Android – The Blog of Nitin J Mutkawoa, AKA @TheTunnelix

Tag: Android

Track the Cyclonic weather with WindyTY

04/15/2016 Nitin J Mutkawoa Add Comment

Wherever you are in the world you can easily track the cyclonic or any bad weather showing ahead. As we know that Mauritius is already been influenced by the cyclone Fantala, here is a little tool from which you can track the temperature, wind or even high waves in the world.

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The image is being broadcasted by windyty.com after the latest updates from the satellite. There is also an Android app which you can download at the Google Play store. Some interesting features are the fixed map rendering and search query issues. You can also add a location to keep in touch with the weather of your area. More interesting is the weather forecast for weeks which is really helpful.

Cool isn’t it? 🙂

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Uncategorized Android, Space

Enable Secure Text Keyboard on your Android

04/07/2016 Nitin J Mutkawoa Add Comment

If you do not want your messages to fall into the wrong hands especially when using free public wiki hotspot, one of the best way to secure your Android / Iphone key board is to install the “Secure Text Keyboard” app on your mobile phone. Designed by nuovalabs it will protect your privacy, this app is really easy to use and very practical.

“When we talk about security, it means different ways to protect ourselves or things that belong to us, whether it is data, money or rather anything. While privacy is about our ability to control access to our personal information and activities. Security is the first level of defence against unwanted intruders while privacy is about having the freedom to conceal ourselves from the outside world. Security is a necessary tool to build privacy, but a communication channel can be very secure, yet total ly unprivate.” – NuovaLabs.com

Getting started with Secure Text Edit

1.Download the Secure Text Edit app. You should find an interface similar like this.

3. Now, the “Share your key” option will generate a link which you can use to share to the person receiving the message.

4. The receiver will now use it to decrypt the messages you are sending each time.

5. Choose your input method type from the Notification menu and select select Secure Text Keyboard.

6. Start typing on your new keyboard, the message will appear in an encrypted format and can be sent to your recipient. It applies on Facebook, Viber, SMS etc..

This type of security system usually prevents yourself from a Man in the Middle attack. However, it should be noted that not all security systems are 100% secure. However, you can minimise the risk of having an attacker to exploit your mobile phone text messages.

Security Android, Privacy, security

Signal – Privacy is possible with SMS encryption

12/10/2015 Nitin J Mutkawoa 2 Comments

Phone calls and SMS privacy are now possible with Signal. What is ‘Signal‘? “Signal has been designed for the mobile environment from the ground up. Messages and incoming calls are fully asynchronous; push notifications to let you know when new messages have arrived, so they’ll be waiting for you if the app is in the background, your battery dies, or you temporarily lose service.” – WhisperSystems

It is believed that the Government of Mauritius and other government entities around the world have been tapping into phone lines since a while and some years back this issue has also been revealed on Mauritian newspapers. So, how do you get away from these entities trying to peak their noes into your private life? The ultimate answer is “Signal” which has been developed by the Open Whisper Systems Team.

“Use anything by Open Whisper Systems” – Edward Snowden, whistleblower, and privacy advocate

“I am regularly impressed with the thought and care put into both the security and the usability of this app. It’s my first choice for an encrypted conversation.” – Bruce Schneier, internationally renowned security technologist.

The signal is freely available and compatible for almost all Android devices as well as Apple mobile phones. It supports SMS and voice calls encryption even if you are on a 3G/4G network. However, you need to assure yourself that all parties engaged in a conversation are using Signal to be secure on all sides.

You cannot assure yourself to be secure if encrypted communication is one-sided.

My next article is going to be dedicated to the cyberstorm.mu team of Mauritius.

Security Android, Privacy

Debug your Internet bugs and vulnerabilities with ICSI Netalyzr

10/28/2015 Nitin J Mutkawoa Add Comment

Can your Network be easily compromised? Is your Internet vulnerable? You might want to perform some tests on the Quality of Service your Internet Service Provider – ISP is providing you. It can also be more dangerous if your ISP is also your router vendor! One of the fast and reliable tools which I would propose is the ICSI Netalyzr tool which tests your internet connections for signs of trouble and provides you detailed report vulnerabilities, latency, and several tests. The test can be performed by almost anyone with just a simple click.

“ICSI Netalyzr is a service maintained by the Networking Group at the International Computer Science Institute, an affiliate with the University of California, Berkeley and funded by the National Science Foundation. The service got some publicity and found importance after late 2007 when Comcast was sued for throttling Internet traffic which Comcast later admitted being true.” – freewareGenius

The report consists of:

A summary of the Noteworthy Events
Addresses-based Tests
Reachability Tests
Network Access Link Properties
HTTP and DNS tests
IPV6 tests and Network Security Protocols
Host Properties

I made several tests myself and notice that many routers are vulnerable to attacks. One of the tests I made from a Netgear router DG series intentionally downgraded with an old firmware from the official website of Netgear was found to be vulnerable. Click here on this link to access to the Netalyzr tool. I would, however, recommend you to use DD-WRT or OpenWRT for best QoS.

Example - A Netgear router vulnerable to CVE-2012-5958 and CVE-2012-5959 — Example – A Netgear router vulnerable to CVE-2012-5958 and CVE-2012-5959

You could also check for DNS resolution, Latency issues and Measurement of your Network buffering capacity. You would need to authorize your browser to access a JAVA plugin to be able to perform the test.

You can also perform your test using the Android App as well as on the Netalyzer command line client.

Networking, Security Android, CVE

URGENT – STAGEFRIGHT is here – Update your Android now

10/07/2015 Nitin J Mutkawoa Add Comment

This is a straight and direct message to everyone on this planet. YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR ANDROID MOBILE PHONES, TABLETS etc.. NOW!!

How many amongst you have an Android device? Are you aware that actually, billions of people around the world are impacted by a vulnerability called Stagefright? After the announcement was made on 27 July 2015 by Joshua Drake of Zimperium, I still noticed that there are many people who are not at all aware of this vulnerability and its devastating effect.

What is Stagefright?

“Stagefright has been called the biggest Android security concern ever. It occurs when malicious code is unknowingly triggered by media in multi-media messages (MMS). Stagefright could affect a billion devices, most particularly those running Android Jelly Bean or earlier. This number, if you’ve taken a recent look at the percentages of different Android versions currently in use, is staggering.” – Androidpit.com

You can download the FREE app at the Google Play Store to verify if your mobile phone is vulnerable or not.

The aim of this article is to sensitize everyone to update their Android devices. Please do inform your friends and everyone around you.

Please take note that there are some companies which have not yet released those patch. In that case, I encourage everyone to voice out their opinions with the help of Twitter.

Note: Some Android cannot be patched as the vendor is not sending any updates. In that case, you can disable “MMS on reception”. But that does not keep you 100% safe!

Click here – This may interest Security Experts and Software Engineers.

Security Android, security