TecQ is our weekly round up of the technology stories
1. Pegasus Spyware: What Is It & Should You Worry?
WhatsApp might tout itself as a secure messaging platform, but even that hasn't saved it from being affected by spyware called Pegasus.
Pegasus, which has been developed by an Israel-based technology firm known as NSO Group, allows the hacker access to the phone's camera, microphone, files, photos, and even encrypted messages and emails. Basically, the entire phone. And remember that it affects both Android and iOS devices.
WhatsApp has sued the NSO Group alleging that it is at fault for this mishap. It also has a list of all the users that have been affected by Pegasus. Now WhatsApp and a digital security firm Citizen Lab are sending alert messages to people who have been affected, but we still don't know the exact number of affected users.
Read the story here.
2. Redmi Note 8 Pro Review: Xiaomi’s No-Nonsense Mid-Range Phone
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is saying goodbye to 2019 with another addition to its Redmi series with the Redmi Note 8 Pro.
Redmi has been a stellar performer for the company so much so that Xiaomi decided to make it a separate brand altogether. Since then Redmi phones have managed to capture a major chunk of the budget phone market where competitors like Realme and Honor are also vying for a top spot.
What makes the Note 8 Pro worthy enough to carry the Redmi brand forward? Is this the best offering in the sub-Rs 15,000 market?
Read the full review here to know the answer.
3. Google Buys Fitbit for $2.1 Billion to Rival Apple Watch
It’s official! Google has bought US-based fitness tracker and smartwatch maker Fitbit for a reported price of $2.1 billion dollars (approximately Rs 14,845 crore).
It was earlier rumoured that Alphabet (Google’s parent company) was in line to buy Fitbit but Google has now put all speculations to rest.
Post the announcement, Google’s Senior Vice President of Devices & Services Rich Osterloh said in a blog post that this purchase is an opportunity for Google to invest more in its WearOS and also bring more Google-made fitness trackers and smartwatches to the market.
Just like Apple and Samsung, Google has also ventured into making its own smartphones. However, it has not dived into the fitness-tracking gizmo space in earnest which is where this acquisition makes a lot of sense.
Read the story here.
4. Apple TV+ Live in India: How it Compares With Netflix & Hotstar
It’s 1 November, and the Apple TV+ streaming service is now available to all iPhone, iPad and Mac users in India.
Apple’s premium TV service was announced in September this year during the Apple iPhone 11 series launch event and it finally comes to Apple users starting Friday.
But, what does it offer in terms of content and how does it stack up against existing Over The Top (OTT) streaming players in India like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video (APV) and even Hotstar?
This story over here has got you covered.
5. Details of 1.3 Mn Indian Payment Card Holders For Sale On Dark Web
In what is being called as one of the biggest card dumps that have been found online in recent years, as per a ZDNet report, card details of more than1.3 million payment cardholders have been put online for sale on Joker’s Stash, a website on the dark web.
It has been found that more than 98 percent of the dump belongs to Indian banks while 1 percent belongs to Colombian banks, as revealed by security researchers at Group-IB, which is an organisation that provides security solutions against online fraud.
This is the third major card dump this year, in terms of size.
Joker’s Stash is a term used by security researchers to describe an online marketplace where hackers put card details up for sale and advertise the same as “card dumps”. It’s one of the oldest places where major cyber-crime groups dump card details.
Read the full story here.
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