Hongkiat: Send Emails to Any Mobile Number With This Chrome Extension. “Afraid of having your urgent email being lost in the recipient’s email account? Why not send it directly to the recipient’s phone number instead. CloudHQ has created an Chrome extension that lets you do just that directly from Gmail itself.” I took a cursory look at CloudHQ and didn’t see anything alarming, but I still wouldn’t use this for anything sensitive.
SMS
Neowin: Google introduces Verified SMS and spam detection in Android Messages
Neowin: Google introduces Verified SMS and spam detection in Android Messages. “This new feature will verify whether a specified message is truly from a business. This feature is rolling out in nine countries for now: the U.S., India, Mexico, Brazil, the UK, France, Philippines, Spain, and Canada, but more countries will be added over time.”
USA Today: ‘Hundreds of millions of people’ may have had their text messages exposed online, researchers say
USA Today: ‘Hundreds of millions of people’ may have had their text messages exposed online, researchers say. “A database housing millions of private SMS text messages was left open online for an extended period of time, a team of researchers at the online privacy company vpnMentor said Sunday. The Texas-based text messaging firm TrueDialog is thought to be responsible for the leak, the cybersecurity experts said.”
9to5 Google: Latest Google Messages beta rolling out ‘Verified SMS’ to cut down on SMS spam
9to5 Google: Latest Google Messages beta rolling out ‘Verified SMS’ to cut down on SMS spam. “The latest Google Messages beta is now rolling out ‘Verified SMS’ which is aimed at protecting you from unwanted spam text messages or potential phishing attempts.”
PSA: Twitter finally ditches SMS for two-factor authentication (The Next Web)
The Next Web, with a big side of YAY!: PSA: Twitter finally ditches SMS for two-factor authentication. “Twitter has finally done the impossible: it’s allowing users to enroll for its two-factor authentication (2FA) program without requiring a phone number. What’s more, it’s also providing an option to disable SMS-based 2FA, which is known to be flawed and insecure.”
Ars Technica: Researchers unearth malware that siphoned SMS texts out of telco’s network
Ars Technica: Researchers unearth malware that siphoned SMS texts out of telco’s network. “Dubbed ‘Messagetap’ by researchers from the Mandiant division of security firm FireEye, the recently discovered malware infects Linux servers that route SMS messages through a telecom’s network. Once in place, Messagetap monitors the network for messages containing either a preset list of phone or IMSI numbers or a preset list of keywords”
Make SMS Useful Again: 7 Services That Use SMS Messages Cleverly (MakeUseOf)
MakeUseOf: Make SMS Useful Again: 7 Services That Use SMS Messages Cleverly. “Thanks to instant messaging apps, you probably don’t use plain old SMS on your phone too often. Messengers like WhatsApp and Telegram are faster, more reliable, and have tons of other modern features SMS lacks. But SMS is around to stay on your phone and despite what you may think, it has a lot to offer. We’ve rounded up several cool services that make good use of SMS.”
