Motorola announces phone that is ‘always listening’, Syrian Electronic Army targets Reuters and White House, and Apple releases update to deal with malicious chargers

Motorola announces phone that is ‘always listening’
Motorola has announced a new phone that is said to be ‘always listening’ for any voice commands from its owner. The company, which is owned by Google, has revealed that the Moto X will constantly be listening out for the phrase, ‘Ok Google now…’ in order to respond to its owner’s instructions. The phone will be made in the US and customers will be able to customise their device extensively. Google's ownership of the brand makes this new release likely to cause tension in the Android market, since at present the vast majority of Android sales come from Samsung handsets. Several other manufacturers whose phones run on Google’s operating system are struggling to generate enough sales.

Syrian Electronic Army targets Reuters Twitter account and White House emails
Pro-Assad hackers known as the Syrian Electronic Army have targeted Thompson Reuters’ Twitter account and several email accounts used by the White House's social media staff in a bid to spread pro-Assad messages in support of the Syrian government. The White House email accounts were Phished by a collection of emails that claimed to have come from the BBC and CNN. This attack failed, but a Reuters’ Twitter account hack succeeded. The SEA used the account to share political cartoons and messages until it was suspended and restored.

Apple releases update to deal with malicious chargers
We previously reported that a group of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology had developed a device that could potentially allow hackers to break into an iPhone using only the phone’s charger. Apple has now confirmed that it is planning to release a software update in order to try to protect its products from these malicious chargers. The update is still pending at the moment but is warning users to be sure that they trust both the charger and charging point before plugging their device in. The malicious chargers and the data-stealing application that they use were displayed at the Black Hat Hacker conference, which is currently being held in Las Vegas.