[Chuck Finley69]

I am pretty sure after the Lois Lerner debacle, no one "trusts" the IRS. We fork over information to them because we have to pay taxes. The massive breaches at the US Office of Personnel Management, in which security clearance records (and _believe_ me: You don't get more nosy and personal than that..!) were stolen by the truckload, simply shows that where and whenever possible, we should deny access to our data. There's nothing magical about Google's powers to protect the information filched from their customers; and there's certainly nothing terribly benevolent about their intentions.

As far as the credit reporting companies, I locked down my credit years ago, as soon as it became legal. The thieving wretches at Experian did us all the favor of proving me right...

That's my point. Individual hacks are troublesome but that's not what GPS or Android data mining is. Institutional hacks of my data are my concern and there's nothing that denying permissions on my phone does to fix that.

I don't think Google protects my data any better and they don't have anything like the big players have of my data. The data I share with Google pales in comparison to all the others. Worrying about Google to me, is like bringing a knife when you really need a gun....

[RaybanRJ]

I am pretty sure after the Lois Lerner debacle, no one "trusts" the IRS. We fork over information to them because we have to pay taxes. The massive breaches at the US Office of Personnel Management, in which security clearance records (and _believe_ me: You don't get more nosy and personal than that..!) were stolen by the truckload, simply shows that where and whenever possible, we should deny access to our data. There's nothing magical about Google's powers to protect the information filched from their customers; and there's certainly nothing terribly benevolent about their intentions.

As far as the credit reporting companies, I locked down my credit years ago, as soon as it became legal. The thieving wretches at Experian did us all the favor of proving me right...

Looks like Uber can’t be trusted also, 57 million accounts with personal info hacked and they tried to cover it up.


I found an interesting article via Newsfusion Cyber Security News - I thought you might like it:http://go.newsfusion.com/security/item/1085327

[RaybanRJ]

Here is the next big concern this year, buying your kids/Grandkids smart toys for Christmas

I found an interesting article via Newsfusion Cyber Security News - I thought you might like it:http://go.newsfusion.com/security/item/1085235

[RaybanRJ]

To me, the real security threats are the smaller institutions that don't spend enough money to secure their systems. Small financial institutions, credit rating agencies, cloud storage services, etc etc.

Cloud storage would be the gold trophy for hackers because why hack a few when you can get 50 million instead.

The big thing right now are pilshers and fake shopping websites, and they look convincing enough where millions will fall for it and enter all of their credit card information. So it is important to have an App Store you can trust that does not allow fake shopping apps, that is rule number 1.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwas...rmonday-scams/

[conite]

The big thing right now are pilshers and fake shopping websites,

I'm not interested in that. That only affects dumb people, and I'm not dumb.

[David Tyler]

Cloud storage would be the gold trophy for hackers because why hack a few when you can get 50 million instead.

Seriously. I've never understood the appeal of "the cloud." I back up my stuff to TB disk drives that live here in my house.

[RaybanRJ]

Seriously. I've never understood the appeal of "the cloud." I back up my stuff to TB disk drives that live here in my house.

Only thing I allow in the cloud are my contacts and my apps for when I get a new device a new iPad another new iPhone or whatever it’s pretty nice not having to set up every single contact from scratch. Even keeps you logged in so in some cases you don’t even have the inconvenience of requiring to enter your password again once you get your new device set up. My view is Apple’s a pretty big company with hundreds of millions of users so I don’t think they really care about my passwords or what’s on my cloud, but individual hackers yes, I care about that. But I don’t allow my personal photos on the cloud, etc and with iOS you can pick and choose what you allow to go on there.

Basically I think the idea behind iCloud was extra storage for your device because 16 GB or 32 GB on the hard drive just doesn’t cut it and people need to store certain items and Apple gives you five gigs of data free on the cloud with the option to buy more if you need it.

I know nothing about Google cloud but I know I wouldn’t trust it because it says google ;-)

[David Tyler]

...Worrying about Google to me, is like bringing a knife when you really need a gun...

I get your point; really -- but while I can't do anything about the IRS (other than badger my Congressman), I _can_, with very little trouble, minimize the extent to which The Goog can "cop a feel" from my phone.

I'll happily concede that I can't just "go off the grid," but that doesn't mean I gotta just let The Goog rummage around in my phone.

Norbert Weiner famously told Claude Shannon, "Information is entropy." He was mathematically correct, of course; but information is really _power_.

[RaybanRJ]

I'm not interested in that. That only affects dumb people, and I'm not dumb.

I’m sure there were plenty of intelligent doctors and lawyers, scientists and university professors that fell for the Android Fake Whatsapp app that was in the Google Playstore. In fact with over 1 million people “falling” for it I am willing to bet many were highly intelligent.

I am glad you are above that.

[conite]

I’m sure there were plenty of intelligent doctors and lawyers, scientists and university professors that fell for the Android Fake Whatsapp app that was in the Google Playstore. In fact with over 1 million people “falling” for it I am willing to bet many were highly intelligent.

I am glad you are above that.

Dumb/lazy/inexperienced - whatever. Phishing has been around a long time. I know a guy in Nigeria I can hook you up with.

[RaybanRJ]

Dumb/lazy/inexperienced - whatever. Phishing has been around a long time. I know a guy in Nigeria I can hook you up with.

Well unfortunately those lazy inexperienced intelligent people will become a problem when they eventually SUE Google or Android because there was a fake App in the Playstore. So perhaps Google should stay on top of the apps in their Playstore. If only companies stayed on top of this aspect......oh wait......yeah.........Apple does.

[conite]

Well unfortunately those lazy inexperienced intelligent people will become a problem when they eventually SUE Google or Android because there was a fake App in the Playstore. So perhaps Google should stay on top of the apps in their Playstore. If only companies stayed on top of this aspect......oh wait......yeah.........Apple does.

It's not a question of differing effort.

As Google Play Store is king, attackers that successfully circumvent the security systems is like a badge of honour. If Apple had 85% of the market, the situation would likely be the reverse.

As your buddy at Check Point, Michael Shaulov, says "Google invests a lot of resources in defence, but the popularity of Android and the shift into Mobile devices just increases the amount of attacks on the platform".

Google has reduced "potentially" harmful apps downloaded through Play Store to less than 0.05% in 2016. In addition, someone with a good head on his shoulders would be vulnerable to only a small fraction of that.

[RaybanRJ]

It's not a question of differing effort.

As Google Play Store is king, attackers that successfully circumvent the security systems is like a badge of honour. If Apple had 85% of the market, the situation would likely be the reverse.

As your buddy at Check Point, Michael Shaulov, says "Google invests a lot of resources in defence, but the popularity of Android and the shift into Mobile devices just increases the amount of attacks on the platform".

Google has reduced "potentially" harmful apps downloaded through Play Store to less than 0.05% in 2016. In addition, someone with a good head on his shoulders would be vulnerable to only a small fraction of that.

Question, do you own a DTek50 or 60? I would like to know if the Blackberry security software built in detects a fake GooglePlay app and if so does it alert the user?

If so, this might be one Android device worth considering.

Control in the app stores is still important as millions still fall victim to fake apps.

[RaybanRJ]

Google has reduced "potentially" harmful apps downloaded through Play Store to less than 0.05% in 2016. .

Sure but it took them a LONG time to do it and people were waiting months before Google did the App Purge to remove them.

Every app with ios is verified and has to pass regulations before it is allowed, and if the app developer breaks a rule (like not reformatting to 64 Bit devices) then it is pulled from the store.

If security is a priority like it seems to be with Apple for the App Store then I do not believe if the numbers were greater for the amount of apps Apple had, would make any difference in the number of hackers. Right now Apple has 2.2 million apps android has 2.6, that difference is negligible but hackers will still always attack the weakest link and that weakest link right now is android and Google play store.

[Chuck Finley69]

Question, do you own a DTek50 or 60? I would like to know if the Blackberry security software built in detects a fake GooglePlay app and if so does it alert the user?

If so, this might be one Android device worth considering.

Control in the app stores is still important as millions still fall victim to fake apps.

I don't think BB software detect Android malware or phishing apps that are in GPS. I believe if app clears Google Play Store algorithms and scans, it's assumed trusted but I'm not an IT guy.

KEYone and Motion have same DTEK software. Don't bother with PRIV or DTEK hardware and just go straight to new BBMo devices.

[RaybanRJ]

I don't think BB software detect Android malware or phishing apps that are in GPS. I believe if app clears Google Play Store algorithms and scans, it's assumed trusted but I'm not an IT guy.

KEYone and Motion have same DTEK software. Don't bother with PRIV or DTEK hardware and just go straight to new BBMo devices.

OK I was always wondering about that.

[idssteve]

The IRS doesn't "officially" possess your real time GPS coordinates... unless they've pilfered that data from someone like Google... lol.

So long as "megaCorps" value profit, they'll at least attempt to project an image of "caring" about privacy... lol. Governments suffer no such "profit" motivations. And they certainly suffer no inhibitions about helping themselves to "publicly available" data collected by "private" entities like Google... or even BIS, for that matter...

Thing about life in a herd... don't have to be invisible to predators... just less visible than your neighbor... lol.

Engineers almost never pronounce ANYthing as "safe". Only "safer". Lol. BIS itself and even green cash in wallet provide no guarantees. Only a redundancy of survival strategies. Redundancy that might, or might not, prove successful strategy for propagating genetic adaptability. Generations surviving mass extinctions frequently evolve out of "outlier" survivors. Outliers also risk becoming dinner for Sabre Tooth Tigers, outside of the "security" of the herd... humanity's evolution is a product of both communal and outlier strategies.

I'm just glad to be able to pull battery on 9900, if ever wanted... lol.

[conite]

Question, do you own a DTek50 or 60? I would like to know if the Blackberry security software built in detects a fake GooglePlay app and if so does it alert the user?

If so, this might be one Android device worth considering.

Control in the app stores is still important as millions still fall victim to fake apps.

I own all BlackBerry Android devices.

Play Protect scans for issues with apps.

Integrity Detection scans for unusual behaviour and for changes to system files.

"It’s like a personal security guard for your smartphone, exclusive to BlackBerry Android.

Technically speaking, BlackBerry Integrity Detection (BID for short) is a trusted/secure background process running at the system level, that monitors the device for known security vulnerabilities. The BID service has its definitions updated regularly (silently) to ensure that you’re protected against existing and future exploits.

When you combine this with BlackBerry’s aggressive OS patching strategy, our choice to embed security into our hardware and DTEK’s customization, it’s clear how BlackBerry’s Android is second-to-none for security and privacy."

[conite]

Every app with ios is verified and has to pass regulations before it is allowed, and if the app developer breaks a rule (like not reformatting to 64 Bit devices) then it is pulled from the store.

Google does the same as Apple.

[RaybanRJ]

I own all BlackBerry Android devices.

Play Protect scans for issues with apps.

Integrity Detection scans for unusual behaviour and for changes to system files.

"It’s like a personal security guard for your smartphone, exclusive to BlackBerry Android.

Technically speaking, BlackBerry Integrity Detection (BID for short) is a trusted/secure background process running at the system level, that monitors the device for known security vulnerabilities. The BID service has its definitions updated regularly (silently) to ensure that you’re protected against existing and future exploits.

When you combine this with BlackBerry’s aggressive OS patching strategy, our choice to embed security into our hardware and DTEK’s customization, it’s clear how BlackBerry’s Android is second-to-none for security and privacy."

That’s good to hear because if I ever get an android that would have to be it.

[mushroom_daddy]

Well I've ordered a KEYone today, going to the dark side, dancing with devil etc.
I've been using an Android slab (as a play phone) for a couple of years, so have few worries about the move. The fact is, if you want a new BlackBerry, with a pkb, there's only one place to go right now.
I expect to keep using my 9900 and Q10 for some time but I know that sooner or later there will be a need to jump to an alternative smartphone OS.
Ironically, it was my efforts to keep the 9900 running as a 'daily driver' that pulled me nearer to Google. G mail (and the calendar) syncs much better than most others I have used (GMX, mac/me mail). Most of my personal mail now gets routed into Gmail so that I can easily pick it up on my 9900.

-- posted via CB10 on my Q10 --

[Frehley]

Now I have this mental image of kids typing with two fingers, like Lou Grant and Wojohowitz.

Wow, who rembers Whojohowitz! Great TV show!...Anyone want to guess the name of the show?

[RaybanRJ]

Wow, who rembers Whojohowitz! Great TV show!...Anyone want to guess the name of the show?

BM

[RaybanRJ]

Wow, who rembers Whojohowitz! Great TV show!...Anyone want to guess the name of the show?

Is Hal Linden still alive??

[Frehley]

Is Hal Linden still alive??

Yep, still plugging along...working in a play onstage in Washington DC...86 years old.