Google Play Store Update Allows Apps to Silently Gain Control of Your Device

Google just made a huge change to the way application permissions work on Android devices which has left a potential door open to malicious app developers and hackers. Google narrows down Android's 145 permissions into 13 broad categories and groups app permissions into 'groups of related...

Facebook Introduces Anonymous Login to Limit Third-party App Permissions

We're comfortable in sharing information with our Facebook friends, but it is quite sneaky for Facebook users to offer their Identities and credentials when logging in to third-party apps, they don’t trust. To deal with this issue, the social network giant has plans to improve the way users login...

Amazon Joins Authentication Game

As attackers continue to target large databases of passwords and users grow wearier by the day of creating new accounts and login credentials on each site they visit, the larger Web players are positioning themselves as not just social networking or retail hubs, but also as authentication...

Google Removing Ad-Blocking Apps From Play Android Market

Google, which has been a favorite target of privacy advocates for the last few years, has taken another step that’s unlikely to endear the company to that crowd or Android users. The company has begun removing ad-blocking apps from the Google Play Android app market, apparently for violating the...

Adrian Stone on BlackBerry Security, Privacy and the Challenges of BYOD

Dennis Fisher talks with Adrian Stone, the head of security response at BlackBerry, about the new security model in BlackBerry 10, the partition between private and work data and the challenges of dealing with app developers who might not know a whole lot about security or privacy. Download:...

Google Play privacy issue, sends app buyers personal details to developers

Google is again under attack for its apparent mishandling of its users’ personal information. An Australian software developer 'Dan Nolan' revealed that the search giant was sending him the full names, email and post codes of everyone who purchased his app on Google's Play. In a blog post, Nolan...

Google Play Gives User Data to App Devs

Android application developer Dan Nolan claims that the Google Play store sends software developers the names, approximated locations, and email addresses of every individual that downloads one of their applications. Nolan created a “Paul Keating Insult Generator” application that is apparently...

FTC Endorses New Privacy Guidelines, Do Not Track for Mobile Apps, Devices

Hoping to ramp up privacy on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, the Federal Trade Commission FTC has released a series of suggestions to help app developers, advertising networks and device companies better protect their users online. As it’s done over the last two years with browser...

Apple, Google and Others Agree to Provide Privacy Policy Option for Mobile Developers

This has turned out to be an interesting week for privacy. Just a few days after the White House laid out is privacy agenda, the California attorney general has announced an agreement with several major mobile platform providers, including Apple and Google, that will have the companies provide...

Senators Press Google, Apple Execs on Privacy and Location Tracking

In a hearing on Tuesday about the amount of data that mobile device manufacturers, app developers and others collect about users’ location and activities, senators called on Apple, Google and other companies to be more open and clear with consumers about their data-collection and tracking...

Farmville Compromises Facebook - Facebook Fixes Flaw !

After the release of FireSheep, Facebook took an important step to help protect Facebook user accounts by allowing users to choose to keep an encrypted connection as long as they used just Facebook and intelligently designed apps. Savvy users immediately discovered that if they tried to use gross...

Popular Facebook Games Exposing User Data to Third Parties

Facebook privacy has been a recurring topic in the news. With the massive number of users on the site, the amount of personal data involved is enormous. Recently, it has been revealed that many popular third-party apps, mainly games like Farmville and Texas HoldEm Poker, are leaking the unique...