Google recently started testing a new SafetyNet check that might spell trouble for rooted Android devices. It cross-checks your SafetyNet status with Google remote servers, making it impossible to fool by normal means. If Magisk shows you pass SafetyNet and you're still having issues, you might be affected by this change.
Penetration testing, or pentesting, is the process of probing a network or system by simulating an attack, which is used to find vulnerabilities that could be exploited by a malicious actor. The main goal of a pentest is to identify security holes and weaknesses so that the organization being tested can fix any potential issues. In a professional penetration test, there are six phases you should know.
It took a while, but the premiere custom recovery for Android is now available for Google's Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, so it's finally open season on root mods.
We are now in the age of 5G. Carriers worldwide are upgrading their networks to the newest standard for mobile, which will dramatically improve your phone experience. How? By giving it download speeds and latency that surpass Wi-Fi. But before you upgrade, there are few things you should know first.
With protests springing up across America, there's a chance you may have your first interaction with law enforcement. Many demonstrators will have their phones in-hand to film the action, which, sadly, could prompt an officer to demand the device and any self-incriminating data it may contain. Before this happens, you should know there are tools at your disposal to protect your data in such situations.
No doubt, you've heard a lot about 5G lately. This might have you looking at your current 4G phone and lamenting your inability to connect to the faster network. But is 5G worth buying a new phone over, and should you buy one right now?
In many urban areas, GPS doesn't work well. Buildings reflect GPS signals on themselves to create a confusing mess for phones to sort out. As a result, most modern devices determine their location using a blend of techniques, including nearby Wi-Fi networks. By using SkyLift to create fake networks known to be in other areas, we can manipulate where a device thinks it is with an ESP8266 microcontroller.
At its core, Android TV's software is the same as the OS running on 87% of all smartphones. But it doesn't always feel that way, with its version of the Play Store only having 5,000 apps (or 0.2% of all Android apps). To access the remaining 99.8% of apps, you will need to sideload them.
One of the benefits of Blu-ray and DVD is the ability to share discs with friends and family without any hassle. Want to show off your favorite movie? Just lend them your copy. A digital movie isn't so kind, as it's typically locked to the account that purchased it. But now there is a way to share your digitally purchased movies with friends and family — and it won't cost you or them a dime.
Smartphones are inherently bad for privacy. You've basically got a tracking device in your pocket, pinging off cell towers and locking onto GPS satellites. All the while, tracking cookies, advertising IDs, and usage stats follow you around the internet.
Arduino is a language that's easy to learn and supported on many incredibly low-cost devices, two of which are the $2 Digispark and a $3 ESP8266-based board. We can program these devices in Arduino to hijack the Wi-Fi data connection of any unlocked macOS computer in seconds, and we can even have it send data from the target device to our low-cost evil access point.
Despite some of the biggest players in tech still lagging in terms of offering smartglasses options, there are nevertheless a number of smartglasses makers, including North and Vuzix, with consumer-grade smartglasses on the market right now.
Choosing a movie to watch at home can be incredibly difficult when you don't already have one in mind. But there's a shortcut for your iPhone that can make it easier to browse your streaming media services for something good to play. More specifically, it lets you browse Netflix and Amazon Prime at the same time.
We all want to be healthy, but in practice, it can be tricky, especially from the fitness angle. Our lives seem busier and busier, which makes hitting the gym quite the challenge. What if we told you there was a real way to work on your fitness in the comfort of your own home — in just seven minutes a day? All you need is a chair, a wall, and a 7-minute workout app.
You can't predict the future, but you can prepare for it. On the off chance that you get hurt in a car accident, take a nasty tumble, fall down a cliff, have a seizure, or get struck by lightning, it's always good to carry up-to-date information about your health in case you can't speak for yourself. A physical medical ID wallet card or bracelet can provide the information, but so can your iPhone.
Pyrit is one of the most powerful WPA/WPA2 cracking tools in a hacker's arsenal, with the ability to benchmark a computer's CPU speeds, analyze capture files for crackable handshakes, and even tap into GPU password-cracking power. To demonstrate how quickly it can hack a WPA/WPA2 password, we'll use it to play a Wi-Fi hacking CTF game anyone can practice for less than $10.
Apple said goodbye to iTunes with the release of macOS Catalina, breaking up music, videos, and podcasts into their own respective apps, Music, TV, and Podcasts. But without iTunes, what app's in charge of interfacing with your iPhone? That would be Finder, and you use it to sync your iPhone, as well as back it up and archive backups for emergency restores.
When Facebook launched its first hardware products last year, the Portal and Portal+ smart displays, the company mostly touted its video-calling features as it faced off against Amazon and its Echo Show.
We've all seen the login pages that allow you to log in to third-party accounts using your credentials from Facebook, Google, or Twitter. It saves you the trouble of creating another account and remembering more passwords — but it can also become a privacy and security issue, which is why Apple created the "Sign in with Apple" feature for iOS 13.
When Apple acquired the popular Workflow app in 2017, many were worried that it would either get replaced with something much worse, or just disappear entirely. Thankfully, Apple put these concerns to rest with the launch of Shortcuts. In iOS 13, Shortcuts is becoming more powerful than ever, providing functionality on the iPhone that the original Workflow team could only dream of.
Apple Maps has had a rough lifecycle. After completely dropping the ball during its inception, Apple has been slowly improving its usability and feature set. After six and a half years, users still prefer third-party apps in iOS 12 over Apple Maps, with Google Maps stealing a large 67% market share. But iOS 13 for iPhone may finally close the gap.
iPhones with Face ID all retail for at least $999, which many still believe is just too much for a smartphone. But that's okay, because Apple just introduced the iPhone 11 for roughly $700. It's not necessarily the best value, though, because the iPhone 11 already has some stiff competition in this price range.
After months of back and forth, ZTE is finally making their return to the United States. The last phone the Chinese company released here was the Axon 7 Pro, a low priced flagship phone that competed well against the OnePlus 3 and 3T at the time. Its successor is the Axon 10 Pro, which adopts the same strategy.
There's something extremely satisfying about hunting down your online adversaries and knocking them out with a well-placed shot, which probably explains why shooting games are still one some of the most popular time killers for iOS and Android.
Microsoft.com is one of the most extensive domains on the internet with thousands of registered subdomains. Windows 10 will ping these subdomains hundreds of times an hour, making it challenging to firewall and monitor all of the requests made by the operating system. An attacker can use these subdomains to serve payloads to evade network firewalls.
If you're worried about the security of your Mac, there are easy measures to prevent the most dangerous attacks. Named after the tactic of accessing an unattended computer in a hotel room, we can thwart "evil maid" attacks with Do Not Disturb and LuLu, free macOS tools by Objective-See that keep an eye on unattended computers and flag suspicious network connections that indicate a malware infection.
Can lightning strike twice? Niantic is betting that it can with its latest augmented reality game based on the best-selling multimedia franchise Harry Potter.
In recent years, unwanted calls have become a top priority for the FCC. In 2016, analysts estimated that US customers received over 2.4 billion robocalls per month. As a result, the FCC has provided carriers new tools to combat this problem.
Magic Leap has done a great job of aggressively releasing new apps, software updates, and major franchise tie-ins. But aside from all the creative and entertainment apps, what's it like to use one of the apps the company hopes you'll use every day?
Automating port scanners, directory crawlers, and reconnaissance tools can be complicated for beginners just getting started with Kali Linux. Sparta solves this problem with an easy-to-use graphical interface designed to simplify a penetration tester's tasks.
The next libSSH or OpenSSH exploit may be just around the corner. Keep your SSH service out of Shodan's database before hackers find new ways to bypass the password protecting the server.
Complex shell scripts can be implanted into photo metadata and later used to exploit a MacBook. In addition to obfuscating the true nature of an attack, this technique can be used to evade network firewalls as well as vigilant sysadmins.
Like last year's beta release of Android Pie, Google has allowed the Android Q Developer Previews to support some non-Pixel devices. Announced at Google I/O 2019, there are 15 non-Pixel smartphones eligible for the Android 10 Beta, including 2017's Essential PH-1.
OnePlus always seems to offer affordable yet powerful tools for videographers of all kinds. The camera hardware itself is crucial, but what's hardware without good software to highlight its real potential? It doesn't matter which version of the smartphone you have, they're all powered by the very same OnePlus camera app.
Many of our online accounts now come with an added two-factor authentication (2FA) functionality to help keep our data safe. This essentially means no one would be able to access the account until a specific set of requirements were met. It could be a combination of a password with a security key or even a passcode with some form of biometrics, like a fingerprint or face scan.
After reviewing the international plans for major US wireless carriers, it became obvious they're all pretty bad. Your data is heavily restricted, requiring a daily fee which can cost an extra $100+ on a seven-day vacation. That's when I learned about Google Fi, and how for most travelers, it's the best option.
The OnePlus 7 Pro is definitely a beast on paper. With a specs page that ticks virtually every box and a price point that undercuts the competition by hundreds of dollars, it's hard to overlook this phone. But before you get too excited, know that OnePlus has repeatedly shown to be misleading with their official specs.
Android's settings menu is actually pretty daunting. There are options for nearly everything, so in the sea of various menus and submenus, it's easy to overlook important privacy and security settings. On Google's Pixel phones in particular, there are 20 such settings that you should double check.
Similar to last year, LG is mixing up its releases. Instead of the G series in the first half of the year and the V series in the second half, LG is releasing both heavy hitters together. However, unlike last year, this is a true upgrade from its predecessor, the LG V50 ThinQ 5G.
In iOS 13 and later, Spotify supports Siri commands, something we've wanted ever since Siri and Spotify were things. But if you're on iOS 12 still, you're missing out. All you can do is open the Spotify app, then pause and skip tracks with Siri after you start playing a song manually. There is a workaround, however.
