Android
WhatsApp Denied Backdoor Access to UK Government

WhatsApp is a popular app in many places, and for good reason. It seems like the app has gained a lot of traction because of the security of the messages. The data is encrypted and personal data is protected. However, it seems like the UK wanted to have a backdoor in order to investigate encrypted messages. And the company has declined according to a source provided by Sky News.
The British Government reportedly asked WhatsApp in a meeting during summer to produce technical solutions that would allow backdoor access to messages. However, WhatsApp denied this effort fearing for the privacy of consumers in general. This basically brings back the question of where to draw the line between “Privacy” and “Security”.
See, the UK government wants to do this because they want to protect their people. However, 80% of investigations regarding terrorism are brought to a halt thanks to Encrypted Data. “It is crucially important that we can access their communications — and when we can’t, it can provide a black hole for investigators,” the source said.
And what happens when you have absolute freedom in regards of your data being encrypted? How about the fact that extremists use WhatsApp (And Telegram for that matter) to communicate? An inability to access potential criminal data basically means that there will be no evidence of the planning of an attack. This could basically drop down the efforts made by multiple security organizations because they don’t know who is attacking until it’s too late.
And what can be done about this? It’s certainly hard considering the fact that WhatsApp wants to continue protecting their consumers. WhatsApp says it “appreciates the work that law enforcement agencies do to keep people safe around the world. We are prepared to carefully review, validate and respond to law enforcement requests based on applicable law and policy”.
The reason why WhatsApp finds themselves hard to comply to the security requests is because they can only provide meta data about the user. In other words, they can only share the Profile of the person in question and not their messages.
This is starting to become more concerning now that terrorist groups are learning how to be more “Tech Savvy”. These are people who are using encrypted communication methods to kill other people. This is one of the biggest factors behind the San Bernardino attack. Something needs to be done about this, and fast.
Android
Telegram launches a global self-custodial crypto wallet, excluding the US

Telegram, with 800 million monthly users, is launching a self-custodial crypto wallet. The move will solidify its presence in the vibrant crypto community that has grown from its chat platform and may attract more people to crypto.
Telegram and TON Foundation announced TON Space, a self-custodial wallet, on Wednesday at Singapore’s Token2049 crypto conference, which draws over 10,000 attendees.
Telegram has a complicated blockchain relationship. After the SEC sued Telegram over a massive initial coin offering, the chat app abandoned its Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain project in 2020. The Open Network Foundation (TON Foundation), founded by open-source developers and blockchain enthusiasts, supports the development of The Open Network (TON), the blockchain powering a growing number of Telegram applications, including the wallet.
The Open Platform (TOP) and TOP Labs, a venture-building division, created the TON-based wallet.
TON Space will be available to Telegram users worldwide without wallet registration in November. The U.S., which has cracked down on the crypto industry and promoted many crypto apps to geofence users, is currently excluded from the feature.
Android
Google’s massive antitrust trial begins, with bigger implications

The Justice Department’s landmark antitrust case against Google began in court today, setting off a months-long trial that could upend the tech world.
At issue is Google’s search business. The Justice Department claims that Google has violated antitrust laws to maintain its search title, but the company claims that it does so by providing a superior product.
The Justice Department sued Google for civil antitrust in late 2020 after a year-long investigation.
“If the government does not enforce the antitrust laws to enable competition, we will lose the next wave of innovation,” said then-Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen. “If that happens, Americans may never see the ‘next Google.’”
A large coalition of state attorneys general filed their own parallel suit against Google, but Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the states did not meet the bar to go to trial with their search ranking complaints.
The search business case against Google is separate from a federal antitrust lawsuit filed earlier this year. The Justice Department claims Google used “anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means” to neutralize threats to its digital advertising empire in that lawsuit.
Justice Department attorney Kenneth Dintzer set the stakes for the first major tech antitrust trial since Microsoft’s late 1990s reckoning on Tuesday. “This case is about the future of the internet, and whether Google’s search engine will ever face meaningful competition,” Dintzer said.
Beginning the trial, the government focused on Google’s deals with phone makers, most notably Apple, that give its search product top billing on new devices. Dintzer claimed that Google maintains and grows its search engine dominance by paying $10 billion annually for those arrangements.
“This feedback loop, this wheel, has been turning for more than 12 years,” he said. “And it always benefits Google.”
Google lawyer John Schmidtlein refuted that claim, hinting at the company’s legal defense in the coming weeks.
“Users today have more search options and more ways to access information online than ever before,” Schmidtlein said. Google will argue that it competes with Amazon, Expedia, and DoorDash, as well as Microsoft’s Bing search engine.
Google planted the seeds for this defense. According to internal research, Google Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan said last year that more young people are using TikTok to search for information than Google Search.
In our studies, almost 40% of young people don’t use Google Maps or Search to find lunch, Raghavan said. “They use TikTok or Instagram.”
Google will be decided by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in the coming months. We’re far from that decision, but the company could be fined heavily or ordered to sell parts of its business.
The trial could change Google’s digital empire if the Justice Department wins. Other tech companies that dominated online markets in the last decade are also watching. If the government fails to hold an iconic Silicon Valley giant accountable, big tech will likely continue its aggressive growth trajectory.
If the Justice Department succeeds, the next decade could be different. The industry-wide reckoning could cripple incumbents and allow upstarts to define the next era of the internet, wresting the future from tech titans.
Android
India warns of Android malware threats

India has warned its residents of an advanced Android malware that can access sensitive data and give hackers control over affected devices.
Indian Defence Ministry’s Controller General of Defence Accounts issued an advice on DogeRAT, a Remote Access Trojan discovered by cybersecurity company CloudSEK. The letter added the malware, which targets Android users in India, is spread via social networking and messaging platforms like ChatGPT, Opera Mini, and “premium versions” of YouTube, Netflix, and Instagram.
“Once installed on a victim’s device, the malware gains unauthorized access to sensitive data including contacts, messages and banking credentials,” the August 24 advisory stated.
The statement added the malware can hijack affected devices and send spam, make illicit payments, change files, take images and keystrokes, track the user’s location, and record audio.
The advisory notes that fraudsters recently utilized Telegram to spread fraudulent versions of ChatGPT, Instagram, Opera Mini, and YouTube. The threat’s origin is unknown.
The Defense Ministry advises its agencies and officials to avoid downloading apps from unknown third-party platforms and clicking on links from unknown senders. Install an antivirus program and update handsets with the newest software and security updates.
In late May, CloudSEK blogged that Java-based open-source Android spyware targeted banking and entertainment users. The startup also emphasized that while much of the marketing initially targeted Indian people, it is designed to be worldwide.
CloudSEK researchers said DogeRAT’s author demonstrated on GitHub that a Telegram bot and an open-source NodeJS app hosting platform could begin the malware campaign.
Local news outlet Moneycontrol reported the advisory’s emergency.
Cybersecurity breaches have increased in India, the world’s second-largest internet market after China, due to digitization. The Indian IT ministry recorded 192,439 government department cybersecurity incidents in 2022, up 171% from 70,798 in 2018.
Last year, a major cybersecurity breach hit India’s largest public medical facility, AIIMS in New Delhi. The administration told lawmakers in December that the ransomware attack affected five servers with 1.3 gigabytes of data.
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