Tag: Google

Be Careful, Searches May Provide False Download links

If you’re downloading software from the web, be careful.  Take the extra step of verifying that you’re on the developer’s website, because the hackers have a new trick up their sleeve.  It’s actually a deceptively simple one.

Hackers are buying ads on Google and Bing’s search engines, with the links in their ads pointing to malicious sites they control.

This is an almost shockingly simple technique, and broadly speaking, it works like this:

Searches are keyword-based.

Anyone can bid for advertising space on the major search engines.  The higher you bid on any given search term, the more often your ad gets displayed.

Ads are always displayed at the top of the search results, with the organic results coming below them.  Bid high enough on a high traffic keyword, and your ad gets seen by lots of people.

The danger, of course, is that people tend to trust search engine results to take them where they want to go. Often, users won’t pay much attention to the site URL they’re being directed to.  Hackers take advantage of that fact, putting poisoned sites literally right under the noses of unsuspecting users.

Recently, researchers discovered that if you search the term “Chrome download” on Bing, the ad that most commonly gets displayed doesn’t take you to Google’s download area. It takes you to a poisoned site that offers malware disguised as Chrome, and a high percentage of users are clicking the link and downloading without paying attention to where they are.

This kind of campaign is possible because hackers are making tons of money elsewhere, stealing personal information and reselling it.  They’ve got money to spend, and are spending it to further extend their reach.

The lesson here is simple: Even if you’re on a popular search engine, pay close attention to where the links are leading on the search results page.  Failing to do so can have tragic and expensive consequences.

Google Wants Children Watching YouTube Kids App

More often than not, Google is seen as a force for good on the internet. However, in one area in particular, their actions and words haven’t been in alignment, and it’s gotten them in trouble.

Here’s Google’s official statement about their YouTube Kids service:

“Protecting kids and families has always been a top priority for us.  Because YouTube is not for children, we’ve invested significantly in the creation of the YouTube Kids app to offer an alternative specifically designed for children.”

That statement is true as far as it goes, but there’s an important catch.  The YouTube Kids app is frustratingly difficult to get.  You can’t install it on your Xbox.  Most smart TV’s on the market today don’t support it, and you can’t put it on a PC.  Aside from a few models of LG and Sony smart TVs, and smartphones, it’s just not an option.

Contrast that with the regular YouTube app, which has been rolled out to just about every platform there is, and it’s easy to see where Google’s primary focus is.

It’s not hard to understand the reasoning behind the difference in availability.  One of the key differences between YouTube and YouTube Kids is that the latter doesn’t have targeted advertising, while the former does. Google makes a lot of money on YouTube ads.  It’s simple economics.

Unfortunately, it’s also gotten the company into hot water.  They’ve had complaints from more than 20 consumer advocacy groups, who have banded together and taken their case to the FTC.

In part, the complaint reads as follows:

“Google has made substantial profits from the collection and use of personal data from children on YouTube.  Its illegal collection has been going on for many years and involves tens of millions of US children.”

Ultimately, what the advocacy groups want is for Google to move all kid-centric content over to YouTube kids. However, the company would be extremely reluctant to do that because their kid-friendly app has such limited availability.

This is a thorny issue with no easy answers, and at this point, it’s unclear how Google is going to respond to the complaint.

G-Mail Users Will Soon Have To Use New Design

<img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-7970 alignleft” src=”https://www.securepc-wi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/gmail-resized.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”225″ />Change is coming, and not everyone is happy about it.  Recently, Google redesigned its G-mail interface, and since then, they’ve allowed their free users to opt into the new changes.  G-Suite users may or may not see the option to try the new interface, depending on whether their administrators have enabled the option and made it visible.

The company just announced that beginning in July, 2018, administrators will be required to give all users the ability to opt into the new interface.  Then, sometime in September 2018, all users will be switched to the new interface by default, although the option to switch back to the old interface will be available for approximately one month.  After that, the option to use the old interface will vanish, and all G-Suite users will only be able to use G-Mail using the new interface.

The company has not made any official announcement regarding users who have free G-Mail accounts. However, most industry insiders expect that given the timetable outlined above for G-Suite users, free G-Mail users can expect an email or other communication from Google about when the option to use the old interface will be going away for good.  Ultimately, Google means for everyone to use their new interface design, and will certainly enforce that.

Google’s handling of the change has been exceptional.  Change comes to us all, and in business, sometimes it can descend at a terrifying pace.  Only by slowing things down to a more human scale can you give your employees time to adapt and grow accustomed to the coming change.

Kudos to Google for a job well done, and business owners, take note.  Change may be inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be scary.  Just give your employees time to get used to the idea.

Google Changing Name Of Android Wear Without Updates

Wearable computing devices from smart watches to glasses are struggling to find an audience, and Google’s Android Wear operating system hasn’t gotten much love in recent years.  It has weakened as major players in the tech space have struggled to find a market for these products. On the face of it, these products would seem to be wildly popular, but still haven’t quite captured the imaginations of a critical mass of the consuming public.

Google’s recent announcement that it was rebranding Android Wear to “Wear OS,” is the most significant move we’ve seen in over a year. However, without significant updates, simply changing the name isn’t going to improve the OS’s visibility or viability.

The name change was driven by the fact that when the OS was first released, it appeared only on smart watches, but the company later added iPhone compatibility, which made the name less than perfectly applicable.  In a blog post related to the rebranding effort, Google referred to Wear OS as “a wearables operating system for everyone.”

It’s hard to make a convincing argument that Google is all that interested in wearables.  One needs only to compare the company’s handling of Wear OS with the way Apple handles wearable products and OS’s.

We had to wait two and a half years between the version 1.0 and version 2.0 of Wear OS.  Android Wear was released more than 13 years ago, and since its release, the company hasn’t made any updates or announcements except for the recent blog post announcing its rebranding.

There are some signs that Google has long term plans for the floundering operating system, though.  The company has been recruiting high-profile brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors, Hugo Boss, Guess, Gc, Fossil and others to make and sell Android watches.  It will be interesting to see what the company does in coming months.

Google Cracking Down On 3rd Party Browser Extension Installs

Malicious code can wind up on your PC or phone by any number of roads.  Companies do their best to guard the digital passes, but invariably, things get missed and the hackers find a way in.  It’s a constant battle, and sadly, one that the good guys are losing.

Recently Google has stepped up its efforts, this time by focusing on Chrome browser extensions installed by third parties.  By the end of the year, no extensions will be allowed on Chrome except for those acquired via the Web Store.

James Wagner, Google’s Product Manager for the Extensions Platform, had this to say on the topic:

“We continue to receive large volumes of complaints from users about unwanted extensions causing their Chrome experience to change unexpectedly – and the majority of these complaints are attributed to confusing or deceptive uses of inline installation on websites.”

It’s a thorny problem, but industry experts broadly agree that Google is taking the right approach here.  Beginning in September, Google plans to disable the “inline installation” feature for all existing extensions.  The user will instead be redirected to the Chrome Web Store where they’ll have the option to install the extension straight from the source.

Then, in December 2018, the company will remove the inline install API from Chrome 71, which should solve the problem decisively.

Of course, hackers being hackers will no doubt find a way around that, but kudos to Google for taking decisive action here.  While browser extensions aren’t a major attack vector, it’s troublesome enough that Google’s attention is most welcome.

It should be noted that one of the indirect benefits of Google’s plan is that it further bolsters the importance of user ratings of extensions.  They’re highly visible on the Web Store, so anyone who’s considering installing something has a good, “at-a-glance” way of telling whether the extension is good or a scam. That’s information they wouldn’t get had the extension been installed inline.

Again, kudos to Google!

Apple Will Officially No Longer Sell Routers

After more than two decades in the business, Apple is officially going to stop selling routers.  The writing has been on the wall for a while now, since the company’s “AirPort” family of products hasn’t received a significant update in more than five years.

When Apple first introduced its AirPort product line, wireless computing was still something of a rarity, and Apple’s offerings were ahead of their time.  In the years between then and now though, the market has changed significantly.  Unfortunately, Apple’s product line never really changed with it.

These days the competition is fierce with industry giants like Google and Linksys both offering great options for power users. With the rise of mesh networks, the AirPort product line has fallen increasingly behind the times.

The company announced that it would sell its existing AirPort product inventory and support its current user base for the time being, but after that, it would quietly fade away.  The company has simply moved on and has redirected its efforts toward other initiatives.

In looking at the broader market, it’s not a huge blow. Of course, if you own and use an AirPort product, now is the time to begin casting about for alternatives.  The clock is ticking, and once Apple sheds its existing inventory, we can expect to get an end of support date from them. This will leave any AirPort products still in operation at that point increasingly vulnerable to a variety of hacks.

Even so, given how ubiquitous wireless networking is these days, and how many powerful options are out there, finding a replacement for your AirPort product shouldn’t present too much of a challenge.  Just make sure your IT staff knows that the end is nigh, so they can get a replacement in place before the clock runs out.