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Google is rolling out some important changes that will make it easier for people who use their services to control their data.

They’re starting with their most widely used service, which is search.  In the weeks ahead, it will be easier than ever for users to delete their search history, on both PC and Android devices.

The official company announcement reads, in part, as follows:

“Today, we’re making it easier for you to make decisions about your data directly within the Google products you use every day, starting with Search.  Without ever leaving Search, you can now review and delete your recent Search activity, get quick access to the most relevant privacy controls in your Google Account, and learn more about how Search works with your data.

For example, to control the ads you see when you search, we give you access to your Ad Settings.  Additionally, you can access your Activity Controls to decide what information Google saves to your account and uses to make Search and other Google services faster, smarter, and more useful.”

As things stand now, the only way it’s possible to access this kind of information and see how Google uses your data is by using your Google Account.  The coming change makes it substantially easier, and Search is just the tip of the iceberg.  Next year, similar changes will be coming to Google Maps, with other services following behind those two.

This is good news, and the early response from privacy advocates has been positive.  Of course, the jury will still be out until we see the new implementation in action. However, based on the announcement, these changes represent a big step forward that will put more control in the hands of the individual user. That can’t be seen as anything other than a positive development.

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Security in the Android ecosystem is awful.  There’s just no other word to describe it.

In large part, the blame for that can be placed at the feet of Google.  Although they have succeeded in creating a wildly successful platform, their management of OEM devices (in particular, security updates for them) have been virtually nonexistent.

This has led to a situation where many device manufacturers don’t bother to push critical updates at all.  It costs money to do so, and until now, there hasn’t been a downside for failing to.  That, however, is about to change.

Recently, Google announced some big changes coming to their OEM agreements that would require Android device manufacturers to roll out security updates on a regular basis.

The company offered few details when the announcement was made, but since that time, an unverified copy of the new contract was leaked and obtained by The Verge.  It sheds some additional light on what’s coming.

Specifically, the new agreement requires OEMs to regularly schedule updates for any device launched after January 31, 2018 if that device has been activated by more than 100,000 users.  OEMs will be required to provide security updates for a minimum of two years.

In addition to that, they must make updates that address security vulnerabilities available to their customers no more than 90 days after the patch is released.  Taken together these two pieces of information point to the fact that OEMs will be required to issue quarterly updates to their customers, at a minimum.

It’s a good move and one that’s long overdue.  When this new agreement becomes official corporate policy, it will have an almost immediate, profound impact on security in the Android ecosystem.  While it’s far from a perfect solution, it represents a very good beginning.

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IBM has recently announced what is to be the largest open source acquisition in history.  They’re buying Red Hat for a staggering $34 billion dollars.  This, as the saying goes, changes everything.

IBM has lagged behind its competitors for years in the area of cloud computing.  When the ink dries on this deal, they’ll move from a virtual non-entity in the market to the world’s #1 hybrid cloud provider.

If you’re a Red Hat supporter, don’t worry that the company is going away.  The company is to retain its independence.  Rather than being rolled into the corporate structure of IBM, it will be run as a distinct entity and will continue to be led by Red Hat’s current CEO, Jim Whitehurst.  Red Hat’s headquarters, facilities and their corporate culture will all remain intact.

Whitehurst himself had this to say about the announcement:

“…Importantly, Red Hat is still Red Hat.  When the transaction closes, as I noted above, we will be a distinct unit within IBM, and I will report directly to IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.  Our unwavering commitment to open source innovation remains unchanged.

The independence IBM has committed to will allow Red Hat to continue building the broad ecosystem that enables customer choice and has been integral to open source’s success in the enterprise.”

At this point, most of the hurdles standing in the way of the acquisition have been cleared.  All that remains is gaining Red Hat shareholder and regulatory approval, both of which are deemed likely.  Assuming there are no unexpected wrinkles in the plan, the deal is expected to be finalized sometime during the second half of 2019.

IBM has long supported Linux and other open source initiatives, and this deal is unlikely to change that. That is one of the reasons the proposed deal is unlikely to meet much resistance from either Red Hat’s shareholders or governmental regulatory agencies.

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If you take a lot of photos with your Android device, you’re probably constantly on the lookout for a better way to organize them and access them.  That’s exactly what the authors of the malicious app called “The Album, by Google Photos” are hoping for.

The app put in a brief appearance on the Microsoft store, where it claimed to be from Google but it’s clearly not.  Unfortunately, the authors have gone to great lengths to make it appear legitimate, and as such, it has been downloaded and installed an alarming number of times.

When this app is installed and run for the first time, users are presented with a (legitimate) Google sign in page.  It is not known whether the authors of the app siphon user login credentials from this page, but it’s certainly possible. So if you have installed the app but haven’t run it yet, don’t log in.

Once you’re logged in, the app will connect to a malicious URL and download a configuration file.  Using the information contained in the config file, it will begin running in the background, displaying ads invisibly and then clicking on them, earning revenue for the app’s creators and slowing your Android device to a crawl in the process.

Note that the authors were careful, but only to a point.  Although the ads themselves are invisible, if those ads have an audio component, the user will hear the sounds associated with the ad, although of course, they won’t have any clear indication of where the sounds are coming from.  This is, in fact, how researchers became aware of the malicious nature of the app.

If you’ve downloaded this app, please uninstall it immediately.  Doing so will improve your device’s performance and stop those sounds that have no apparent source from troubling you further.

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Anthem is one of the largest insurance providers in the United States. Unfortunately in 2015, they had the dubious honor of suffering the largest health data breach in history. It left protected health information of nearly 79 million of their customers exposed.

As a result, a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services called the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), levied the largest fine against the company in the agency’s history. They were fined a staggering sixteen million dollars.

An investigation into the matter revealed that Anthem had not put sufficient safeguards in place to protect patient data. As a result, hackers were able to breach the system via a phishing attack and make off with customer names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, email addresses and employment information.

The Director of OCR, Roger Serverino, had this to say:

“The largest health data breach in US history fully merits the largest HIPAA settlement in history.  Unfortunately, Anthem failed to implement appropriate measures for detecting hackers who had gained access to their system to harvest passwords and steal people’s private information.  We know that large health care entities are attractive targets for hackers, which is why they are expected to have strong password policies and to monitor and respond to security incidents in a timely fashion or risk enforcement by OCR.”

Tim Sadler, the CEO of Tessian, added the following:

“During the three years since the Anthem breach took place, spear-phishing attacks have increased significantly in their indistinguishability and effectiveness.  Yet human error has remained inherent, inevitable, and largely ignored as a security vulnerability by organizations.”

He concluded his remarks by pointing out that advanced AI algorithms and machine learning could be employed to help spot the kinds of attacks used to such great effect against Anthem, in order to minimize the risks going forward.

If your business is in any way connected to the healthcare industry, this approach certainly bears further investigation.

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Move over Facebook. Where teens are concerned, Instagram reigns supreme, according to a recently published survey.

Piper Jaffray has been tracking how teenagers use the internet for nearly twenty years, and the second report of this year has some interesting findings indeed.

Here are the highlights:

85 percent of teens report using Instagram at least once a month, up from 79 percent in the fall of 2016.

84 percent of teens report using Snapchat at least once a month, up from 80 percent in the fall of 2016.

Just 36 percent of teens report using Facebook at least once a month, down from 52 percent in the fall of 2016.

In terms of their favorite social media platforms, here’s how things look as of this year:

Snapchat in first place with 46 percent

Instagram in second place with 32 percent

Twitter a distant third with six percent

Facebook fourth with just five percent

Interestingly, more teens still use Instagram, but the survey revealed that when the teens were asked which platform they prefer, Snapchat still wins the day.

The survey revealed the reason behind the seeming disconnect.  Instagram is the social media channel of choice when it comes to brand engagement of teens, with an overwhelming majority of teens preferring to be contacted by brands via Instagram.

It should be noted, however, that Snapchat is improving in this regard, but industry insiders are doubtful that Snapchat will be able to overcome Instagram’s dominance in brand engagement. This is because Instagram has been focusing heavily on improving engagement with the youngest cohort of the teen set.

Unless the company makes a major misstep in handling that segment of the demographic, they’re unlikely to lose them in the longer term.  Meanwhile, Facebook has become the bastion of older users.  Mom and dad check their Facebook accounts.  Teens check Instagram.

If your business markets products to teens, this is good information to know.  If you don’t have a robust presence on Instagram, then your social media isn’t doing as much for you as it could be.

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