#android
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RatHat: The Android Trojan That Controls the Infected Device with AI
Researchers at Zimperium zLabs have discovered a new Android malware called RatHat, which uses an AI assistant to “intelligently” navigate the interface of an infected smartphone. Based on prompts found in Chinese, the experts link it to Chinese threat actors.
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University Rescinds Job Offer to Activist Who Wiped His Phone Before a Search
Georgia State University has rescinded a job offer to Samuel Tannick, who is facing charges for allegedly destroying data on a hardened Android smartphone before U.S. border agents could examine it.
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Google Patches Actively Exploited 0-Day in Pixel
September's patch set for Pixel smartphones fixes 110 vulnerabilities, including a modem zero-day already being used in targeted attacks.
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GrapheneOS Rewrites Its Messaging App: A Jetpack Compose Interface and a Focus on Privacy
The team behind the secure mobile OS GrapheneOS has released the 13th version of its SMS/MMS client, completely overhauling the interface and hardening it against malicious content.
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Mantax Otax: The Android Malware That Encrypts, Spies On and Intimidates Its Victims
A new Android malware called Mantax Otax combines the functions of ransomware and spyware, and in its second version it has picked up an arsenal for putting psychological pressure on the victim.
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GrapheneOS Overhauls Its Stock Apps and Secure Clipboard
The developers of GrapheneOS, a hardened mobile OS, have announced a reworking of their suite of default apps and their secure clipboard mechanism.
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Pegasus in Serbia Again: Activist's iPhone Infected via Zero-Click in iMessage
Citizen Lab and the SHARE Foundation have documented the infection of a student protest movement member's phone with the Pegasus spyware. Since the start of 2026, at least 14 people in the country have been targeted.
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Aurora Store Stops Installing Apps: Anonymous Accounts Hit a “Server busy”
Aurora Store, an open-source Google Play client, is throwing an error en masse when installing apps through anonymous accounts. The problem hits users of privacy-focused ROMs like GrapheneOS and CalyxOS, who have no Google account of their own.
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GrapheneOS: Pixel 11 Loses MTE Hardware Memory Protection
The GrapheneOS project has reported that Pixel 11 smartphones no longer support the hardware-based memory tagging mechanism (MTE).
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Android 17 Rolls Out ECH: Browser Domains Hidden From Your ISP
Google is baking Encrypted Client Hello into the platform itself, while also tightening local network protection, turning on Certificate Transparency, and making it possible to disable 2G.
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PayPal Stopped Launching on GrapheneOS Because of a False Security Positive
The PayPal app began crashing on the security-focused GrapheneOS, reporting a “security policy violation: root.” Yet the system itself has no root access, and a workaround turned up almost immediately.
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ToxicPanda 2.0 Blocks Google Play via VPN Permissions and Seizes Control of Android over ADB
The Android banking trojan has gained new capabilities: it hijacks VPN permissions to cut the device off from Google's protective services, and automates wireless ADB to gain shell access.
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Android Car Head Units Turned Into Proxy Botnet Nodes
Kaspersky researchers have described a supply-chain attack in which infected Android-based car head units become part of a proxy network and take part in advertising fraud.
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GrapheneOS Coming to Flagship Motorola Smartphones in 2027
The developers of GrapheneOS, a security-focused mobile OS, have announced plans to expand the list of supported devices beyond the Google Pixel lineup.
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Court Orders Google to Make Installing Third-Party App Stores on Android Easier
Judge James Donato sided with Epic Games: Google is still artificially complicating the installation of competing app stores — and he ordered the needless obstacles removed within a week.
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A Duo of Android Malware Takes Out Loans and Relays Victims' Cards in Real Time
The new NFC relay tool WindRelay works in tandem with the RAT SpyNote: attackers gain remote access to a smartphone, take out a loan in the victim's name, and siphon off their bank card data live.
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Aptoide Is Back on Google Play: The First Competing Store Inside Google's US Marketplace
After more than a decade, the Aptoide app store is available on Google Play once again — thanks to changes the court ordered Google to make in the wake of the Epic Games case.
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Google Assistant to be shut off on phones and tablets from September 4
With Gemini's arrival, the voice assistant's fate was sealed. Google is beginning to cut off access to Assistant on Android devices — the process kicks off on September 4.
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Google Will Leave Developers in Sanctioned Countries Out of Android Verification
Starting next month, Google will begin blocking the installation of apps from unverified developers, but residents of Iran, Cuba and North Korea will be excluded from the checks — along with the ability to distribute software beyond their own borders.
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US Citizen Prosecuted for Wiping His Phone at the Border
American citizen Tunick gave border officers a code that wiped the contents of his GrapheneOS smartphone. Now he is being prosecuted.
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