Reuters reports today that Google will suspend any business it has with Huawei except for hardware and software dealings that comes under open source licenses.

In short, Huawei will immediately lose access to Android updates, and the next upcoming smartphones models will not come with the Google Play Store. And also other Google apps, including Gmail and Google Maps.

Android, on the other hand, is an open source operating system that is free for mobile devices manufactures to use.

However, Google does charge from companies like Huawei in the form of licensing fee to include its Android apps storefront and other apps on their devices.

According to the Verge, Google starts taking these actions after US president Donald Trump declares a national IT threat to US.

But what if I tell you the picture demonstrates by all of these US-based popular websites hiding a reality of the story.

Think logically, is the US Government threaten by Chinese Tech Company?

Is US Intelligence not powerful enough to stop Huawei from stop doing vulnerable actions that are prone to their citizens’ privacy?

Or due to the growing fan base of Huawei, the US government is losing tracking and monitoring of their citizens?

Since Huawei does not corporate much with US government and tech giants like Google to share its user’s data with them, it is something that can not be accepted by a nation who is a part of 5, 9 and 14 eyes countries.

Before I go in-depth into the details, it is essential to explain how this decision will affect Huawei and its users. So read on…

How This Decision Will Impact Huawei Users?

Good news for existing Huawei users that they can update apps, bugs update, and Google Play Store too.

However, when Google releases its next big update for Android, sadly, it will not be able for Huawei users.

Moreover, the upcoming Huawei mobile devices will not get apps like Google Maps and YouTube. However, Huawei can use open source Android system.

Ben Wood, from the CCS Insight consultancy, said the move by Google would have “big implications for Huawei’s consumer business.”

Official Statement of Huawei Regarding Android Ban by Google

“Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world. As one of Android’s key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry.

Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone. And tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally.

We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, to provide the best experience for all users globally.”

Before Backlisting Huawei, the US Government is a Part of FVEY Countries

Since Huawei is getting massive popularity in the US market from the past few years, it creates huge concerns for national tech giants like Google and Apple due to the following reasons:

• A big part of market share is fetching by Chinese Company
• Losing surveillance on a tremendous amount of population since Huawei does not corporate with the US Government to share their users’ data.

I think blacklisting Huawei by the US government is a clear indication of frustration due to losing mass surveillance of citizens’.

Moreover, this is the only way to stop Huawei from getting increasing market share in the US.

In this way, Google and other national tech giants will regain access to Huawei users’ data by going back to Google devices.

Losing Chinese Giant in the US is More Dangerous for Users Online Privacy

To understand this, 20 years ago, this is what one of the legends of the music industry “Prince” once said:

“Don’t be fool by the internet. It’s cool to get on the computer, but don’t let the computer get on you.

It’s cool to use the computer, but don’t let the computer use you. You all saw the Matrix. There is a war going on and the battlefields in mind. And the final price is the soul. So be careful.”

So it means all the things that are available on the internet is not real. Moreover, there is always hidden propaganda behind it.

Since the US is a part of Five eyes, Nine eyes and Fourteen Eyes countries, the increasing the popularity of a company like Huawei that is not a part of cooperative countries cannot be tolerated at all.

Most of you don’t know what are these FVEY countries. This is why you are unaware of the US government hidden propaganda.

By eliminating Huawei from the US market, US government will once again regain the massive chunk of users.

In short, Huawei is becoming an unbreakable wall for US mass surveillance agencies to achieve their targets. Which is to keep track of citizens online activities and control them accordingly.

If Huawei agrees with the US government on sharing users online data, the scenario would be the opposite.

Sticking to Huawei Devices is the Best time to De-google your life

Apart from US government mass surveillance objectives, you all agree with me that when it comes to online privacy, Google products and services are the worst options to use.

Especially after what we saw in the past that how aggressive Google is to collect users’ data.

At this moment, I think this is the best opportunity to say goodbye to Google and regain your ultimate privacy.

By sticking with Huawei devices and with some patience, I believe, this the best opportunity to live surveillance free life. My Google Alternatives guide will help you a lot in de-Google-ify your life.

Conclusion: Hard Time for Chinese Giant in Short Term

According to BBC technology desk editor “Leo Kelion”:

In the short term, this could be very damaging for Chinese Giant in the West.

Smartphone shoppers would not want an Android phone that lacked access to Google’s Play Store. Its virtual assistant or security updates, assuming these are among the services that would be pulled.

In the longer term, though, this might give smartphone vendors consider the need for alternative to Google OS. Particularly at a time, the search giant is trying to push its Pixel brand at their expense.

As far as Huawei is concerned, it appears to have prepared for the eventuality of being cut off from US.

Its proprietary processors already power its smartphones, and earlier this year its consumer devices chief told German newspaper, Die Welt, that, “we have prepared our own operating systems – that’s our plan B”.

Even so, this move could knock its ambition to overtake Samsung. And become the bestselling smartphone brand in 2020 seriously off course.

The post Reality Check: Fear of Losing Surveillance on Citizens, Makes Google to Restricts Huawei’s Use of Android appeared first on Online Privacy Tips.

Last week we got to deal with a real 0day chain and a faux 0day at the same time. I wonder which one will get more attention? ? https://t.co/DfeyoB7geY

— Justin Schuh ? (@justinschuh) March 6, 2019

Why Google wants you to update your Chrome Browser on an immediate basis? Well, there is a zero-day vulnerability in Chrome browser, detected by Google Threat Analysis Team.

What kind of vulnerability is it? It is a usual day flaw in code in the form of bug but on a large scale.

Zero Day Vulnerability

A zero-day vulnerability is one that threat actors had managed to create an exploit for, a way of doing bad things to your device or data before the good guys even knew the vulnerability existed.

In other words, they have zero days in which to issue a fix. The bad news for users of Google Chrome is that this particular zero-day vulnerability, CVE-2019-5786, is already being exploited by the bad guys.

Which is why it is so important to make sure your browser has been updated to the latest patched version that fixes the vulnerability.

Zero Day Vulnerability Explained

Zero Day vulnerability is a terminology that is used to identify bugs or loopholes that are unknown to the developers at the time of release.

These kind of zero-day vulnerabilities are hazardous since they are capable of damaging on a large scale such as users privacy concerns, financial loses and even physical harm can be possible.

Moreover, this kind of zero-day vulnerability can only resolve through a new update of software by developers or by uninstalling the program from your device.

But not to believe why this Google Chrome vulnerability happened regarding CVE-2019-5786 remains unrevealed right now.

According to Satnam Narang, a senior research engineer at Tenable says:

“it is a “Use-After-Free (UAF) vulnerability in FileReader, an application programming interface (API) included in browsers to allow web applications to read the contents of files stored on a user’s computer.” The ‘use-after-free.”

The vulnerability seems to be found memory corruption place that carries the risk of escalated privileges on a machine where a threat actor has modified data in memory through exploiting it.

This is why Google release an update notification, as a defensive move against the exploitation that could enable an attacker to remotely run arbitrary code (a remote code execution attack) while escaping the browser’s built-in sandbox protection.

How to Secure Yourself From Zero Day Vulnerability?

Surprisingly, this Google Chrome vulnerability is easy to fix. Just make sure that you do it along reading this blog:

1. Firstly, open your Chrome browser and click on the drop-down menu (located at the top right corner of browser “stacked dots”)
2. After clicking on the “Stacked dots,” a list of the menu will appear > now select “Help” option.
3. Alternatively, you can also type chrome://settings/help in the address bar if you prefer. which takes you to the same dialog box.
4. In this help section, it will tell you what version of Chrome you are using and is there any update available.
5. To be safe from this zero-day exploit, make sure that it says you are running version 0.3626.121 (Official Build). If not, then Chrome should go and fetch the latest version and update your browser for you automatically.

Research lead and technical strategist at Synopsys, Travis Biehn said:

“Google Chrome is some of the most robustly engineered C and C++ code on the planet; the security teams working on Chrome are world-class.

Despite Google’s security program and their active collaboration with leading security researchers through generous bug bounty programs, it still suffers from memory corruption attacks related to the use of C and C++.

 Luckily for the public, Chrome ships with an effective mechanism for update and patching – one that can get a critical fix out to end users in real time.”

The post Google Confirms “The Threat Is Real,” Update Your Chrome Browser Right Now! appeared first on Online Privacy Tips.

I must say the step taken by “Ivacy” is something that should be a great slap for those who are continually trying to push it in the blacklist of VPN services.

As we know the VPN industry is full of anonymity and secrecy. Especially when it comes to revealing the origin of the biggest VPN brands and their parent company.

Moreover, it gets more mysterious especially when the services primary objective is to provide online privacy and security.

However in an industry where customers don’t know the background of VPN service they are using, Ivacy VPN is the one that shows transparency and brings new hope and massive recognition.

From the past few years, Ivacy VPN is continuously lashing by several testing and reviewing sites including some renowned VPN brands by claiming that Ivacy VPN is a part of PureVPN.

For this, today Ivacy releases its press release that clarifies all the false claims by bringing transparency regarding its investment portfolio and zero links with “PureVPN.”

Key Points of Ivacy Press Release

• PureVPN has no shares what so ever in the Ivacy. But limited to have minority stakes concerning some part of the network.
• Ivacy is an independently register entity, with its merchants, bank accounts, partners, and legally binding contracts. Ivacy’s independently operated and developed apps, backend, billing, legal agreements, and partnerships are a testament to this fact.

According to BestVPN.com

In an industry where company dealings are often veiled in secrecy and mystery.

A glimpse of transparency from one of the biggest names in the game is refreshing and worth some recognition.

Although ultimately the bottom line here is that Ivacy is still a top-tier VPN provider.

Which genuinely holds the security and privacy of its customers – as well as its backers –  as its top priority.

The post Ivacy VPN taking Strong Step of Bringing Transparency to Service Globally appeared first on Online Privacy Tips.

A group of students indicates three major security bugs in 4G and 5G. They found that these security bugs provide hackers to track phone locations and to intercept calls too.

For the very first time, the recent security bugs affect both 4G and the upcoming 5G service.

Which claims to provide efficient performance, faster speed, and better privacy than 4G service. Especially against law enforcement use of cell site simulators, known as “Stingrays.”

However, the professionals say that their new techniques can easily defeat upcoming 5G securities that are considered to add an extra layer of protection to snoop on mobile devices.

According to Syed Rafiul Hussain, who is a part of the research, told TechCrunch in an email:

“Any person with a little knowledge of cellular paging protocols can carry out this attack.”

Hussain, along with Ninghui Li and Elisa Bertino at Purdue University, and Mitziu Echeverria and Omar Chowdhury at the University of Iowa are set to reveal their findings at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium in San Diego on Tuesday.

According to the research paper and TechCrunch analysis regarding attacks details:

the first is Torpedo, which exploits a weakness in the paging protocol that carriers use to notify a phone before a call or text message comes through.

The researchers found that several phone calls placed and canceled in a short period can trigger a paging message without alerting the target device to an incoming call. Which an attacker can use to track a victim’s location.

Knowing the victim’s paging occasion also lets an attacker hijack the paging channel and inject or deny paging messages.

By spoofing messages like as Amber alerts or blocking messages altogether, the researchers say.

Read More: Google Forgot to Mention That Nest Hub Has a Microphone

Torpedo opens the door to two other attacks: Piercer. Which the researchers say allows an attacker to determine an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) on the 4G network.

Moreover, the aptly named IMSI-Cracking attack. Which can brute force an IMSI number in both 4G and 5G networks, where numbers are encrypt by IMSI.

That puts even the newest 5G-capable devices at risk from stingrays, said Hussain, which law enforcement use to identify someone’s real-time location and log all the phones within its range.

According to Hussain, all four major U.S. operators — AT&T, Verizon (which owns TechCrunch), Sprint and T-Mobile — are affected by Torpedo.

One U.S. network, which he would not name, was also vulnerable to the Piercer attack.

TechCrunch contacted big four cellular companies, but none of them provided any verdict at that time.

Moreover, one of the researchers Hussain told TechCrunch:

Given two of the attacks exploit flaws in the 4G and 5G standards, almost all the cell networks outside the U.S. are vulnerable to these attacks. Several networks in Europe and Asia are also vulnerable.

The post Recent Bugs in 4G/5G allow Hackers to Intercept Calls & Track Phone Locations appeared first on Online Privacy Tips.

It seems like Google loves to forgot to mention its products “monitoring features”

Two days ago, Google releases a statement that it forgot to mention that Nest Secure device has a microphone.

This is a latest privacy robbery by number one data collecting giant in online industry. However the way Google overcome this situation is bloody smart move.

Google did not reveal it directly to its users that their Nest device has a microphone. Instead of it they revealed it by introducing new voice assistant feature on the system of their Nest Device.

And primary objective of this voice assistant new feature to make controls home alarm sensors more efficiently.

But Google hadn’t told consumers about the device’s built-in microphone when it began selling the hubs in 2017.

As recently as January, the product specs for the device made no mention of a microphone. However, Google cover it by saying that the excision was a pure mistake.

it is an unintentional mistake and not a secret and these types of mistakes are normal in tech spaces.

The microphone hasn’t been active since launch, and people have to specifically enable it going forward, Google said. Business Insider first reported the microphone had been missing from the product’s description.

Since data collecting habit is increasing exponentially by online organizations, there is a need of active scrutiny over their unethical practices.

Google Unethical Attempts to Collect Users Data

Before this incident Google loss its enterprise certificate when Apple revokes it due to violation of policy by bribing to install their Screenwise meter app and get up to $20.

Moreover, An AP investigation last year found the company was tracking users’ location information through its apps. And search services, even if users turned the feature off.

And in 2010, Google admitted it had accidentally collected some Internet activity from open WiFi networks using its Street View cars. – AP

The post Google Forgot to Mention That Nest Hub Has a Microphone appeared first on Online Privacy Tips.

Toyota Australia and Melbourne Cardiology Hospital attacked by an unknown group of hackers.

Today, Toyota Australia confirms that they are suffering from cyber attack in its operating systems. However, it believes that during this cyber attack no data has been collected by hackers related to clients or workers.

Furthermore, the auto motor company confirms that they are clueless regarding who is behind the attack.

Moreover, for this, it is working with high-profile online privacy professionals to regain full control of its operations.

“Toyota Australia can confirm it has been the victim of an attempted cyber attack.” “At this stage, we believe no private employee or customer data has been accessed,” according to Toyota officials.

Although this is not the only online hacking incident that come into notice today, but cardiology hospital in Melbourne is also hit by cyber thieves.

The Australian Cyber Security told that it recently notified regarding online attack at the Melbourne Heart Group.

“ACSC provided cyber security advice and assistance to MHG,” a spokesperson said. Adding it was inappropriate to comment further when the matter was ongoing.

A Cabrini spokeswoman told the Herald Sun the Melbourne Heart Group was a tenant with a consulting suite in the hospital building.

She also said the group had completely separate systems and that no Cabrini systems or operations were affected.

Read More:  US Think Tanks Targeted by Russian Hackers in Europe

The files affected did not belong to Cabrini patients, the spokeswoman added.

“Data storage and other information systems in specialist suites are owned and managed by the specialists, not by Cabrini,” a statement by Cabrini chief executive Dr. Michael Walsh said.

“No Cabrini data storage or patient-related systems or operations have been impacted. Or compromised by this incident, and there has been no breach of hospital patient data.”

“Cabrini is providing support to Melbourne Heart Group about this incident.”

The Melbourne Heart Group said in a statement in late January they experienced a cybersecurity incident in which their patient’s data was encrypted.

“This means that our patients’ information became inaccessible to anyone, including ourselves. We have been assured that no patient’s privacy has been compromised in any way. Furthermore, we are working through this issue with our IT provider. Also hope to resolve it as soon as possible,” a spokeswoman said.

“We are deeply sorry that this incident happened. Moreover, we encourage all our patients to contact our office so that we can keep them updated.”

Furthermore she added that no patients were being turned away and the clinics were operating as usual.

Australian Medical Association President Dr. Tony Bartone said the hack highlighted the importance of health facilities having robust IT protocols.

“It would appear the sole motive or the sole reason for the hack was to render the information unavailable to the users of the facility and extract a price for that release,” he said.

The post Toyota Australia & Melbourne Cardiology Hospital Attacked by Hackers appeared first on Online Privacy Tips.

Google tries to guarantee developers after a massive criticism slamming last month.

Back in October online giant faced heavy criticism by developers against the new updates. That could debilitate the extensions to enhance security and block ads.

The new changes by Google called “Manifest v3” were first released last year. After that developers start noticing it and comes with massive criticism regarding ad blockers to break them.

However, after a huge raft of criticism by developers, Google says it is reconsidering the changes to make the developers happy again.

According to Google:

“It is not, nor has it ever been, our goal to prevent or break content blocking,” Devlin Cronin, a software engineer on the Chrome team, wrote in a Google Groups post last week(emphasis his).

“We are committed to preserving that ecosystem. And ensuring that users can continue to customize the Chrome browser to meet their needs. This includes continuing to support extensions, including content blockers, developer tools, accessibility features, and many others.”

Reason to Change Chrome’s Policy

The changes which were suggested by Google is to improve the performance of extensions on Chrome. Also to improve browser security and privacy.

The backlash faced by online giant regarding suggested changes makes it reconsider purposed changes to prevent the objections of developers.

“We want to make sure all fundamental use cases — including content blockers — are still possible with these changes and are working with extension developers to make sure their extensions continue to work while optimizing the extensions platform and better protecting our users.” a Google spokeswoman said in a statement

The post by Google’s Cronin came after Ghosterly, one of the ad blocker makers that staunchly opposed the changes, released a study last week that said the extensions would only impact the performance of Chrome by about a tenth of a millisecond.

The post Google Assures Developers that It is not planning to prevent ad blocking on Chrome appeared first on Online Privacy Tips.

A group of hackers that has a history to work with Russian Intelligence attacked the US Think Tanks in Europe, revealed by Microsoft on February 20, 2019.

The group of hackers with the name of “Fancy Bear” is the one who is behind this attack. If you don’t know this hacker group also came into notice when they hacked “Democratic National Committee” back in 2019.

The same group targeted “The Aspen Institute” and “German Marshall Funds of US,” according to Microsoft. Moreover, the same hackers also attacked the General Council on Foreign Relations.

“We’ve seen and continue to see efforts by nation-states and others to influence elections in democracies around the world including in Europe,” Tom Burt, Microsoft’s vice president of customer trust and security, said in a blog post.

“These attacks are not limited to campaigns themselves but often extend to think tanks and non-profit organizations working on topics related to democracy, electoral integrity, and public policy and that is often in contact with government officials,” he added.

The attacks on the highly valuable think tanks happened between September and December 2018.

The organization did not reveal anything regarding the hackers were successful or not. However, they told that when it happened, they immediately ask for help and support to secure their systems.

In further investigation, the official representative of “The German Marshall Fund” told CNN Business:

“It didn’t appear that its systems had been compromised as a result of the hacking attempt.”

Moreover, German Marshall’s President “Karen Donfried recommended that:

“The organization may have been targeted because its work has included supporting efforts to combat alleged attempts by Russia. And other nations to “undermine democracy and democratic institutions.”

European Elections Are Coming

“Consistent with campaigns against similar US-based institutions, attackers in most cases created malicious URLs. And spoofed email addresses that look legitimate,” Burt wrote in the Microsoft post. “These spearphishing campaigns aim to gain access to employee credentials and deliver malware.”

Last year in August, according to Microsoft, Fancy Bear had attacked the US Senate. Moreover, last month the same group of hackers had attacked another think thanks located at Washington.

Thus it is clear that the announcement by Microsoft on Tuesday is an alarming notification for European Parliament Elections in May.

Further, according to the scenario, Microsoft confirms to provide its AccountGuard service to more than 12 countries in Europe. The list of countries includes France and Germany.

What is AccountGuard?

It is Microsoft’s cybersecurity service for political parties, NGO institutions, and private institutions. This AccountGuard service is only for those organizations that are working on democracy challenges.

This service is already available to campaigns in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States. Since protecting privacy is now becoming impossible, I guess it is a very impressive service offer by Microsoft.

Primarily what we saw last year when Cambridge Analytica helped a political party to win US elections.

Microsoft pointed to “hacking and disinformation attacks” on France’s presidential election in 2017 as a previous example of a European democracy grappling with cyber interference.

The campaign of Emmanuel Macron, who eventually won the election, said at the time that it was the victim of a “massive and coordinated hacking operation.”

The post US Think Tanks Targeted by Russian Hackers in Europe appeared first on Online Privacy Tips.

Is Selling iPhone SE model again will help Apple to rise again since its overall sales continue to sink?

September 2018, Apple stops selling its three iPhone models: SE, X, and 6S models, following the introduction of its new iPhone models: XS, XS Max, and XR.

Since Apple’s overall sales continue to sink due to its expensive pricing line, MacRumors noticed silent move by Apple.

MacRumors notices that Apple without any announcement put their old iPhone SE model in the clearance category.

And due to the discounted price, the stock is selling out rapidly. So if you are planning to buy the SE model, you can find it on Apple official store in the clearance category.

iPhone SE Available in Different Storage Sizes

The old iPhone SE model, which was released in 2016, is available in 32 and 128 GB, with up to $150 discount.

iPhone SE Available in Different Colors

Right now iPhone SE models are available in all colors, which are Rose Gold, Space Grey, Gold, and Silver.

I guess an unlocked brand new iPhone for $250 is a great deal since the design is very handy and spectacular in performance.

I am a great fan of Apple’s iPhone SE when it comes to choosing a secondary device. However, it has all the potential to be your primary device, if you are the one who doesn’t like big mobile devices.

But as the trend is going on of having a small device without social media apps, I guess iPhone SE model is still better than recently release Palm device.

The post iPhone SE Model is Available on Clearance Sale by Apple appeared first on Online Privacy Tips.

Netflix finds a way to record all of your choices by showing you its new Black Mirror series movie Bandersnatch.

For a very first time, Netflix produces its first interactive movie, where you can make choices to control the character by giving options that lead to several endings.

According to Verge, the researcher Michael Veale sending an email to Netflix to obtain his bingeing data, which is according to GDPR’s rights of access rules.

Initially, Veale’s primary aim was to show users about how to use the GDPR policy to request their data. Also motivates multiple online organization to make this procedure more transparent and fast.

But he found something surprising about how Netflix creates your profile to record your choices during its interactive movie.

The main concern that Veal’s raises during testing was that the streaming giant never asks for users permission to collects users preferences.

Bandersnatch Was a Data Mining Experiment: Michael Veale Revealed

Remember everyone quickly speculating whether Black Mirror: Bandersnatch was a data mining experiment. I used my GDPR right of access to find out more. (short thread) #Bandersnatch

— Michael Veale (@mikarv) February 12, 2019

Netflix Response to Micheal Veale

Netflix told Michael Veale that is collects data to “inform the personalized recommendations you see in future visits” as well as to help it, “determine how to improve [Bandersnatch’s] model of storytelling.”

Collecting users’ data is not a new trend at all. However, Netflix and other online organizations should respect some dignity to inform their users about collecting their data.

Moreover, users should also have the choice to opt out if they are not comfortable in sharing their data.

What Netflix Sends Michael Veal in Email

According to Michael Veal, the data send by streaming service is not complex at all and easy to understand.

For the email, Veal’s send streaming giant a copy of his passport to confirm his identity. He received two encrypted files: a PDF containing an explanation of the data. Also a CSV file containing all his choices.

This is something terrifying Bandersnatch storyline revolves around its protagonist growing increasingly paranoid that his every move is being tracked and watched, there’s something strangely paradoxical about Veale’s discovery.

The post Netflix “Bandersnatch” Movie Records All of Your Choices appeared first on Online Privacy Tips.