants like Slack by tackling an issue that continues to plague real-time messaging — namely, ‘always-on’ information overload. This means these tools can feel like they’re eating into productivity as much as aiding it. Or else leave users stressed and overwhelmed […] Continue reading Leverice is a team messenger app that’s taking aim at information overload→

Facebook’s new Tuned chat app lets couples keep their mush private

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If you’re OK with Facebook getting your phone number and storing your love notes, photos, shared daily diary and more, then Tune away, baes. Continue reading Facebook’s new Tuned chat app lets couples keep their mush private→

Google researcher beefs up iMessage security by demonstrating clickless exploit

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Software exploits that don’t require a victim to click a link to be compromised are an intriguing and growing area of research for white-hat hackers. So it is no surprise that Google’s elite team of hackers, Project Zero, has dug into this stealthy mode of attack in recent months. On Thursday, Samuel Gross laid out how, armed with only a target’s Apple ID, he could remotely compromise an iPhone within minutes to steal passwords, text messages and emails, and activate the camera and microphone. The attack, which exploited an iOS 12.4 vulnerability for which Apple issued a patch in last August, shows how “small design decisions can have significant security consequences,” Gross wrote in a blog post. Gross poked holes in some conventional wisdom around security features used in the iPhone operating system. A data-randomizing security feature known as ASLR meant to guard against exploits “is not as strong in practice,” he […]

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Fake Telegram app on more than 100,000 phones infected U.S., UAE Androids

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A bogus version of the messaging app Telegram infected downloaders’ phones with a pernicious strain of malware that sent devices searching for malicious sites on an endless loop, according to Symantec research published Monday. The MobonoGram 2019 app was downloaded more than 100,000 times — mostly by users in Iran, the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates — before it was scrubbed from Google’s marketplace. The program’s developers borrowed open-source code from the real Telegram app, a program that provides encrypted messaging, while adding code that forced the app to try to connect to gaming sites, pornography and other suspicious URLs on a constant basis. The app also contained Android.FakeYouWon, a malware that displays websites promoting fake offers and scams. Symantec’s discovery of MobonoGram 2019 provides the latest reminder that scammers use programs in the Google Play Store as Trojan horses to infiltrate users’ phones. Many international users would have been […]

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WhatsApp adds biometric feature to help protect messages

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WhatsApp is adding new privacy features for many of its users, as the security community keeps a close eye on how its parent company, Facebook, plans to merge the globally popular messaging app with other products. In a software update, WhatsApp allows iOS users to lock their messages with biometric authentication tools. The update, version 2.19.20, allows iPhone owners to unlock WhatsApp using Face ID or Touch ID. This layer of security applies to the entire app — rather than on a chat-by-chat basis — and can be enabled through iPhone’s settings page. An Android version of the update is in a testing phase, according to the Verge. By adding biometric authentication, WhatsApp is building on its already respected end-to-end encryption protocol. The methodology was developed by Open Whisper Systems, the software organization behind the widely-praised messaging app Signal. But even end-to-end encryption can’t protect users’ messages if someone has physical […]

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Apple expands Business Chat with new businesses and additional countries

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Apple Business Chat launched earlier this year as a way for consumers to communicate directly with businesses on Apple’s messaging platform. Today the company announced it was expanding the program to add new businesses and support for additional countries. When it launched in January, business partners included Discover, Hilton, Lowe’s and Wells Fargo. Today’s announcement […] Continue reading Apple expands Business Chat with new businesses and additional countries→