Researchers find Android third-party keyboard app Go Keyboard spying on users

Photo by Tony Lam Hoang on Unsplash

We can’t stress enough how careful you need to be about the things you download or use. A new finding by Adguard researchers reinforces that idea. They have found that two variants of keyboard app Go Keyboard have been sending personal information to remote servers while also executing unauthorized code on devices. The apps in question, which are developed by Chinese GOMO Dev Team, are the Go Keyboard – Emoji keyboard, Swipe input, GIFS and Go Keyboard – Emoticon keyboard, Free Theme, GIF apps. These apps have been downloaded between 100k and 500k times and are rated 4.5 and 4.4 stars, respectively.

Some of the information the apps are collecting include Google Play Store account, screen size, network type, and Android version and build number. Plus, it communicates with tracking networks and executes codes and downloads plugins that are marked as adware by various anti-virus programs. What the researchers are really worried about is the possibility of the app tracking everything you type, which it can do if the developers want to. The app is already in violation of Google Play Store’s policies. Adguard has passed on their findings to Google.

Source: Android Authority

IBM to provide CANet with data analytics for cardiovascular research

IBM partners with the Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) to provide an important tool for the digital age: data analytics. The partnership launches Heart-SIGN (System for Information Gathering and Networking), a cloud-based analytics platform designed to “manage, monitor, store, correlate, and analyze” data generated by all CANet research projects. CANet makes use of IBM BigInsights on Cloud and Watson Analytics to build the platform meant to inspire new ideas and share research related to heart rhythm disturbances. Heart-SIGN will serve as a data resource for research and clinical practice on arrhythmia. It can also help researchers identify specific needs of patients, track them through the system, and measure outcomes.

The platform is also designed to provide evidence-based recommended starting points to answer questions that might have taken researchers years to investigate. These are all put in a single, dynamic interface to help “achieve faster and more cohesive clinical outcomes.” Millions of people in Canada experience irregular heart rhythms or arrhythmias, with some experiencing sudden cardiac death and others getting disorders like atrial fibrillation and syncope.

Google takes on diabetes with smart contact lenses

The Google[x] research lab is hard at work at developing smart contact lenses that can help diabetics monitor glucose levels with the use of tears. The lenses will feature sensors that are “so small they look like bits of glitter, and an antenna thinner than a human hair.” The tech company’s lab already developed prototypes and conducted clinical research studies. They are currently meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration to get clearance and are seeking partners to help bring the product to the market.

Project co-founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz said in a blog post that they hope “this could someday lead to a new way for people with diabetes to manage their disease.”